Our last article detailed aspects of Fraud in the 2016 Land Deal. In this article we are going to investigate the Incompetent Behavior of the past POA Board, and a related Fraud that has just happened recently, in November 2018.
The Last Article dealt solely with issues involving Warranty Deed #8, but in this article we are going to also explore Warranty Deed #6 that was also a subset of the 2016 Land Deal. At a value of $2,884,500, according to the subsequently filed PT-61 that went with this sale, this was the 2nd largest portion of the overall 2016 Land Deal. The majority of value in this Warranty Deed came from the “Wilderness Parkway Property” (WPP), although I believe some of the WPP was included in Warranty Deed #8. Regardless, ALL of the land in both deeds shared one similarity.
The Land was deeded conditionally as “Common Property.” Below is the excerpt, which is found in both deeds (for clarification, ALL of the land in each Deed is listed under “Exhibit A”), so absolutely everything was transferred as Common Property.
As defined under Article 1, Section 1 (c) of the Covenants (See pages 4 & 5), this land CANNOT be developed for residential units. It’s the same as all the other protected land (i.e. such as Nature Valley, the Wildflower Meadows, or the trails in Wildcat) which is all protected from Development. You could technically build a tennis court, or a Bocce Court, or a Community Restaurant, or Fitness Center, or anything else to be used for the COMMON Use of the Property Owners, and their Guests – but NOT the development of residential units.
QUICK RECAP:
- ALL Of the Land purchased in Deeds #6 & #8 were deeded to us as Common Properties
- The land included ALL of Sconti Point, and ALL of the Wilderness Parkway Property
Before we move to the primary subject matter of this Article, I would like to address the improprieties, the fraudulent, and the illegal issues that ALSO EXIST in regards to Warranty Deed #6, similar to what was found in Warranty Deed #8 (see article).
- The Land sold to us was mixed into multiple parcels, and NOT all of those parcels were referenced in the PT-61’s as required by law.
- Some of the Land was indicated as being already owned by the POA in County Tax Records, and we had also been paying the taxes prior to our purchasing it “again”. This issue has never been addressed.
- In specific regards to Tracts Z-1, Z-2, Z-3, and Z-4 – none of these tracts reference a legal metes and bounds description, and all of them rely on a revised UNFILED Plat, dated June 19, 2014, as the single source for final legal description. There is absolutely NO publicly filed record that can be used to provide current legal identification of this land, which is in conflict with the legal requirements for land sales.
Now that this “trivial” bit of criminality and fraudulent behavioral fact has been addressed… on to the main thrust of this story….
As mentioned above, we most likely purchased land in Deed #6 that we already owned. To make matters worse, we purchased it at the highest possible market value – presented to us as “High Density Development Land” – but DELIVERED to us a undevelopable “Common Property”.
What I am going to tell you next may shock you…. that the POA was actually UNAWARE that we were receiving this land as Common Property. They were absolutely clueless to this fact. This is evidenced by their own statements, and the recommendations made to the Board by the Land Use Task Force, who worked on a land use report for a full TWO (2) years after the close of the Sale. Below is the text recommendation in Page 11 of the final Land Use Report for the Wilderness Parkway Property:
And next is from the Table of Recommendations found on Page 14 of the final Land Use Report..
Does the above look like they were AWARE that they had just purchased “Common Properties”?!?! That they were AWARE that the Properties could NOT be developed???!?!
No! They were absolutely and completely utterly clueless – even two years after purchasing the land. I don’t think anyone even read the bloody documents in the contracts they were signing! And where were our attorney’s!?!?! Who the hell was overseeing this deal? Just a note… current Board Member, Grant Grimes, is listed in the Credits as being responsible for putting this LUTF report together. Phil Anderson and Dudley Devore were Board Liasons.
BUT WAIT! In the title of this Article, I used the Word “Fraud”.. What I just laid out in this last section is unquestionably an example of Incompetent Behavior. Now let’s get to the issue of Fraud….
Let’s lay some legal groundwork for what I am about to tell you.
To change the USE of Common Property under the Covenants requires a 100% Voter Approval. This is according to Georgia Law as found in OCGA § 44-5-60. If people remember, this was at the heart of the matter when they tried to sell the southern portion of High Gap. Steve Wilson, Board Member at the time (2018), and an ATTORNEY, was pretty clear on this as well, and even publicly stated this in a facebook post during a discussion on the matter….
