Oaky Woods Corruption Update - Commentary by Steve Scroggins

Steve Scroggins

Steve Scroggins is a volunteer contributor to the Georgia Heritage Council who lives in Macon. He is the deranged creative force behind the X-Files parody and satire feature.

EMAIL THIS PRINT THIS

Oaky Woods Corruption Update – Commentary by Steve Scroggins, 12/7/09

"The accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference." --Bess Myerson

"Today, another shoe dropped in this smelly tale, and we learned that the owners of the Oaky Woods properties hired a lobbyist to facilitate the sale of Oaky Woods to the State for preservation. Hmmmm.
"The State of Georgia could have bought Oaky Woods much cheaper in 2004 -- but Perdue blocked the preservation for reasons that are shockingly obvious. The owners bought the Oaky Woods property for $1,600 per acre and, now, they're willing to sell it for $14,000 per acre." ---Steve Scroggins, from Taxpayer Bailouts for Perdue and Oaky Woods Lobbyists?, 1/22/09

As a citizen of Georgia, a taxpayer and an outdoorsman, I've been following the Oaky Woods corruption story with keen interest and noted another interesting twist in Friday's Macon Telegraph story entitled, Oaky Woods development plan halted (text below).

For readers who haven't followed the story in detail, here's a few items from the GHC archive to bring you up to speed:
Taxpayer Bailouts for Perdue and Oaky Woods Lobbyists? --Steve Scroggins, GHC, 1/22/09

Oaky Woods plot thickens...corruption festers --Steve Scroggins, GHC, 6/18/07

Perdue Land Scandal Timeline --Davis & Scroggins, GHC, 6/6/07

Georgia Challenges Louisiana As Corruption Leader --J.A. Davis & Steve Scroggins, GHC, 6/6/07

Boss Sonny Boy --Oaky Woods Boys parody song (MP3)

Georgia DNR should pursue purchase of Oaky Woods Tract...NOW! --Steve Scroggins, GHC, 11/3/06

Connecting dots on Sonny’s Land Deals & Tax Breaks --Steve Scroggins, GHC, 11/1/06

Perdue Failed to Disclose Land Buy Near Prized Tract --AJC, 10/28/06

Perdue says no to conservation --Bill Shipp, 10/29/06

Oaky Woods Purchase Was Possible --AJC, 11/1/06

I won't rehash all the facts here that are revealed in the commentary links above and news story below; but I did want to add some context and connections.

Brief Summary Overview:

July 2003 Gov. Sonny Perdue established a shell corporation (Maryson, LLC) which purchased a tract adjacent to Oaky Woods WMA. Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) had been leasing the Oaky Woods property for a WMA (wildlife management area) for three plus decades and had classified the tract as a high priority acquisition long ago due to the unique and rare habitat supporting rare species. Oaky Woods is the best black bear habitat in the southeast.

In Feb. 2004, owner Weyerhauser announced plans to sell much of its southeastern timber acreage including Oaky Woods. The Nature Conservancy (a non-profit) offered to bid $26 million for the property providing that Georgia would pledge to purchase the property at cost at some unspecified future date for preservation.

In May 2004, DNR commissioner Lonice Barrett declined the Nature Conservancy's offer stating that the Governor advised him that the budget was too tight. Barrett was soon transferred to a job in the Governor's executive staff. Ten days after Barrett declined on behalf of the state, Maryson, LLC transferred ownership of the 101 acres into Sonny Perdue's name. Plausible deniability?

In June 2004, Houston County developers (Free, Ayers, et al) announced their bid had won Oaky Woods (19,000 plus acres) and that they had major development plans for the tract. They envisioned an upscale private community modeled on The Villages in Florida. The value of Perdue's adjacent land more than doubled in less than two years. Barrett and Perdue denied any colusion.

Requests have been filed (recently withdrawn) for special variances to develop the Oaky Woods property and a water treatment facility.

Lobbyists converged on the capitol seeking to pass a special law enabling "private cities" where developers can levy and collect "taxes" to operate and maintain common property and infrastructure. That special legislation became entangled in the GOP's 2005 aggressive agenda to aid developers known collectively as "the land grab bills" (eminent domain) and the "secrecy bills." Though most of that 2005 bundle was defeated (died in committee) due to public outrage, efforts continued to authorize "private cities."

