Attorney Larry Oldham sent an
August 6, 2019 letter to all of the property owners in the Chattahoochee River Club Subdivision letting them know that if they do not sign the
quitclaim deed as requested, they are going to have to be added as individual defendants in this action so that complete relief may be granted to Bose, Mommies and FH Partners.
Counsel for the CRC HOA and Richards have argued that everyone in the neighborhood should be considered
necessary and indispensable parties and Judge Bagley's
Default Judgment Order makes it clear that the only way for Bose, Mommies and FH Partners to obtain the
declaratory relief they are seeking in these proceedings will be to add everyone who might make the same claim as was made by the CRC HOA's attorney, Kimberly Gaddis, in
a letter to the Forsyth County Zoning Board of Appeals and
another letter to Mommies Properties' Attorney Stuart Teague.
Opposing counsel were incredulous that the CRC HOA would take such a position and Larry Oldham provided a
response which the CRC HOA has neither refuted, nor addressed, and that is reason we filed the Quiet Title Action.
CRC Resident Carrie Stone also made a public presentation to the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners in which she argued that certain trails and other rights had existed on the equestrian center property since she moved in to the neighborhood in 1998, as follows:
"...Part of the reason we moved to the neighborhood was because of the trails and amenities that the neighborhood offered, part of which were trails around the swamp in the property we are discussing...It is a treasure that I love...My concern is that with the work that's been done, there has been a large change to the wetlands area - there is now dirt that has been pushed into an area that was wetlands; I have witnessed lots of trees that have been cut down, shrubs that were there and where we had a definitive trail that we could walk to and go to the observation deck and signage that had pictures of the flora and fauna in two different places [and now] I can no longer identify where there is a trail that we could access the swamp and using it for educational purposes and it's just breaking my heart to see what's gone on in the area and I would like to maintain it for the treasure that it is...I moved into the neighborhood in '98 and there was indications of where there were trails in the neighborhood and part of it was there and there was signage that matched the rest of the signage that we had on the trails all throughout our property - the neighborhood and the Bowmans Island and etc. matched all of that - painted the same, same lettering, etc. - and there was a sign that said there was a trail there...."
While the imposition of such onerous burdens on a commercial property that has a special zoning for equestrian uses is possible, the
documents affecting title would have been required to include specific rights and prohibitions and a review of those documents will show the reader that there are very few rights and privileges actually granted to anyone over the equestrian center property by virtue of them. The law does not favor restraints on alienation of property and restrictions on use must be clear and definitive to be binding on property owners.