Now ultimately they admitted that it was the 100% requirement – which of course does match up with Georgia Law. But let’s address quickly the 75% comment – which is the % allowed in the Declarations and Covenants language required to make certain changes to the Covenants. The State law supercedes the Covenant language, since it more restrictive, but for arguments sake, let us assume that either one is valid.
So what happened in November 2018?
In 2018, the POA Board passed a Restrictive Covenant to protect Sconti Point and the Wilderness Parkway Property from Development!!!
Yayyy!!!! …. right? Sounds Great!!! ….right?
Not so fast…. Here’s an excerpt from Dec 2018 Inside the Gates that gives some of the fine print details…..
By the way, I forgot to highlite a specific part, but one of my favorite parts is where they say they passed this Restrictive Covenant based upon the “Land Use Task Force Recommendations”. Really? Because that isn’t what the report said.
Let me tell you my theory….
This same Board, that paid $9.4 Million Dollars for a lot of land we probably already owned, then overpaid based on fraudulently inflated appraisals, some of which they didn’t even verify through a 5 minute, publicly available, Online Municipal Code Ordinance search (i.e. the fact that the land was zoned for only 5 Units per Acre, instead of the 6 per Acre that the Valuation report claimed). The Board then finalized the deal believing they could sell some of the land to a developer “to pay debt”, but failed to actually read the details of what they were buying. They got scammed! They didn’t catch the fact that they were receiving the land as undevelopable Common Property.
After that, the Land Use Task Force wasted 2 years developing plans to sell the property off as development land, because they didn’t catch the “Common Property” stipulation either.
THEN, I started publicly unraveling everything with my pesky investigations in the early Fall of 2018. They then realized what a screw up they had on their hands – but they were unwilling to let go of their development plans. Realizing that there was ZERO chance that they would ever get 100% Voter Approval in the future to allow development of the Wilderness Parkway Property (as was actually recommended by the LUTF) – they cooked up this “Feel Good” restrictive covenant that contained a back door that would allow development with only 51% Voter Approval. They figured that in a few years, like everything else in this community, they could trot out some once-in-a-lifetime development scheme, reference their ability to do it through this resolution with 51%, and everyone would shrug and not ask questions. Next they would put the “get-the-vote” gears in motion – organize the Sidebar and Neighbor-to-Neighbor Facebook group admins to launch their “Censored Echo Chamber” discussions; work with the Smoke Signals to write puffy stories; use Inside the Gates to issue official statements of support; hold some Rah Rah Meetings; and they would lock in that 51% with ease! And the land would get developed by some insider group for a nice incestuous game of “lets all make money off the Property Owners!”
Do I have that right? I mean it sounds pretty much like the status quo I’ve seen for the past 20 years. If I was them, I would probably do the same thing. It is a formula that has worked for decades in this community.
Oh, and one last thing…. who put this together? And which of the Board Members voted to approve it? Following is an excerpt from the Nov 2018 Board Minutes (pg 2)…
This issue of the 100% Voter Approval was front in center in the 2018 Tree Provision changes. It was a prominent central point in the High Gap Deal. And George Nowack, the POA Attorney, was the (losing) attorney in perhaps the most clarifying and precedent setting Georgia Legal Case in regards to this issue -MARINO et al. v. CLARY LAKES HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC. No. A14A2236. Court of Appeals of Georgia. Decided: March 16, 2015. That whole case revolved around OCGA § 44-5-60, which requires 100% Voter Approval to change Covenanted Property Use. So it is IMPOSSIBLE to believe that HE didn’t know that what they were doing was creating an illegal “backdoor” intended to contravene existing Georgia Law and Covenant voting restrictions regarding our Common Property Rights. And again, it had been front and center in BOARD discussions for a full year! THEY KNEW! THE ATTORNEY KNEW!
And there is your fraud.
IF ANYONE HAS QUESTIONS, post them in our Facebook Group and I will do my best to answer….
https://www.facebook.com/groups/FocusonBigCanoeGA/
Good luck. Peace,
– david / publisher
PS… one more article coming detailing yet another SERIOUS fraudulent aspect of this 2016 Land Deal, , and then I publish the roadmap to a solution that gets us out of this mess.
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