SB 200 to authorize "Infrastructure Development Districts" eventually passed in May 2007 to be effective only IF statewide voters approved the Constitutional Amendment in the general election November 2008. The amendment was defeated; 52% voted "NO" statewide. Interestingly, 57% of Houston County voters voted "NO." The public noted that there's no shortage of growth in Georgia.

Preservationists have emerged seeking ways to Save Oaky Woods! from development for wildlife management. As the premium real estate market collapsed, the current owners of the property have continued to seek profits exceeding 800 percent (800%) as of January 2009. They hired lobbyists to help facilitate the sale and cut through red tape.

I remain hopeful that the Georgia DNR can acquire the Oaky Woods property as a preserve, to manage wildlife and natural resources for the benefit of current and future generations of Georgians. I remain angry and outraged that greed and cronyism have made the task infinitely more difficult and unlikely and probably much more expensive for taxpayers.

As noted in the links above, the current owners purchased the property for $1600 an acre, but now (according to the Macon Telegraph as of late January) they're asking $14,000 per acre to sell the land they acquired in 2004. That's quite a windfall to hold the property five and half years. Perhaps there has been some negotiated downward adjustment to the price since then?

It's completely reasonable that they should make a reasonable profit and cover their holding costs (loan interest, legal fees, surveying, foregone interest earnings, etc.) But it's also completely reasonable to deduct the extravagant lease payments they extorted from Georgia taxpayers in petty retaliation for prosecuting some of the Oaky Woods owners for illegally hunting a baited dove field in 2006. See the link in this paragraph to judge timing and motives yourself. Currently, the Oaky Woods tract is the most expensive lease in the DNR inventory of property leases (as the Macon Telegraph's Heather Duncan details in her June 17, 2007 story). Of course, whatever that "reasonable profit" is, it's chargeable to Sonny Perdue. If purchase by the state weren't blocked by Perdue in 2004 (when we had budget surpluses! according to Perdue in 2006), Georgians wouldn't be paying the appreciated price to preserve it.

I was both dismayed and hopeful when I read the story Jan. 23, 2009 that Oaky Woods developers had hired a lobbyist to help facilitate the sale of Oaky Woods to the state. One wonders what kind of backroom deals are made when high priced lobbyists and middle men enter the equation. Boss Sonny is dangerous in the backroom. Now various local elected officials are also involved. Also, according to a Mar.18 story in the Macon Telegraph, there may be federal loans and other options to put together in a financing package.

If the right conservationists come along to put up the money, or arrange grants and loans, knowing of course that they might have to hold the property for some years before the State of Georgia can fund the purchase, it could happen. As you recall, Perdue was bragging in his 2006 re-election campaign how he had turned a 2002 deficit into a huge surplus---yet he claimed "tight money" as the reason to decline the 2004 purchase of Oaky Woods. Ken Foskett and James Salzer of the AJC expose that claim as false in their 11/1/06 story.

Since then, of course, the ecomony has tanked and Georgia's General Assembly faces severe cuts in order to balance the 2010 budget. Obviously, $30 million dollars would be a hard sell in the General Assembly while they're cutting teachers, and state employee benefits and freezing the hiring of employees, etc.

But just as the economy reversed in the last few years, it can and will turn around again. Let's hope the general assembly sees the wisdom (general and political) of preserving the treasure known as Oaky Woods...before the owners see a rebounding real estate market and resume their lust for obscene profits.

With today's news (Oaky Woods development plan halted), let's hope that conservationists make the rights moves soon and let's also hope the governor who blocked the acquisition in 2004 will get out of the way. Given his conflict of interest, he should allow the General Assembly to handle the matter and stay out of it.

Steve Scroggins lives in Macon and contributes most of GHC's parody and political cartoons and graphics.

Sign Up for weekly updates Now! Like this? SIGN UP now for weekly email updates in your inbox !!
Contribute now to help us maintain this website and carry on our mission!

