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Letter to the editor
Whats the rush on buying land?
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Forsyth County News
After reading Gerry Sullivan’s letter to the editor on 11-23, Gerry ask that all information about green space purchased be made available to the public, and also that the purchase itself be put off until next year.

I then read the editorial in the Forsyth County News asking that the public be informed about purchases of green space.

The Forsyth County News suggested that all facts be made public, and a public hearing held. The county did put an ad in the paper, with some information, but left out the most important thing.

“Price-Price- Price of the property.”

The county commissioners position seems to be, let’s hurry and buy this before the public finds out how much we are paying for this property.

Everybody but Jim Harrell, who stated that the public should be more involved because it was their money.
Prices as reported in Forsyth News:

• 43 acres at $5.1 million, or $120,000 per acre located at Nichols Road in Southwestern Forsyth.

•185.9 acres at $8.9 million or about $48,000 per acre located at Wallace Tatum Road in Northwest Forsyth.

• 63 acres at $8.5 million or $135,000 per acre located at Caney Road area in South Forsyth.

This property is part of a 154 acre tract that county records show is valued at $3.4 million and assessed at $1.3 million.

The county is willing to pay $8.5 million for just a little over 1/3 of the property.

This does not smell right.

With the housing market expected to get worse and the commercial market getting worse by the day, have you noticed all the empty or vacant spaces in the many strip centers?

Last time I looked, there were 20 full pages of foreclosures in Forsyth County News. According to one commissioner, some people are paying 10 cents on the dollar for some foreclosed subdivisions.

Why rush to pay these high prices?

According to Bill Thomas, the county’s chief financial officer, the bond money must be spent within two years after it comes in. So we have plenty of time.

When someone tries to rush you into something, it usually is not your interest they have at heart, but their own.

Bill Dickerson

Cumming