Special Grand Jury for Land Deals a Big Deal
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The AJC is reporting that District Attorney Danny Porter has requested a special grand jury to examine several questionable land deals by the County Commission. The grand jury must be authorized by a majority of Gwinnett’s Superior Court judges.
The transactions to be investigated could include the purchase at an inflated price of 33 acres adjacent to the proposed Palm Creek park as well as a proposal to buy 16 acres well in excess of appraised value when only two acres were needed for road right-of-way. This was the deal that TalkGwinnett readers helped to derail when the Commission was flooded with over 300 emails in a 48 hour period.
The special grand jury could be the best opportunity for Gwinnett citizens to expose some of the “under the table” land deals that have, to date, only been rumored to have occurred. The grand jury will not only have the power to compel the influential and the well-connected to testify to their involvement, but can require the production of documents as well.
This could be important in exposing the “money trail” normally hidden from public scrutiny. It has long been rumored that a Commissioner’s vote for a lucrative rezoning could be secured by “flipping” the subject property’s contract sale through his or her real estate firm, allowing the Commissioner to earn a “commission” on the deal. Documentation of such a transaction is usually not part of the public record.
Gwinnett D.A. seeks special grand jury for county land deals | ajc.com
It’s about time. These deals have been draining the taxpayers for years. The deal where the county bought land for a park in Sugarhill is an example of abuse of county funds. The developers i.e. Bowen, Cape and Phelps had the land under contract and the county agreed to buy it from them for more than the county appraised value. They made $4 million profit and the developer only owned the land for one week. The county approved it and the developers got rich off our tax dollars. This happened two years ago and the land is sitting idle. They spent $13.95 million of tax payer funds and now the county is broke. I hope the DA gets to the truth by having all parties involved testify to the grand jury. You can watch the approval of this purchase on the county website of the commission meeting on August 7, 2007. The developers bought the land on August 6, 2007.
This action really makes you wonder if Bannister’s laundry bill just went up!!!
[...] and by a recent AJC investigation may have claimed its first victim, even before the special Grand Jury impaneled to examine the deals held its first meeting. A Superior Court judge in Gwinnett County [...]