I'm outraged that the rezoning request for high-density apartments at the corner of East Brainerd Road and Panarama Heights (also called the old Fowler property) was approved unanimously last night without proper notification for neighbors.

It was a long-done deal. Councilman Jack Benson said with conviction that the developer shouldn't have to endure losses on a R-1 zoning. Huh? That Florida developer bought into R-1; he should develop thusly, not wring an R-3 handout out of residents with threats of a strip mall.

And what a handsome guarantee of profits. Will the council also guarantee my profits, that my property value won't erode as renters swarm the area with more cars, foot traffic, and inevitable crime? Will the council compensate everyone east of the old Fowler property now facing significantly longer commute times and more wrecks?

The new R-3 zoning reportedly triples the allowed population density of that approximately 25 acres. Are we talking 300 extra renters? 500, with their extended families?

I must mention the so-called rezoning notification sign was hard to find yesterday, and impossible to read. It's facing across five lanes of traffic on East Brainerd Road, and you're traveling about 45 mph, looking across moving traffic. Make that doubly hard to recognize with the sign folded, flopping in the breeze and situated on the crest of the blind curve.

But some kind person did put a notice (that had been hidden in a kudzu recess) where it should have been yesterday. Too late.

I spoke to two of my neighbors before last night's meeting, who also never saw signs, and weren't contacted about the rezoning. They were shocked. I feel sorry for them; their families are losing a wooded view for front-yard visions of a concrete jungle.

Scott Ingell, the head of my neighborhood association, told me he was also aware of the initial zoning request, but (like many area residents, myself included) was told last month it had been withdrawn.

"We've been played," Ingell said.

It's the local homeowners, not developers, who deserve first consideration in rezoning requests, since we're sinking our savings into homes during my generation's most dismal economic times.

But will the City Council work as hard to assure that I make a profit on my property? How about you? Or is that effort exclusively for developers?

Lana Sutton
lanasutton@gmail.com