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CONCORD – Pike County Times received a phone call that the county was removing the rocks at the boat ramp at Flat Shoals and traveled there to see the end of the removal and replacement of rocks where heavy equipment was used to pick up the riprap—-basically rocks placed to help prevent erosion a distance back from the edge of the water. However, the driveway remains in place.

Scroll down below this article to read the Breaking News article from Tuesday including a list of questions that the county manager answered by email which are referenced in this article.

Driveway and Riprap Placed Flat Shoals

The driveway easement permit was issued on June 17, 2021, was completed, and passed inspection at the time of completion last year. After the driveway with a culvert was complete, the county manager ordered that a Cease and Desist Order be placed on the driveway.

Readers can catch up on this part of the story by reading at www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/BREAKINGNEWSflatshoals11.1.21.html.

More on the Boat Ramp at Flat Shoals

On February 2, 2022, a letter was written from Planning and Zoning Director Jeremy Gilbert to Tom Morgan regarding the rocks/riprap at the water’s edge of the Flint River at the entrance of the Flat Shoals Subdivision. Gilbert advised that he had investigated the site and that it “had been determined that the rock/riprap are in the twenty-five-foot (25’) state waters buffer as well as the public right-of-way.” He then stated that nothing can be placed in the public right-of-way without the permission of the Pike County Board of Commissioners. More on this 25 foot buffer in the next section.

Director Gilbert then stated that Section 153.04(C)(15)A of Pike County’s Code of Ordinance states that the state waters buffer is to remain undisturbed unless necessary per the exceptions allowed by code. He then stated that Pike County Planning and Development requested that the rocks/riprap be removed by Thursday, March 3, 2022 and to call if there were any questions.

The letter was sent by regular mail--not by certified or registered mail. Morgan advised that he did not receive this letter.

On March 7, 2022, the Planning and Development Director sent a follow up letter because there was no response from the February 2 letter. In this letter, it was stated that the deadline had passed to remove the rocks and advised that Pike County Public Works would be moving and storing the rocks/riprap at the county storage yard.

It was stated that the rocks could be removed by Morgan prior to that date if he wanted, but that if the county removed them, he would be charged for the cost of removal. Morgan was then advised that he would have 30 days after the removal to pay for the removal cost and pick up the rocks. According to the letter, if he did not act within that 30 days, the rocks would become the property of Pike County.

Morgan received the letter from the county that was sent on March 7 in the mail on March 9 in an uncertified mailing and contacted the Director of Planning and Development by phone in order to schedule a meeting with the county and deliver his written response.

During this phone call, it was established that the county manager gave a verbal order for writing the letters regarding the removal of the rocks. [Note from the Editor: The county manager also confirmed this by email to Pike County Times on the day of the removal as written below in Part 1.] This phone call included a request from Morgan to know when a meeting could be held with Morgan and Pike County officials about the removal of the riprap/rock no later than Monday morning since a meeting could not be held on Friday.

In his March 11 response to the county, Morgan noted that the removal of the rocks was scheduled for the following day which was a Saturday as well as advising that there had been no previous official notice sent to him about this or any other action to be taken against him by anyone or any Pike County government entity.

He then advised that that no one from the county or Pike County government had permission to remove these rocks and advised that the rocks are “personal property” and have become “real property” at this point because they are being used as part of a driveway erosion prevention plan that was “installed as permitted by Pike County last year.”

He then said that there may have been a misunderstanding of Gilbert’s authority to take this property without county approval, without a legal precedent, without official notice, or official legal action ordered by the court. He also said that it could be that Gilbert was directing the removal of these rocks without official written authority by Pike County government, and that if this was the case, Gilbert’s actions would be outside of the scope of his authority under Pike County government and in his personal capacity instead.

On Monday, March 14, Morgan was advised that the meeting with county officials was scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, March 15.

However, the county manager ordered Public Works to begin removal of the rocks around 9 a.m. on Tuesday, March 15. This was prior to the beginning of the scheduled 9:30 a.m. meeting.