Oaky Woods Development Plan Halted
By Jennifer Burk, Macon Telegraph
Friday Dec 4, 2009

WARNER ROBINS — The owners of Oaky Woods, a popular hunting and wildlife area, recently withdrew their request for a zoning variance that would allow for construction of a wastewater treatment plant on 18 acres of the property. The group also withdrew its Developments of Regional Impact application for the project, known as Winding River Development. A Developments of Regional Impact review is required before Houston County may consider the variance request.

Scott Free, one of the property’s four owners, asked to withdraw the applications for the review and variance in nearly identical letters Oct. 16 and Nov. 25, respectively. The letters cited “conditions which ... we have not been able to resolve in the recent past” as the reason for the withdrawal.

“However, we have reason to believe that the problems of the past can be resolved in the near future,” Free wrote. “At which time we will re-submit our proposal.”

Free and other owners did not return phone calls for comment. They purchased the property in 2004 and in the past have said they plan to build up to 30,000 homes in Oaky Woods over a 30-year period. The about 20,000-acre tract near Kathleen currently is leased to the state as a wildlife management area.

Houston Commission Chairman Ned Sanders said a change in the rules regarding Developments of Regional Impact reviews prompted the owners to withdraw their applications.

The project already received several extensions, and with the change another was not possible, Sanders said. Because some questions in the application still were unresolved, Sanders said the Middle Georgia Regional Commission, which conducts the review, informed him it would have to give a recommendation against the project.

“The applicants decided it would be prudent to just withdraw it and submit it at a later date,” Sanders said. “It’s still a project they’re interested in. It will probably come back alive sometime in the future.”

In addition, the current economy is not prime for development, he said.

Bob Rychel, manager of planning programs at the Middle Georgia Regional Commission, said one of the review’s rules states a negative finding must be issued if there are any unresolved inter-jurisdictional conflicts.

The city of Warner Robins had some issues with the service delivery plan for the development, he said.

In 2008, Sanders said Warner Robins, under former Mayor Donald Walker, objected to the owners’ variance request for a wastewater treatment plant because the development would be in the city’s service delivery area, and the city could provide the service.

Mayor John Havrilla said this week he has not specifically discussed the property with anybody.

Oaky Woods is home to black bears, old hardwood trees, unique plant communities and the only population of Russian boar known to exist in Georgia. The woods’ geology includes a limestone ridge that dates back 65 million years.

For these reasons, many people are interested in conserving the woods.

John Trussell, founder of Save Oaky Woods, said the best use for the property is a wildlife management area. The withdrawal of the two applications is good news, at least in the short term, he said.

“Probably construction of a massive subdivision is not imminent at the present time,” he said. “It does not mean it cannot happen in the future.”

His organization recently received nonprofit status, which will make it easier to solicit funds and apply for grants to study the area, he said.

Trussell recently gave a tour of the property to Pierre Howard, president of the Georgia Conservancy. As a result, the group renewed its call for preservation.

“We feel (Oaky Woods) is a state treasure because of the location, because of the multiple uses it can be put to by the people who live in that area and people all over the state. It’s a primary place for sportsmen,” Howard said. In addition, “the natural value of the property is rare.”

Howard, a former lieutenant governor who was named to the group’s top post earlier this year, said the Georgia Conservancy plans to lobby legislators when the General Assembly convenes early next year.

“Some of those things like Oaky Woods, you can lose the opportunity to preserve them,” he said. “I think this will be Gov. (Sonny) Perdue’s last chance to save that property for future generations of Georgians.”

In 2004, Perdue, who owns land adjacent to the area, declined an offer from the Nature Conservancy to help the state buy the land.

The state has been in talks with owners about buying the land periodically ever since but has been unable to agree on a price. Negotiations continue, said state Sen. Ross Tolleson, R-Perry.

Tolleson, who chairs the Natural Resources and the Environment Committee, said it would be premature to say whether the state is any closer to a purchase.

“I wouldn’t want to say at this time whether we are or we aren’t,” he said.

Information from The Telegraph’s archives was used in this report.

To contact writer Jennifer Burk, call 256-9705.