Meadows Recommendation Could Cost Taxpayers Millions
CUMMING – “The Board of Commissioners made a flawed decision. Unfortunately, Forsyth County taxpayers will once again have to pick up the tab for the Board’s bad judgment,” said Pete Amos, the frontrunner for the District 1 seat on the Board of Commissioners.
Amos made his comment Tuesday after learning that Judge Roger E. Bradley had ruled against Forsyth County in a lawsuit filed by Lanier Golf Course owners Jack Manton and George Bagley, Jr.
“Commissioners followed some bad advice from my opponent, Brant Meadows, in denying a request to rezone the golf course from agricultural to master planned unit,” Amos said. “Now the burden for following his advice will fall on the taxpayers.”
Meadows, Amos’ opponent in the District 1 race, was a member of the Forsyth County Planning Commission when, against the professional planning staff recommendation, he joined the majority of the commission in voting to send a motion for denial of the rezoning request to the Board of Commissioners.
What the eventual cost to taxpayers will be is uncertain. Bradley told attorneys for Forsyth County and the course owners that he would weigh the orders they submitted in making his decision on what relief to grant the plaintiffs.
“My opponent says he wants to ensure everyone adheres to the UDC, but that request did comply with the UDC and the Land Use Map. It also had the approval of the county planning staff, the Georgia Mountain RDC and Georgia Regional Transportation Authority. So, it sounds like he believes everyone should adhere to the UDC but him.”
Course owners say the denial cost them a $35 million contract with Wellstone, LLC, which planned to build a residential development with a 300-unit continuing care retirement community. The golf course owners promptly sued the county, requesting not only that the property be rezoned to a more suitable zoning, but also requesting damages for the lost sale of the property.
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