Greg Retting has been one of the leaders of the grassroots effort to block rezoning land on Spanish Trial from residential to commercial. In this email to the Pensacola City Council, he states that the Dollar General development team has been lobbying those who signed the petition against Dollar General building on the site. The mayor’s office has delayed the council vote on the issue until March 27.
From: Gregory Rettig
Subject: Summit/Spanish Rezoning Request
Date: January 20, 2014 12:21:07 PM CST
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Cc: >, >, >, >
Dear Councilmembers,
I wanted to take a moment to thank each of you for publicly coming out as being opposed to the rezoning request for the corner of Summit/Spanish. I know that the development team has been very actively lobbying each of you to reconsider your previous pledge. I’ve also been told that each of you have indicated that you are unwilling to reconsider on this issue and have, in fact, refused meetings with them.
I have also now learned that the development team has taken the extraordinary step of individually contacting some of those who have joined our FB page or signed the petition in an attempt to plead their case. While I have no intention of turning down the heat on this issue until it is actually disposed of at the City Council meeting in March, I tell anyone who asks me that the 6 of you were on the right side of this issue since very early on in the process.
We look forward to the City Council meeting, no matter how many times the development team and EHBC seek to move it. There will be hundreds of politically active and motivated voters in the gallery. I’d advise everyone to bring their popcorn and maybe a blanket because its going to be a long night. I’ve attached a list of those who have signed the petition as of last week. It now numbers more than 1000. I’ve also attached the comments for those who have left them. I’d ask that you remember the will of the voters at that meeting.
Greg Rettig
P.S. I’d also like to remind everyone that DG already has a rezoning request in the works that will go up for a vote tomorrow night. Unlike the Summit/Spanish request, the 9th Avenue rezoning seems to be logical and appropriate and I’m sure most of you will support it. But does Pensacola really need another DG less than 3 miles from the one they intend to build on 9th Avenue?