The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) must still give its blessing, but it appears that the residents of Oconee Pointe Subdivision and Northeast Georgia Bank have resolved a dispute over 10 lots supposedly designated as greenspace.
With the consent of both parties, the Commerce Planning Commission voted unanimously Monday night to recommend to the Commerce City Council a proposal that:
•retains five lots for greenspace and rezones the other five as R1-E lots suitable for development
•annexes and rezones for greenspace 5.171 acres adjacent to the North Oconee River at the end of the subdivision that includes a 60-foot buffer zone behind houses on the east side of the road — connecting all of the greenspace in the development.
•gives resident Randall Langston a quit claim deed to a small slice of land on the side of his front yard.
The FDIC should make a decision within the next two weeks on whether it will accept the arrangement, according to Henry Kesler of Northeast Georgia Bank.
The bank received the property when it assumed the assets of Freedom Bank following Freedom Bank’s failure and the subsequent foreclosure against developer Daniel Wilson. The problem arose when the bank attempted — at FDIC’s request — to liquidate 10 lots at the front of the subdivision, which are noted as R1-E lots on the subdivision plat.
But those lots — the first five on each side of the entrance to the subdivision — were supposed to have been set aside for greenspace and, as such, could not have been built upon. However, Wilson never recorded the change to greenspace on the plats at the courthouse, raising questions about the legal status of the lots.
Residents of the subdivision challenged the bank’s attempt to rezone the lots R1-E, and the bank warned that FDIC might order it to file suit to protect FDIC’s property if the lots were not rezoned.
Planning Commission chairman Joe Leffew and Mayor Clark Hill apparently negotiated the compromise.
“I talked with most of the residents,” Leffew commented. “I wanted to find the best solution for all of us — for those living in the city, for our neighbors in the county and for the bank.”
To the residents, he advised, “It’s not what you had and it’s not what you were promised, and I really don’t like that. “…All the t’s were not crossed and the i’s not dotted. It’s been a hardship for all of the people around Oconee Pointe.”
Leffew estimated that he’d spent 40 hours on the issue since the planning commission voted a month earlier to table the discussion in the hope of achieving a compromise.
The matter next goes to the Commerce City Council for approval. The council will take up the issue at its Feb. 13 meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the Commerce Civic Center, by which time the FDIC is expected to have reached a decision.
In the only other business Monday night, the planning commission voted unanimously to re-elect its officers. Leffew will serve as chairman, Doug Newcomer as vice chairman and David Zellner, the city’s planning director, as secretary.
