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County should uphold its ordinance
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Editor: I am Gary Barnes. My wife and I were featured in the “Concerns develop on the east end” article Sept. 16 on the front page of the Coastal Courier.
Reporter John Deike did an excellent job with the story. The commentary “Running over the little guy” from page 4A of the same revealed the struggles that my wife and I and our longtime Yellow Bluff neighbors continue to endure with the Yellow Bluff Development and the Liberty County administration. Thank you, Coastal Courier.
Needless to say, I am quite upset with the developers for their having encroached upon my property, erecting barricades, severely restricting my access and for their closing of our roads of record. I am also downright mad with the county for allowing the developers to do so unchecked and for the county’s failure to enforce its code of ordinances.
In the Sept. 21 edition of the Courier, John Keinath, PhD. (a perfect stranger to me) wrote a letter to the editor in my strong support. Thank you, Dr. Keinath.
In his letter, Dr. Keinath mentions “developers taking over this county.”
I do feel I owe it to Dr. Keinath and other readers of the Coastal Courier to let them know I am, like the developers of Yellow Bluff, a developer. This is, however, where the similarities end.
I was born and raised in Statesboro. After a 22-year career in lumber manufacturing, I am now a small-time commercial real estate developer in Bulloch County. In this “developer” role, I have had a few occasions to request variances and once to rezone a parcel of land. The rezone and the variances required appearances before the planning and zoning board and the board of commissioners in Bulloch County. Being one that prefers to steer clear of controversy, I have yet to have anyone speak in opposition to any of my requests at any of the aforementioned hearings.
To the contrary, in a recent meeting with County Administrator Joey Brown and County Attorney Kelly Davis, I stated that, as a developer, I would never have the nerve to employ the intimidation and manipulation tactics the developers of Yellow Bluff have tried with me but had I tried something similar in Bulloch County I would have been slapped down so fast my head would spin.
Oh well, enough about Bulloch County; after all, I am now a legal (and voting) resident of Liberty County where my wife and I have owned property since 1989.
There is so much more to this story and I find it impossible to reduce all of the important details to a single letter. I would like for the community to know I have made repeated offers to the developers of Yellow Bluff to sell them the land they need for the completion of their roads and a five-unit town-home building at my cost or to give them the land that they needed for the completion of their roads and to put up the land required for their construction of a town-home building and split profits. Their reply —go hire a lawyer.
I take this opportunity to again reiterate to the developers and the county that all I need is proper access to and peaceful enjoyment of my Yellow Bluff property. If the developers will not voluntarily allow as much, I trust that when the Liberty County Board of Commissioners hears the variance request on Oct. 9, they will do as the commentary in the Sept. 16’s Courier recommended and “stand strong and uphold the county’s own ordinance”
I thank the community for their support and I invite the Yellow Bluff developers, the county and its citizenry to contact me with their questions or comments.
My telephone number is 884-7432 (after 7 a.m. and before 10 p.m. please). My email address is garv@barneslumber.com. My mailing address is 295 Oyster Point Drive, Midway, GA 31320.
Please note that since I no longer live on roads the United States Postal Service cannot deliver mail to my home. (Perhaps if a reader or two mailed me a postcard, that situation would improve.)

Gary W. Barnes
Midway
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