Editor:

Intent: What does that mean to you? When you go to public meetings and city officials explain a construction project and what the “intent” is, do you not feel that you should have the reasonable expectation that the “intent” should be an accurate description of that project

The “intent” of the Publix project was a 40-foot high restriction, natural landscape buffer, intact right of way, an environmentally friendly project and an entrance to Fairhope to be proud of. The “intent” was for a full-time project engineer and on site daily planning department staff inspections. The project would be hidden by trees, and you would not see any of the roofs of the building, which were to be only 7 feet deep. The “intent” was that the city would project us from any eyesore projects and guarantee strict oversight of the project.

In reality, we got an onion: 7 feet deep is actually 30-plus feet; the buffer and right of way has been removed on Parker Road; a 22-foot stone retainer wall on Highway 98 is called a fence; “environmentally friendly” apparently means 100 percent destruction of the site and a 30 percent intrusion into the surrounding buffer areas; a roof is called an architectural feature; permit abuse and work with no permit; Fly Creek flooded twice; public safety and traffic concerns are abundant; and no tree survey.

Did you protest Walmart? If so, you should be mad as hell about or entrance to the city displaying such abuses to the “intent.” This is your town, not the town of a select few who have decided to develop their own dictionary of definitions.

Fairhope