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Implied Easement Case

IMPLIED EASEMENT CASE vs LANIER GOLF CLUB UPDATE

McFarland hearing set for Oct. 5th, Macon, GA

See the notice
How was the FLUM changed to allow this to happen - this zoning opens the door for our old lawsuit to be re-opened. It's time to find the corruption - where it came from, where it landed.

The Current Legal Rezoning Action Costs Money

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Pre-Zoning Activities On Hold

The documents and agreements below are moot, at least for now

Click Here For County Restrictive Covenant Rev. 07/20

Click Here for the latest Lanier Release Proposal from Homeowners

The link above shows changes from the LGC original that responds to these key points:

Removal of time limits to trigger transfer of rear acreage, approx 110 acres
Agreement that any sale, development (except to maintain current golf course business of LGC) will trigger transfer of rear acreage
Agreement to drop any/all lawsuits, legal action, abandon judgments (if any) provided homeowners and other litigation against LGC are all dropped
No use of the rear acreage for any sewer services to server the MPD
Buffer along Eastern boundary of current driving range will be 50' with the provision that any runoff must be mitigated on the MPD

Click here for a clean version of our version of the prior LGC Release.

The above link is the Community Response to the LGC Owners' Release Agreement, which we have asked be signed by LANIER to move forward

Proposed Zoning Conditions From Homeowners to County

Click Here To Download a copy of The County's Proposed Zoning Conditions

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Click Here To Download A Copy of

the Original [Proposed] Release From The LGC Owners

LGC Owners have agreed to items, per below, in a meeting with their attorney at the Commissioner's office on 7/18

1. No reference to LANIER development of the MPD/CCRC to trigger the transfer of the 115 acres of green space. DONE 7/18

2. No reference to sale or development of ANY PORTION of the MPD/CCRC to trigger the transfer of the 115 acres of green space. DONE 7/18

3. Any time limit restriction must be completely removed. It doesn’t matter if it’s 100 years - Homeowners should not sign off on any agreement with a time limit provision that further devalues adjacent properties throughout that period, and without some provision that further protects the proposed donated acreage from any development at any future time. DONE 7/18

4. A-1 should be the designated zoning for the proposed donated acreage … or we must see the language of the zoning conditions that will make that happen on transfer, as part of a complete agreement. LGC insists on R-3/MPD Zoning - The County agreed to a restrictive covenant restricting any development and conversion to A-1 following transfer. See the park and rec bond money and what has been spent .. click here

5. Any release must be mutual and bilateral, i.e. if homeowners agree to drop their lawsuits, the release must also state that LANIER agrees to drop its lawsuits, now and forever, against the signers or their legal representatives in any matter related to this zoning. DONE 7/18

6. Acreage to be further defined, either by the zoning conditions or within the release, to reflect the comments that have been provided by community representatives. LGC wants standard buffers and setbacks. We may need to look for additional acreage around the 2nd hole tee-box and North side of Fairway Dr.

7. It was suggested that the County documents be included as exhibits to reflect items 4 and 6 above, as well as all other conditions for zoning and the transfer of property to the County. I don’t see why we should not be considering one comprehensive agreement that ties it all together. Refer to County Conditions for Zoning

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DO NOT SIGN THE ANY OF THE DOCUMENTs LINKED FROM THIS SITE!

Click Here to download the map (also a draft) and latest proposal being discussed

What might have been, had the LGC owners given the effort reasonable time to have honest, good faith negotiations within a reasonable timetable.

55+ Acres of Age-restricted MPD combined with

The Transfer To Forsyth County of 115 Acres of Greenspace

That will remain permenantly undeveloped or Golf Course

See the LGC Proposed Development Plan That WAS - Click Here

The current plan, if approved by homeowners, will remove active legal action against the LGC owners. That document, too, needs to be delivered for our legal review and distribution to homeowners adjacent to the golf course.

In exchange for such agreement, the LGC owners will offer their signed commitment to transfer, upon the sale or development of the MPD zoned parcel, all remaining lands to the County, free and clear. Those 115 acres can never be developed. The commercial portion will have limited traffic or access through existing neighborhoods, and greenspace or golf course adjacent to all surrounding homes remain. The County may consider inviting 3rd parties to lease, redesign, and manage a a smaller golf course, possibly an 18 hole executive golf course.

As of July 14, there remain some hurdles to overcome:

The LGC Owners want us to believe they are making a "good faith" effort here. Yet, they've inserted a 10 year "donation period" into their release without any prior reference to this. And while this provision would be completely unacceptable to homeowners by itself, there was also no inclusion of another reasonable request, and potential “deal-breaker”, missing from the first draft of the release .. the situation where the owners or their representatives, partners might develop ANY portion of the MPD/CCRC zoned property. That would have to be an immediate trigger of the transfer of the back portion, as would any sale of any portion of the MPD/CCRC DONE 7/18
There has been no offer of recipricocity - LANIER must agree to drop all its lawsuits against both the county and any community homeowners or related actions. DONE 7/18
As a direct result of the community's efforts over the past 5 years, the LGC is ready to "gift" 115 acres to Forsyth County. We feel the County (or Lanier, in exchange for MPD/R-3 zoning which will secure them a high value and tax credit) should invest the necessary funds to create an 18 hole executive golf course on this property and lease out management to a 3rd Party. This would be a revenue generator for the County, and would serve to maintain the value of adjacent properties, as well as improve the value of the MPD/CCRC. However, lacking that investment, we would like written confirmation from the County that they, and future Commisioners will not oppose a recommendation from an independent group who might introduce a 3rd party management company to invest the necessary funds to lease, reconfigure, build, and manage the facilities necessary to operate a public 18 hole executive golf course on the Donated acreage.
The County still needs to deliver the zoning conditions and restrictive covenant documents to be considered as part of a complete and lasting agreement. DONE 7/18
Homeowners continue to request that the 'back portion' be zoned A-1. We see no devaluation of the tax credit that can be attributed to such a zoning, versus a zoning of R-3, to benefit Lanier, upon transfer to the County. Further, there are no R-3 zoned developments or properties adjacent to the back portion - these are all R-1 or R-2 properties. Such a zoning would devalue adjacent properties. There is simply no reason to negatively impact the County's tax basis nor 120+ property owners with creating an R-3 zoning adjacent to these low-density developments. An R-3 zoning only benefits someone who might want to develop this property .. and the proposed intent is to NEVER develop this acreage. See item 3 note, above.

