Controversial land deal voted down in Gwinnett

By PATRICK FOX

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Gwinnett County commissioners voted down a proposed land purchase Tuesday that had drawn the threat of a grand jury investigation and generated several hundred e-mails to county offices.

By a 4-0 vote, the County Commission denied the proposal to spend $5.2 million for 16 acres near Suwanee. The land is part of a lawsuit involving the county and its purchase of right of way from Old Peachtree Partners for the McGinnis Ferry Road extension project.

The action follows a second announcement from District Attorney Danny Porter that he would include this transaction, if passed, with a handful of other land deals he plans to submit to a grand jury for investigation.

But Commission Chairman Charles Bannister said allegations of unethical land transactions are not based on fact.

“Never before have I seen an issue become so twisted,” Bannister said, complaining about news coverage of the deal.

Such purchases are not unusual, he said, and they involve controlling the cost of litigation. By not approving the purchase, the cost to the taxpayers will continue until a court settles the matter, Bannister said.

District 3 Commissioner Kevin Kenerly also criticized the controversy surrounding the issue.

He said records show the county fares poorly in condemnation cases that go to court.

Records provided through the county attorney’s office following the meeting show the county was never granted its offered price in the 14 condemnation cases that have gone to adjudication since 1996.

“When it goes to court, the folks across the hall that will be sitting there are citizens of this county,” Kenerly said. “They’re the ones who’ve awarded every single case that we lost.”

But the record shows awards were almost as dismal for the landowners. Only one of the 14 received at least the asking price. Most received far less.

The county originally agreed to buy 2.6 acres of the land for $1.1 million in 2007 as part of the McGinnis Ferry Road extension project. But the owners backed out of the deal claiming the county had not disclosed its full intentions for the property.

Commissioner Shirley Lasseter, who represents the district where the land is located, said she opposed the purchase because the cost seemed exorbitant at a time of economic strife.

She said “$5,265,975 to buy all of 16 acres when we need an extremely small portion of that to finish this road seems a tad high,” she said.

Attorney Tony Powell, who was invited by the commission to speak on behalf of Old Peachtree Partners at the meeting, said the case “will never be resolved for less than the number that’s on the table.”

Commissioner Mike Beaudreau said he thinks the county has a good legal position and the property owners are merely exhibiting “sellers’ remorse.”

Following the meeting, Susan Murrah of Lawrenceville said the commission’s outrage over news coverage should be a lesson.

“The facts are being laid out by the press, but they’re not being clearly laid out ... because the commissioners won’t give us the facts,” she said. “It’s absolutely ridiculous.”