Editor:

I am writing this as a resident of South Bryan County for the last 18 years in regards to two things that I want to voice my opposition to and hope all our citizens will oppose as well.

1. The lawsuit the Home Builders Association of Greater Savannah has filed against Bryan County because they will have to start paying impact fees and be regulated about what they can and can’t build in Bryan County. Their lawyer is trying to paint a picture of how it is going to hurt ordinary folks who want to live here by making home ownership too expensive - that is a bunch of bunk as the houses I see being built are in the $300,000 to$500,000 range, not your starter house. This lawsuit is about nothing but money because it will affect the builders’ bottom line and profit and that is it, pure and simple.

Builders have had their way in Bryan County for far too long and have gone unregulated at the expense of we local homeowners who get the bill to try to and keep up with infrastructure while they make money on our backs and then go back to wherever they live. I would venture to say very few live here in Richmond Hill or Bryan County and pay property taxes like we do.

I also don’t see how in the world it is legal for an organization from another city to try to dictate what our county leaders set forth as policy.

2. House Bill 302 by Rep. Vance Smith, who lives on the other end of the state and I am sure has no ties here.

Smith is trying to introduce this bill (I am guessing at the request of the Home Builders Association of Georgia, which I had heard is trying to do an end run at the state level to get around what Bryan County and other counties are trying to do to regulate home builders) in order to take the ability to pass and enforce this type of regulation from local governments and let Atlanta dictate what local communities can and cannot do or enforce, which is a crock. Who does he think he is to try to tell local authorities what to do when he does not live anywhere close to Bryan County, or elsewhere except where he is from?

I would love to know who put him up to this and what his motivation is money, maybe?

There is also a bill in the Senate, SB 172, by senators John Wilkinson (R-Toccoa), Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga), Steve Gooch (R-Dahlonega), Butch Miller (R-Gainesville) and Freddie Sims (D-Dawson) which would do the same thing as HB 302 if it’s ever allowed to become law.

I am hoping that every city and county in the state of Georgia as well as all citizens in this state oppose this excessive overreach by a select few state representatives/politicians of our state government and oppose this sham they are trying to get passed, and I would also like to know who else I need to write to voice my displeasure at this since I am hearing that other legislators are supporting this as well.

By the way, this smacks of the Home Builders Association of Georgia trying to influence what local communities should be allowed to decide.

Frederic G. (Rick) Doyle III

South Bryan County

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