The Augusta Land Bank Authority exists solely to benefit the taxpayers of Richmond County by turning non-productive properties back into economically beneficial, tax paying properties.
Recent developments reveal that the Land Bank Authority uses its power to benefit those who have relationships or connections and punishes political enemies.
Nobody can deny that former state senator Charles Walker Sr., despite his prison term has been able to wield substantial political influence over a certain segment of the Augusta population. He was able to acquire property from the city at a steal. The move, while legal should appall taxpayers.
That same property is now getting a $500,000 facelift on the backs of the taxpayers. The plans for those funds were known by the Land Bank Authority, Housing and Community Development office and Walker.
Walker to date has done nothing to improve the property or put it back into economic use.
At the most recent Land Bank meeting, a vote was taken to deny the sale of a 0.16 acre at the advice of staff. The lot is appraised for $7,000. The county acknowledged the lot was worth $7,000. Staff still recommended denying a proposal made to purchase the lot for a sales price of $7,000.
The Land Bank Executive Chairman Shawn Edwards provided the recommendation to deny the offer with no explanation other than the city had lots of sunk costs in the lot. Edwards recommended the buyer pay $13,000 for the lot which is the full market value of $7,000 plus the $6,000 in sunk costs the city has in legal work related to the property.
Edwards and the Land Bank required the prospective buyer to fill out an application and submit an offer to the board. Sen Walker was not required to follow the same process.
Not only was Walker not required to follow the same procedures, the Land Bank has never voted down a proposal until the June 22 meeting.
Edwards decision makes no sense until you factor in the fact that The Augusta Press exposed his attempt to use the Land Bank for his own personal venture to open a strip club on city owned land off of Gordon Hwy. After the rouse was exposed the strip club project seemed to disappear.
While I didn’t personally stand to gain financially in any way from the sale of the 0.16 acres, it would have benefited a real estate client of mine, I was trying to help. Edwards’ decision is clear retaliation for the negative coverage he received.
The result is that the lot will continue to sit undeveloped, off of the tax rolls and costing the taxpayer’s money to cut the grass. Meanwhile Edwards will continue to go unchecked, unaccountable to anyone with zero consequences.
What’s in your deed?
The recent controversy surrounding a house in Barrington subdivision being used as an event venue opens an interesting discussion about property rights.
If you are bound by the ordinances and codes of the municipality where the property is located and you can be taxed by the same municipality indiscriminately, what rights do you truly have? In addition, if your property is located in a subdivision that has a home owners association, what rights do you have if your desired use of your property conflicts with that of the rules of the HOA?
Below is a PDF of the deed for the house in question.
Deeds convey ownership. In this case Gursimran Singh Walia was deeded ownership of the property from the previous owner. The deed states:
This property is conveyed subject to Protective Covenants applicable to said subdivision recorded in the Clerk’s Office etc… and subject to any and all other applicable easements or restrictions of record in said Clerk’s Office or shown on said plat.
In addition to the protective covenants of the HOA, various easements and plats are referenced.
One thing people often miss when buying real estate is that your deed outlines exactly what you are buying and who else has rights related to that property. In this case Walia accepted ownership of a property through a deed but gave up certain rights to the HOA and various other parties through easements as part of that deed.
Attempts to resolve the use of the property as an event venue failed, resulting in a court hearing. Walia plead not guilty, and the matter is set for a trial date of July 25.
While I believe strongly in property rights, I think Walia is fighting a losing battle. HOA’s have strong rights when it comes to nuisance uses like event venues. Those property owners have the right to enjoy their property without the infringement of others.
Walia is an experienced real estate investor and an active professor at Augusta University. He can’t claim he didn’t understand his rights or uses allowed under his deed.
The bigger question that needs answered is, how this will affect other HOAs. If someone buys a home in a covenant restricted subdivision, do they have the right to start renting the home via AirBnB or VRBO? How many nights a year can they rent it? HOA’s have been trying for years with some success to prevent rentals.
The issue gets even more sticky when you consider that an HOA might have certain rules in place when you received your deed and later votes to change those rules. The vacation rental industry is likely to incur some type of regulation. It will be interesting to watch as new HOA’s come into existence what their rules are and what rules existing HOA’s change. Either way, I don’t see Walia succeeding on July 25.
Crime, homelessness and an apathetic sheriff
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of deputy Kenneth Mercer who was wounded Saturday morning. The event is a good reminder that law enforcement puts their life on the line for us daily, a fact we should be incredibly thankful for.
The shooting involved a homeless man from New Jersey who was arrested on April 14th and 28th. He pleaded guilty in both incidents but was released with no fines and time served on May 11.
Homelessness is a huge problem, and it is only getting worse. Has the homeless task force done anything to help solve the problem? What about the sheriff’s office?
Roundtree’s solution is to hold a meeting with property owners to discuss the problem.
To property owners, the news release stated:
“This invite serves as your notification to voice your concerns. We would like to start a proactive strategy among business owners and your sheriff’s Office. We will be hosting an open discussion and welcoming feedback from business owners in the Washington Road-Interstate 20 area in response to their expressed concerns involving homeless issues affecting crime in this commercial strip.”
Augusta’s sheriff calls this approach “proactive” after years of silence from his office about the homelessness issue. The goals of the meeting are a really bad joke.
The goals of the collaboration are:
- To identify all property owners in the focus area
- To request each owner acknowledge that data shows high crime in the area
- To meet with all owners in the area to get them involved
- To obtain written permission for the sheriff’s office to act on an owner’s behalf
- To remove unauthorized personal property or temporary structures from the site
- To remove any person not present to conduct business from quasi-public parking areas
- To work with the court system to ensure both the owner’s and removed person’s rights are protected
Below is my response to the seven goals.
- Do you not know the property owners in that area already?
- Why does a property owner need to acknowledge that crime is high? Is it their fault? It sounds like Roundtree is wanting to pass the responsibility of high crime over to the property owners.
- We are not law enforcement officers. Why would we need to be involved. We pay taxes so that we can have a police force that enforces the laws on the books.
- Can the sheriff not act now? Why do they need permission in writing to act? The sheriff could start by reversing their policy to not answer alarm calls, a fact they publicized to the criminals as well as property owners.
- This is alarming in so many ways I don’t have the space to write. I am sure this will come up during the Tuesday night meeting. I assume Roundtree is talking about tents or homeless people’s temporary structures. Surely, we have squatter or trespasser laws on the books that just need to be enforced.
- This could go very badly and be abused by officers. But I might can get on board with this.
- Is this really a problem? There are laws on the books. Just enforce those laws and most of the problems would be solved. What Augusta’s District Attorney does from there is another issue. That is outside of the sheriff’s prerogative, so it makes no sense why the private property owners need to engage in that dialogue with the sheriff.
At the end of the day, all citizens want is for law enforcement to enforce the laws on the books. After that it’s expected that the court system does its job to keep them off of the streets. It is really that simple. If any one of those systems breaks down anarchy will ensue. We are seeing that anarchy right now in Augusta as our apathetic sheriff has refused to act and our DA refuses to keep criminals behind bars.
Property owners are not the solution unless we can get enough of them to band together to vote for a new sheriff and DA.
