Will Brown
Grayton Materials, an aggregate granite supplier, no longer wishes to purchase a 496-acre portion of county-owned property off Buddy Faust Road.
In a memo to the board of commissioners dated June 23, Director of Planning, Zoning and Compliance Jeff Sharp wrote that Grayton Materials may have had “different expectations” regarding the authority’s due diligence process, which included evaluating the “property’s mineral resources, market potential and possible transaction structures.”
The parcel is part of a larger, 534.44-acre stretch of land between the construction and demolition landfill and the Sheriff’s Office. The company planned to establish an aggregate quarry on the property, since the site was determined to hold granite.
“Once … they knew that we were doing due diligence and we weren’t just going to take the first number that came to us, they got upset about it,” said Will Brown, chairman of the Oglethorpe County Economic Development Authority (EDA) and District 4 commissioner. “It wouldn’t be responsible on our part to just take the first number that came to us without doing research.”
Brown said the EDA was informed of the decision on Monday and the official withdrawal letter landed on the desk of Board of Commissioners Chairman Jay Paul on Tuesday.
“Nothing really changes for the EDA at this point,” Brown said. “We’re still gonna try to put a value on it and seek everybody who’s interested, and try to come up with the best-case scenario for everyone in Oglethorpe.”
The county has spent over two decades assembling the land, acquiring its first tract in 2004 and adding the three adjacent parcels in 2016. A light industrial park was originally planned for the site, but it wasn’t pursued.
The proposal from Grayton Materials was the first serious offer the county received for the property. In response, the board of commissioners drafted an intergovernmental agreement with the EDA, allowing the authority to market the property and negotiate a sale.
While the agreement was approved by the board of commissioners 4-1 at its meeting on June 1, it hasn’t been signed by Paul, who said the drafted document contained several errors and wouldn’t be signed until they were corrected.
The EDA is continuing discussions with multiple interested parties and evaluating the best possible option, according to the memo.
“We’re doing our due diligence and trying to find a reference point, as far as value goes,” Brown said. “There’s been several parties that said that they’re interested if we’re interested to pursue that, so I think we’re gonna see what options are out there.”
Beyond a quarry, officials have said the land could be used for warehouses, manufacturing sites or parks. The county also plans to use a portion of the property to extend the landfill.
“I think we have other people that are interested in it, and if none of those proposals satisfy the BOC’s interests, then none of this will come to fruition,” Paul said Tuesday.