(Letter to the Editor - Graphic Illustration/MetroCreativeConnection)

On Wednesday, Aug. 24, a meeting was held by the PM company (Google it) to answer the community’s questions pertaining to the current development of a construction site located in the Washington community — specifically placed between Washington Methodist Church and the beautifully developed neighborhood of Walnut Grove, with McPherson Manor located on the opposite side of the highway and in direct view of this construction site.

The plan was finally explained to the neighboring residents that the already strategically and detailed project they intend to place in our area (unknown at that time of the meeting to almost every nearby resident) would be an Industrial Park.

I want to add that by the time we were made aware of this project, they had already had a contract signed by the first tenant to be placed in this Industrial Park, slipped very quietly into the center of this beautiful acreage, and gutted and cleared it from the inside out. Before we knew it, our beautiful landscape and community had been forever changed, without a single opinion from those of us who would be forever affected. To say I am appalled would be an understatement.

They stated that they had acquired this property in 1999. Everyone always assumed that one day someone might decide to develop the property for another nice development. To build something that would make our neighborhood even better. Instead, they are opening up our community to a warehouse-type facility to be our first tenant. They say they are not at liberty to say who this tenant is, or what will even be stored there. They set the restrictions to line up with their future plans to suit their own needs.

Can you imagine this happening in your back yard? I did my very best to plead my case to them at this meeting. To ask them to go to their homes that night and take a look out their back window and ask themselves. What if the tables were turned? What if we came and did that to them? I am pleading to them again.

Surely the PM Company has done everything by the book, legally. However, as a company who prides and promotes themselves in giving back to the community, your fellow community members ask you for your support in doing the right thing.

It’s not too late to change the tide. Don’t destroy the legacy and reputation you’ve always stood for. Pray. Search your heart. Listen to your conscience. Don’t let your desire for gain destroy the neighborhoods of so many. We don’t want this Industrial Park in our area. We don’t want the noise, the trucks, the storage of anything to disrupt our days or our nights.

Whoever this prospective tenant is, I am praying you read this as well. Search your own heart and soul. Search for property closer to the manufacturing facilities where it makes more logistical sense, instead of a beautiful residential area. Go anywhere but in someone’s back yard. We will never stop fighting for our beautiful quiet community.

Kim Burdette

Washington