First off, thank you to everyone who has signed this and those who keep signing. I do not (yet) plan on closing the petition down because we still remain in limbo with an uncertain future ahead of us.
At Monday's Council meeting, I presented the petition and I stated our case: that these trees are an important part of our neighborhood's character and should remain. I presented the facts as I had been told and what my research had shown them to be. Interestingly enough, an attorney representing the Godley Station Professional Park (GSPP) was present at the meeting too having seen this petition circulate around social media (Hi there, Mr. Attorney, thank you for coming!). He and the City Manager of Pooler strongly refuted some of the facts in this case...primarily around the origin of the buffer zone.
As I posted in my edit of the petition, GSPP's attorney claims that the 200' buffer was actually what is called a deed restriction and was placed voluntarily by International Paper some time ago. When IP sold (Fall 2017) the remaining 5.4 acres to GSPP the deed was cleaned of any buffer, resetting it to the 20' buffer default mandated by the city of Pooler.
In either case, if the 200' buffer was placed by Pooler or if it was placed by International Paper, it was done so seemingly with the understanding by the homeowners and residents that that it was going to be in perpetuity. Even Chatham County seems to think that this land was specifically set aside as a "green space" and IP (and now GSPP) did not receive any tax bill for their generous non-use of the land. (Don't believe me? Look it up on the County records site, the property ID number is: 5-1014 -01-158, http://boa.chathamcounty.org/Home/Property-Record-Cards/pin/5-1014%20-01-158
So even if my understanding of the buffer zone was wrong (and if it was, I regret any confusion that resulted), the core thing remains: the property had been promoted as green space ever since the area was developed and should remain green space with the 200' buffer attached.