Out of Control: Bannister Proposes Another Outrageous Land Deal
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A land deal even more disgusting than the recent “double appraised value” Palm Creek purchase is on Tuesday’s Commission agenda, along with the tax hike vote. If Chairman Charles Bannister gets his way, the county will again use public monies to buy land that it does not need, and at significantly higher than appraised value.
In early May, the Commission voted to pay the seller’s asking price for 33 acres near the proposed Palm Creek Park near Lawrenceville. During the discussion of this deal, D-4 Commissioner Kevin Kenerly foretold of another purchase for which the county might pay three times the appraised value.
I had been told that this second buy, pushed aggressively by Chairman Charles Bannister and D-1 Commissioner Shirley Lasseter, would be from a Bannister crony and would make the Palm Creek purchase look like “chump change.”
The proposed purchase, 16 acres at $325,000 per acre or almost $5.3 million, is on Tuesday’s Commission agenda.
The land, owned by Ty Robinson and Old Peachtree Partners, LLC, lies in the path of the extension of McGinnis Ferry Road near Suwanee. While Lorraine Green was still the D-1 Commissioner, the county appraised, negotiated and agreed to buy approximately two acres, all that was needed for road right-of-way and a sewer force main.
Before the deal could be closed, the LLC partners backed out; a nearby tract had sold for a higher per acre value and they apparently decided that they could sell the entire 16 acres for a higher price.
The county sued to enforce the terms of the contract; in the alternative, it also proceeded with condemnation to gain clear title. The county has reportedly offered Robinson and the other partners the original, contracted price in the condemnation proceedings.
As land buys and condemnations go, this one was fairly cut and dried. The county sought only that property required to complete the extension. Robinson had agreed to sell at a fair price. When Robinson reneged, the county asked the court to enforce the terms of the contract. Regardless, the county could acquire the two acres through its exercise of eminent domain.
The county has proceeded in good faith and is under no further obligation to Robinson and Old Peachtree Partners, LLC. Inexplicably, however, Bannister brought before the Commission a proposal to purchase the entire 16 acres. Even worse, the purchase price that Bannister proposed is close to the seller’s asking price; approximately double the county’s own appraised value!
Lasseter, Bannister’s “Mini Me,” is his second vote. D-2 Commissioner Bert Nasuti, a attorney, has recused himself from all discussions and will not vote on Tuesday… one of his partners is a minority owner of the contested property and it is Nasuti’s personal policy not to vote on any issue in which his firm is involved.
District 3’s Mike Beaudreau is adamantly opposed to the purchase, as he was in the Palm Creek debacle. Beaudreau is not alone; upper-level staff and the legal department reportedly oppose the deal as well.
That leaves Kevin Kenerly as the swing vote. Three weeks ago, he voted to buy the Palm Creek tract at double appraised value. At the time, Kenerly expressed alarm and concern about another then-unnamed tract for which the Commission would vote to overpay. What he didn’t say is that, earlier that morning, he had already supported Bannister’s proposal to buy the Robinson land… unneeded land at more than double appraised value!
No Logical Reason
There is no justification for this purchase, at any price. The county only requires two acres of Robinson’s land for the McGinnis Ferry extension. If an amicable agreement could not be reached, the county had the authority to take the land (with fair compensation) through eminent domain. We know that the original value was fair because Robinson agreed to it!
Bannister cannot even argue, like in the Palm Creek deal, that the purchase is a less-costly way to resolve a lawsuit. The county filed the suit… the cheapest way to resolve the case (if that was indeed the purpose) would be to simply drop it!
The only logical conclusion is that Bannister, with the complicity of Kenerly and Lasseter, intends to use your money to repay a political favor or enrich a friend.
What You Can Do
Bannister’s boldness is mind-boggling; especially with as much heat as the Commission has taken over the Palm Creek land buy and, more recently, Bannister’s proposal to hike taxes by almost 30%. Either Bannister is just plain stupid or, more likely, he thinks that YOU are more stupid than is he.
You must act now:
1. I plan to send the Commission the following message via the contact form at www.tinyurl.com/commishes. You are invited to use my words, if you like… what matters is that Chairman Bannister hears from you and as many of your neighbors and friends as possible before Tuesday:
“Chairman Bannister, I have learned via TalkGwinnett.com that you (with Kenerly and Lasseter’s support) propose to purchase even more unneeded land at more than double its value. I am alarmed at your lack of judgment and common sense. The reckless manner in which you spend public money, at the same time that you propose to raise the tax rate by almost 30%, is appalling. I insist that you abandon your plan to purchase 16 acres from Old Peachtree Partners, LLC on Tuesday.
“Commissioner Beaudreau, I applaud your recent efforts to prevent the purchase of unneeded land at inflated prices. I support your conservative, common sense approach and will encourage my friends and neighbors to do likewise. Thank you for opposing this land deal on Tuesday.”
Contact the Commission: http://www.tinyurl.com/commishes
2. You must encourage at least one other person to contact the Commission. Forward this article to your mailing list or get your homeowners association involved. A groundswell of opposition has (at least, temporarily) halted Bannister’s plan to hike taxes by 30%. A similar effort can derail his proposal to direct over four million dollars of your money to a political crony for no justifiable reason;
3. Attend the tax protest in Suwanee on Monday evening, the final public hearing on the millage rate at 10:30 am on Tuesday and/or the County Commission meeting at 2 pm, when the vote on this issue will occur.
The Deal:
2009-0646 Approval/authorization for Chairman to execute Purchase and Sale Agreement between Gwinnett County, Georgia and Old Peachtree Partners, LLC approving the purchase of 16.203, more or less, acres of fee simple right of way, Parcel # 4 located in Land Lot 153 of the 7th District of Gwinnett County in the amount of $5,265,975.00. Authorization for Chairman to complete all necessary documents to complete closing, subject to approval by the Law Department. McGinnis Ferry Road Extension project (#F-0034), 2005 Sales Tax Program – Commission District 1/Lasseter
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Post-meeting Update! At today’s business session, the Gwinnett County Commission tabled this item until August 4. D-1 Commissioner Shirley Lasseter made the motion to table, saying that she needed to “do more research.” However, the fact is that YOU stopped this bad deal from happening today.
The Commission received well over 100 emails from Gwinnett Gazette readers, expressing outrage at Bannister’s plan to buy 16 acres from an associate at nearly twice appraised value, and when only two acres is needed for the right-of-way.
The article above also set in motion a series of events, the details of which I cannot yet reveal, which helped to stop this bad deal from moving forward.
This one is not over, however. There was no reason to table this but to deflect the ire of Gwinnett residents. This one will come back on August 4 and we will have to hold Bannister, Lasseter and Kenerly’s feet to the fire once again.
The lesson to learn is that, working together, we can command our elected officials’ attention and demand that they act responsibly and ethically.
If you contacted the Commission on this issue, you made a difference. Congratulations!
The Commission is currently being deluged with emails from Gwinnett residents outraged by the revelations in my article.
Some have reported receiving a response from Bannister in which he essentially dismisses the emails because they are “all the same.” He also claims that the emails are based on “factually incorrect” information.
I encourage you to demand that Bannister explain how the information is wrong.
[...] is currently under fire for attempting to direct public money to political supporters through unnecessary land purchases at inflated values. In May, a Bannister-led majority paid double [...]