Pike County Times received a phone call and photos of Pike County Works removing the rocks at 9:19 a.m. prior to the start of the meeting that included Morgan, Planning and Zoning Director Jeremy Gilbert, County Attorney Rob Morton, and County Manager Brandon Rogers.

Pike County Times can find no record of a vote being taken in a public meeting on this matter prior to this action.

Pike County Times has asked for “a copy of any and all emails, letters, and written orders for (sic) pertaining to the Flat Shoals boat ramp since October to or from commissioners, the county manager, and/or any members of the public or those involved in the discussion of the boat ramp” in order to confirm whether or not commissioners were aware of the county manager’s decision to remove the riprap prior to the implementation of his order.

Pike County Times Visits Flat Shoals Bridge and Tom Morgan Responds

Pike County Times pulled into the subdivision a little after 12 p.m. on Tuesday. This was in time to see that the riprap/rocks had been removed, the rocks had been replaced on the side of the hill where the heavy equipment came in to remove the rocks, and two somewhat u shaped lines of hay bales had been placed to slow the runoff as it comes down the hill through the 24 inch pipe that is 30 feet in length that is under the driveway at the top of the hill. County workers also placed hay on the dirt in an effort to help the grass grow back.

Tom Morgan talked with Pike County Times after the meeting between Morgan, Planning and Zoning Director Jeremy Gilbert, County Manager Brandon Rogers, and County Attorney Rob Morton. He walked through the letters that are written about in the previous section of this article and offered to give printed photos to the county.

Morgan reiterated that he did not receive the February letter from the county. He offered to leave pictures with the county of trash under the bridge, Boy Scouts putting canoes in at the bridge with the driveway in place, and a photo of the riprap along the fence prior to its removal (the fence is in 8 foot sections). [Note from the Editor: The measurement of the 25 foot buffer is important and will be discussed in more detail in the next article.]

According to the letter sent to Morgan, the county advised that the rocks were within the 25 foot buffer. Morgan said that according to the picture that is included above, they are outside of the 25 foot buffer. He showed a picture of the ruts made by the trailers as they back down the ramp. That picture is also included above. The rocks were outside of the 25 buffer to control the erosion, he said.

He then said that he was not cited by the county. He was not given a warning. He said that there is a process that should be followed, and that the meeting at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning was part of the process. However, he said that the removal of the rocks began a little before 9 a.m. on Tuesday even before he meeting had begun.

“They removed the rocks without my permission or knowledge,” he said. And he pointed out that the letter he wrote to the county told them that they do not have permission to remove the rocks, but they removed the rocks anyway under Brandon’s orders.”

“The meeting I had today with the county attorney, the county manager, and Jeremy (Jeremy Gilbert, Director of Planning and Development) was productive,” Morgan said. The county attorney was not able to stay the entire time, but he was there for much of the meeting. Morgan said that he ended the meeting by telling both Rogers and Gilbert that he appreciated their service to the county.

“We did not discuss any litigation,” Morgan said. Morgan agreed that the buffer is on the state right of way but denied that the rocks were placed within the 25 foot buffer. He also added that he doesn’t have any animosity toward Gilbert. “Actually, he is the most qualified person to deal with issues at the river in the county because he is a certified environmentalist.”

In closing out the interview, Morgan reiterated that there was no written order from the county manager to remove the rocks, Morgan was not given a citation from the county, and Rogers did not have a legal order from the court to remove Morgan’s property (the rocks) without just compensation because there had been no hearing on it.

When asked what the process should have been, Morgan said that typically a violation would come from the office of Planning and Development, and then a warning notice should have been legally served on Morgan to give him adequate notice about the removal. “That’s where we come up with a legal problem on today’s happening,” he said.

“There has been no legal service on me to remove the rocks, no citation issued, no warnings issued about the rocks, only a notice that they were going to come pick them up and remove them. I wrote them a letter saying that they did not have my permission. I created an issue, and they ignored it… And then we’re in the middle of a meeting, and the rocks have already been removed.”

