Smyrna Mayoral Candidate Opposes New RaceTrac

Editor's note: The Smyrna Planning and Zoning Board will meet tonight at 6 p.m. at City Hall. On the agenda will be the petition from RaceTrac Petroleum, Inc. to rezone 1.75 acres from General Commercial to Conditional.

By Donna Short-Woodham

My husband and I decided to beat the heat and go see a movie recently. It was my husband’s time to pick the movie so he chose the Will Ferrell movie “Everything Must Go.” We decided to see the movie at the Landmark Midtown Arts Cinema and even though gas prices are high, it was worth the drive. The theater is close to everything we love in Midtown and is surrounded with lots of things to do before and after you see a movie. 

They sell alcohol at the theater so we got one large beer to share and a bag of popcorn. The popcorn to my delight came in a brown paper bag. The bag had a stamped message on it that informed the buyer that the bag was made from 100-percent recycled material. The CEO or owner of that company had made an eco-friendly decision to serve the popcorn in a bag that saved trees. I thought that was a decision to be proud of; that was a leadership legacy decision.

Change can be good like using a bag that is made from recycled material to serve popcorn instead of using a bleached white box. We experience change daily: some noticeable, some not so noticeable. I wish change could always be good like the changing of the seasons. But change is unfortunately not always good.

On Spring Road in front of the Atlanta Percussion Store there are two lots. One lot has two buildings that are connected. It is slightly elevated and is surrounded by large oaks. It once was a daycare center, but now is closed. The backyard of the lot has swing sets that are shaded by big oaks. There is a beautiful picturesque 100-year old Chinese Maple tree located in the back yard. The second lot over is occupied by another daycare center and is open. Next to the day care is a large parking lot. The owner is Ed Hamrick. He owns Atlanta Pro Percussion and has owned his store and parking lot since 1983.  

The gas company RaceTrac Petroleum, Inc., would like to buy the two day care lots and build a 6,500 square-foot gas store on the two properties. In order to prep the land to be developed, the elevated lot would have to be clear-cut and bulldozed flat to make it level with the adjacent parking lot. 

Change is often something we fight. In order to build the world we want to live in, we sometimes have to fight for what is the right change. What RaceTrac wants to do to those lots is not right for the neighborhood, the drum store and the people who live in Smyrna. What would be right for that neighborhood is a second community center and children’s library. The city could rent the building. The building could be rented out for parties or as spaces for people who want to teach an exercising class or educational class. This would give people who rent space at the community center now a double opportunity to reach out and teach others. It could be a can goods drop off for the needy; it could be used to show movies after school or during the summer. The elevated lot is fenced in and has plenty of shade. The building would be great for family reunions and birthday parties.  

In the 1960s, the comedy troupe Monty Python had written and performed a skit entitled “How to recognize the Spanish Inquisition from quite a long way away.” Well, Smyrna citizens as funny as that skit was, we as human beings are going to have to be able to recognize a bad zoning and planning decision from quite a very long way away. A 6,500 square-foot gas station does not make a good neighbor. This type of development is predatory capitalism. We need more compassionate capitalism such as a second community center. 

Ms. Melleny Pritchett is the councilwoman who represents the ward for where the RaceTrac station is proposed to be built.  She has been quoted in Smyrna-Vinings Patch as saying, “if we’re going to have a store on Spring Road coming into Smyrna, it’s got to be special.” I am not sure why Ms. Pritchett would want a special 6,500 square-foot gas station to be her leaving legacy as councilwoman. The same goes for any of the council and mayor. 

The citizens of Vinings have organized and are having consecutive meetings with Commissioner Bob Ott to keep undesirable development out of Vinings. Once the gas store is built in Smyrna, we are stuck with it. It will be a 24-pump, 24-hour gas station.   

The citizens of Smyrna are at the mercy of the votes that are made by the zoning board (which are hand picked by each council from their ward and then approved by all the council members). We are also at the mercy of the mayor and council’s votes on development. We are at their mercy because there are not any zoning laws in place to keep predatory capitalism development out of our neighborhoods. Our mayor and council need to create strong zoning laws that bring in compassionate capitalism.

Corporations are there to serve us, the people, just like our mayor and council. The mayor and council are obligated to care for the citizens of Smyrna. Renting the vacant daycare center building and turning it into a second community center/children’s library would be a good leadership legacy and a good change for that section of town and the neighborhood.

Please come out Monday night at 6 p.m. to Smyrna’s City Hall. The RaceTrac development decision will go before the zoning board tonight. Come out and say “NO 6,500 SQUARE-FOOT RACETRAC IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS.” I hope to see you there.