The Development

Authority of Peachtree City has asked its attorney to craft a legal opinion

in an effort to quiet complaints of mismanagement leveled against the

athority by the original operators of the restaurant inside the Tennis

Center.

Bob Stieber,

owner of Valentino's in Braelinn Village, partnered with his wife and

brother to open and manage the Ashland Grille at the tennis center last

fall.

After months

of delays in opening and disagreements with Tennis Center Executive Director

Virgil Christian over everything from signanage to exterior lighting,

the Stiebers abandoned the operation on a Saturday night last fall after

just three weeks in business.

A few weeks

later, the Development Authority evicted the Stiebers from the premises

and declared them in default of their contract.

The restaurant

reopened April 1 under new management.

Bob Stieber

has approached the City Council twice seeking an audience for telling

his side of the story, and at the April 3 meeting accepted a request from

Councilman Dan Tennant to "go through proper channels" to negotiate

with the DAPC before seeking advice from the council, which appoints members

to the authority.

"Are you

willing to go to the Development Authority and work it out?" Tennant

asked.

But at last

week's DAPC meeting, there ended up being little "to work out"

as Stieber and his partners insisted they were there to hear the board

explain its side of the mess.

"You've

got all the information from us," Stieber told the authority Monday.

"Everything we have issue with, we have addressed with you in writing

already and we've never gotten a response."

"We're

here to listen," he said.

The board sat

mostly silent until Vice Chairman Scott Bradshaw replied, "We pretty

much came to listen to you."

"Well,

so did we," said Stieber. "We were asked by City Council to

come meet with you, and we really don't know what else to say."

Stieber contends

that Virgil Christian, executive director of the Tennis Center, misled

and "lied to us" about numerous issues as work on the restaurant

progressed as part of the expansion of the athletic facility, especially

relating to lighting and signage.

But Stieber

acknowledged, "We signed the lease," and said he wasn't seeking

monetary compensation, though his losses totaled $80,000, he said.

He has also

downplayed the threat of any legal action against the DAPC.

At the Development

Authority meeting, as both sides dug in their heels and refused to concede

ground to "listening" or "talking," the Stiebers walked

out in frustration.

The authority

is at a loss as to exactly what to do, said Chairman Tate Godfrey. "I

will say, there are two sides to every story, and this one has two definite

sides."

Godfrey suggested

drafting the formal letter explaining the authority's position and outlining

the actions it took to answer the Sibler's concerns as an effort to bring

closure to the disagreement.

"Our attorney

says we gave them everything they asked for," Godfrey said. "We've

tried everything we know how, we'v tried in every way."

Mark D. Oldenburg,

attorney for the DAPC, said the response letter could be ready to send

to the Stiebers on Monday.