Wednesday, September 20, 2000

By MONROE ROARK
mroark@TheCitizenNews.com

The latest annexation request for the Deer Pointe development west of Fayetteville is no more, at least for the time being.

With the City Council making it clear that no action would be taken on the request until current litigation involving the property is settled, developer Bob Rolader informed the city late last week that he wished to withdraw his annexation and rezoning request, although he reserved the right to resubmit it after the legal issues are cleared up.

Mayor Kenneth Steele mentioned Rolader's withdrawal at Monday night's City Council meeting, but there was no council discussion or comment beyond that.
The 873-acre property on Ga. Highway 54 at Lester and Huiet roads continues to be mired in controversy, as a federal lawsuit against the former owners of the site leaves its future ownership in question.

Current land owner Dan Stinchcomb has been accused of conspiring with Amir Virani of Signa Investments Inc. to buy the land from Virani in a 1999 "fire sale" to avoid having the land seized to satisfy an $18.9 million civil judgment from a previous suit, according to court records.

Rolader, who does not own the property and is not in any way connected with the lawsuit, faxed a letter Thursday to City Hall requesting his petition be "withdrawn without prejudice."

Morton said he spoke with Rolader Wednesday after requesting an update on the legal proceedings and how long they might take. Rolader, who said he found out about the lawsuit only a couple of weeks ago, agreed that it might be best to take the current request off the City Council's agenda for the time being, Morton said.

Rolader can resubmit his request after the litigation is settled, according to Morton.
He paid $18,000 in application fees, and if he submits the request again within a specified time frame, the city will likely not require him to pay those fees again, Morton said. The time frame under which that would apply has not yet been determined.

Rolader told The Citizen yesterday morning that he believes his project will proceed as soon as the court matters are concluded.

"This is just a temporary stumbling block for this project," he said. "As soon as this land is no longer attached to this court case, we'll be back before the city again."
Rolader also stressed that he has no connection to the lawsuit itself, as he came on board after the land was purchased as the developer only.

"This is simply another job for me," he said, adding that the issues in the lawsuit have no bearing on the merits of the annexation and rezoning request. "We'll just let the lawyers handle it."

That's essentially the attitude of the city as well, Morton pointed out.

"As with any annexation, we're on the defensive," he said. "We don't have to approve anything, but since there is no moratorium on annexation, we consider each request on its own merits."

This is the third annexation request concerning this property since 1987.

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