| Residents pack golf course meeting
Wellstone LLC hoping to turn facility into continuing care retirement center By Julie Arrington Staff Writer Developers got a taste of the opposition they face Monday night as representatives of Wellstone LLC and residents concerned about plans for the area they live in hashed out the details of a development proposed for Lanier Golf Course. More than 200 residents packed the county commissioners' meeting room, filling seats and standing along walls, for a meeting hosted by Wellstone to give information about the company's plans for a 770-unit residential development that includes a 300-unit continuing care retirement center (CCRC). The meeting lasted nearly four hours and included a brief video presentation on the proposed development and information from the National Golf Association on the declining state of golf courses around the country, an overview of the development by Wellstone president and CEO John Lowery and a question and answer period. "We're not so presumptuous to think that the plan we're going to talk about today is necessarily the best plan for the property," Lowery said. "We just think it's the best plan for -- (having) examined the opportunity in the business that we're in -- we think this is the highest and best use for the property if we were to develop it." During his overview, Lowery said that because of the property's activity center designation, the county requires that 25 percent of it be set aside for commercial use, which equals approximately 42 acres of the 172-acre course. After researching the county zoning book, Lowery said, architects and engineers found that a CCRC counts as a commercial use. Gerry Buran lives behind the 15th green with his wife and works part-time for a company that purchases, manages and develops golf courses. Buran agreed with statements Lowery made saying that the company must abide by county laws on zoning. "As homeowners and county taxpayers, we believe that the (land use designation) of the property was done without proper adherence to the laws and regulations previously, and I as a taxpayer would like the county commissioners to consider the fact that maybe it shouldn't have been (designated) as an activity center in the first place," he said. Citing information from the National Golf Course Owners Association and various other sources, Buran disputed claims from the video that after the creation of golf courses at an unprecedented pace 10 years ago, golf courses are now on the decline. Buran quoted a 2006 survey by the firm Foley and Lardner LLP, saying that "a majority of respondents cited a boost in overall rounds in 2005 after experiencing declines in 2001-2004. The southeastern United States experienced the steepest remount in 2005 of any region surveyed as one in four respondents cited increases in an excess of 20 percent of activity in revenue." Lowery and attorney Doug Dillard emphasized that course owners George Bagley Jr. and Jack Manton approached Wellstone about selling the property because they were losing money. Lowery said he signed a contract in February 2006, but has not purchased the property yet. Residents argued that the golf club did not start losing members until after the owners announced that the property would be sold. The course is now a public pay-for-play facility. Lowery, Dillard and other development professionals working with Wellstone fielded a number of questions that included traffic and environmental concerns, the impact on schools and questions specifically about Wellstone and its sponsor, Cornerstone Ministries. When asked where the development's sewer capacity would come from, attorney Emory Lipscomb said that the city of Cumming has assured Wellstone that sewer service would be made available to the development. "This development will not occur without adequate sewer capacity from the city of Cumming," Dillard added. Commission Chairman Charles Laughinghouse, District 5 Commissioner Linda Ledbetter and District 3 Commissioner Jim Harrell attended the meeting. Laughinghouse said residents will have a chance again to voice their concerns when the rezoning application for the property from agricultural to a master planned district goes before the planning commission. "Perhaps as controversial as this is, perhaps at some time and I'll have to discuss it with the other members of the board, we would consider having again an open public meeting before the board of commissioners," he said. The board will make the final decision on the property's rezoning after the rezoning application goes before the planning commission. |