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Read the BOC Rezoning DENIAL from 2007

The court's order to rezone does NOT require rezoning to accomodate the high density, MPD proposal submitted by The LGC owners. But the split zoning and deed transfer may be the best resolution for all.

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EXPRESS YOURSELF - WRITE TO THE COMMISSIONERS

Click Here to send a pre-addressed email to the Commissioners Now!!

Use this text in your email or say whatever you'd like:

To Brian Tam, Chairman of Forsyth BOC
cc: BOC members: Jim Boff, Pete Amos, Patrick Bell, and Todd Levent

Dear Sirs

This is to request that the Forsyth BOC reject ZA3370 and instead ......

Or simply, please reject the owners plan and adopt an all residential plan which has the same density and intensity as the neighborhoods that surround it. We believe the county attorney will find such a plan satisfactory.

Sincerely

Address:

CLICK HERE FOR THE COMMISSIONER'S CONTACT INFORMATION

The comprehensive plan is the result of a public planning processes that involves members of the community who work together to visualize the desired shape and distribution of growth through a collaborative dialogue.

This part of the plan update is referred to as the Community Agenda, which incorporates the community’s vision for the county and how it will be achieved. Since this component of the comprehensive plan provides guidance for future decision-making, it is essential that the public participates as this part of the plan is being created.

For more information regarding the Comprehensive Plan update, please visit http://compplan.forsythco.com/

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IMPLIED EASEMENT CASE vs LANIER GOLF CLUB UPDATE

Hearing set for Oct. 5th, Macon, GA

See the notice

FILED WITH THE GEORGIA STATE COURT OF APPEALS JULY 1, 2011

Click here to see the legal brief

The lead article in the July 7th Forsyth County News, written by Alyssa LaRenzie, has a number of incorrect statements. I just called Julie Arrington who is a reporter at the Forsyth County News that has covered our case in the past. I complemented Julie on her accurate reporting over the years but called her attention to the mistakes that Ms. LaRenzie had in this article. Ms. LaRenzie indicated that our lawsuit has "thrown a wrench into those [rezoning] plans." The only reason that that may be true is because of a decision by the owners of Lanier Golf Club, that our case has to be dismissed. If there was a wrench thrown, it was by them, not us.

Then Ms. LaRenzie inaccurately reports that last Friday, I filed an appeal. Reading between the lines, it was as if we should not have done that right after the owners were so kind as to grant additional time for the zoning! On the other hand, if I had waited until last Friday to file the appeal, it would have been untimely and dismissed by the court. The appeal was timely filed at the end of May. The brief was filed timely last Friday after receiving an order from the Court of Appeals to do so.

There is a statement in the article about some type of countersuit was just filed. This was also inaccurate. We filed the original action and Lanier Golf Club filed a counterclaim over three years ago. Of late, Lanier Golf Club elected to dismiss their claim against Michael Peck while at the same time, filing a demand for $100,000.00 judgment against Michael Peck and myself for all their attorney fees. Then they got the trial court to set down a hearing next month on this issue.

So what was never mentioned in the article was that the owners of Lanier Golf Club want everybody to drop there case for an implied easement that would keep all the property as a golf course and at the same time obtain $100,000.00 from one of the owners and their attorney. I hope this has provided you with the correct information on your case.

FOR MORE INFO ABOUT THIS ACTION:

Robert P. McFarland, Sr.
McFarland & McFarland, P. C.
309 Pirkle Ferry Road, B-400
Cumming, Georgia 30040
(770) 889-2522 Ext. 202 Fax (770) 889-1099
Web Page: www.mcfarlandmcfarland.com

MEDIUM DENSITY HOUSING AROUND LANIER GOLF CLUB

WE DON'T THINK SO!!!

And about that "Activity Center"

Click here for the full County map and proposed zoning changes

LANIER LIFESTYLE RESPONDS AND PUTS THE COUNTY ON NOTICE:

We have reviewed the proposed FLUM with special attention paid to the area surrounding the Lanier Golf Course property and found that it does not accurately portray the development of the area.

The proposed map shows much of the land adjacent to the golf course as medium density (over 1.5 units per acre) while in fact 95% of the property adjacent to the golf course is developed as low density (less than 1.5 units per acre). LanierLifestyle is in possession of copies of all the platted developments surrounding the golf course that we have offered to share with the Planning Dept. and Commissioners. As such, we respectfully request a meeting in order to correct these obvious errors.

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What's Next for Lanier Golf Club?

The community and this organization are ready, as always, to sit with the owners and support efforts, based on the Commissioners' decision, to sell or grant a portion of their property to a course operator or to support County acquisition as a permanent golf/recreational resource to serve County residents and visitors. Just tell us where and when and allow us to work together for a reasonable, mutually beneficial result that allows this property to continue to remain green space per its zoning designation.

Elk often share the Course