Land deal ‘reeks of politics’

Gwinnett County Commissioner Michael Beaudreau’s got the blues. A conversation he had the other day with a friend didn’t lift his doldrums.

They’d been chatting about Gwinnett’s recent decision to pay millions for a piece of land based on two disparate property appraisals.

On May 5, county commissioners voted 3-1 to buy a 33-acre tract for $2.3 million — more than twice what the county’s appraisal said it was worth. The property, near Lawrenceville, eventually will be used to develop a passive park known as Palm Creek Park.

You’d think Beaudreau would be happy camper. After all, the purchased property sits in his district. And who could argue against a park, be it active or passive green space?

But at $69,000 an acre, Beaudreau thinks taxpayers have been bamboozled.

“It was definitely the wrong decision,” he told me.

On Tuesday, Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Patrick Fox wrote that Larry Singleton, a county-approved appraiser, set the land’s value at $33,104 an acre. He arrived at his price by comparing the site in question with six sales of similarly priced Gwinnett parcels. Because of the economy, he adjusted the value downward by 20 percent.

Jim Clower appraised the property on behalf of Falcon Investments LLC, the contract purchaser. His appraisal: $73,000 per acre. Clower said he compared the site with the sales of three separate parcels within three miles of its location. He adjusted the price value downward by 15 percent.

Perhaps the commissioners should have stepped back, exhaled and talked about this purchase. Instead, the board majority accepted an appraisal written up by someone who worked on behalf of the contract purchaser, not the county.

The county has a list of approved appraisers with a track record for doing business with its government. Why not request that a third appraisal from one of the tried and true?

I’m no appraiser. You don’t have to be one, though, to see the egregious difference ‘twixt $73,000 and $33,104. That’s no standard deviation in appraised values. It’s a gross disparity. Left unchecked, it looks like a foolhardy fiduciary decision by Chairman Charles Bannister and Commissioners Bert Nasuti and Kevin Kenerly.

Beaudreau said he tried to slow the process. He suggested, to no avail, that the purchase be tabled so the Recreation Authority could help decide whether the park is even needed in that part of the county. Maybe, he reasoned, there’s an area in greater need of a park. Maybe money didn’t have to be spent at all.

He met tin ears.

“I was throwing a fit about it,” he told me. “We basically added park land to a [proposed] passive-use park without a master plan,” he said. “The Palm Creek Park land is very hilly and very rocky. In today’s day and age — when we are trying to use dollars scarcely — we could have used that money for a much more immediate need.”

The best explanation that’s been offered for accepting the higher land appraisal is that it will dismiss a lawsuit. It was filed last year after the county denied a request to rezone the site for higher-density residential housing. A developer, Majors Management, had wanted to divide the property into 91 lots; it was zoned for 33.

Beaudreau doubts the county would have lost in court.

“It was the usual lawsuit that gets filed,” he said, “and we have won every one that’s been filed in my district. Our attorneys were comfortable with this case.”

So for Beaudreau, the sky is crying over Gwinnett.

Even though he cast the sole vote against the purchase, he doubts the public will be selective in laying blame. He may be right, given the conversation he had with a friend about this wayward purchase. “He told me that this makes Gwinnett look like every other county that doesn’t do things the right away,” Beaudreau said. “He said it reeks of politics and said that’s why politics isn’t respected as it should be. In this case, I get painted with the same broad brush as everybody else.

“And that’s what frustrates me.”

Rick Badie, an Opinion columnist, is based in Gwinnett. Reach him at rbadie@ajc.com or 770-263-3875.