The biggest issue, he pointed out, was personal service of the letters. He could have been away from home on business when this happened. Without legal service of the letters, there is no way to prove that he received notice of the county’s action against him.

In the meeting, Morgan told county representatives that he was trying to avoid discussing the legal issues. He said that he wanted to discuss this one-on-one with his county officials, and that is how they did the conversation. He closed out the interview by saying, “I do not have any plans to enter into litigation against the county at this time because it appears that I am dealing with a rogue county manager,” he said.

Walker Chandler Responds

Pike County Times caught up with Walker Chandler on Tuesday night and asked him for a quote about the boat ramp at Flat Shoals and specifically the removal of the riprap there. He said that the riprap is “pile #2 which I thought was illegal, wrong, and so forth.”

He went on to say that the “anti-tank obstacle, also known as a driveway, has never been granted” and that he would have to assume that the person who gave the permit was not cognizant of why a permit was being asked for. He said that it is not a driveway permit in his opinion because nobody needed that driveway.

He added that under Georgia law, a person “who has access cannot intentionally cut himself off from access so as to insist on a connection with a public road across the land of a stranger.”

Chandler said that when ARC builders gave the easement, it was a legal easement, but it can be easily revoked.

Overall of the situation, Chandler said, “I was very pleased to see what the county commissioners did, but now I am waiting to see what the commissioners will do about the anti-tank obstacle.”

He then added, “There are also some other rocks that block the use of the backing down of trailers. Those rocks and the anti-tank obstacle need to be removed.”

Closing

Pike County Times is working through a ton of open records requests on this matter. It is going to take some time to walk through the history of this boat ramp as well as the county and state code that are being applied differently depending on which side of the issue one stands.

Pike County Times will also include a an overview of the ante-litem notice filed against the county by Walker Chandler in the next article as well as a history of the river and a discussion of state law concerning the river from Tom Morgan. A scan of the entire document from each attorney will be included for readers to read and decide for themselves where they stand.

Pike County Times extends a thank you to all who have allowed a verbal interview, answered questions by email, and a huge thank you to the county clerk who is tasked with filling open records requests for this and other articles. There is much more to come on this issue in the future. Look for more in the coming weeks and months ahead.

On a side note, Pike County Times is a free information resource for our community. If you appreciate in depth articles such as this one, please show your support of the time spent gathering this information and then putting it into writing with a donation to your local online newspaper.

Thank you to First Bank of Pike for sponsoring Pike County Times’ Breaking News Alerts! First Bank of Pike has been serving customers in Pike County and the surrounding area since 1901 and offers Personal and Business banking with a personal touch. Services include checking, savings, money market, certificates of deposit, and IRA’s. Mobile Banking and Bill Payment services are also available! Click here for more. Please let First Bank of Pike know that you appreciate their sponsorship of Breaking News Alerts on Pike County's only FREE online newspaper!

INFORMATION ABOUT RECEIVING BREAKING NEWS ALERTS CAN BE FOUND, HERE.

Thanks for reading and supporting Pike County Times.com!

CONCORD – Pike County Times received a phone call that the county was removing the rocks at the boat ramp at Flat Shoals and traveled there to see the end of the removal and replacement of rocks where heavy equipment was used to pick up the riprap—-basically rocks placed to help prevent erosion a distance back from the edge of the water. However, the driveway remains in place.

Pike County Times sent a list of questions to County Manager Brandon Rogers that are printed here verbatim with his answers in blue.

• Who gave the order to remove the riprap at Flat Shoals? County Manager
• Was the order written or was it verbal like the stop work order back when the driveway was already completed last fall? Verbal
• Were the commissioners consulted before this action took place? Yes
• Was a written citation legally served on the Morgans regarding the riprap? No
• Under what law/county ordinance was the rocks removed? 153.04(C)(15)(A)
• What is the next step on this property as far as the county is concerned? Talks with the Shoals Subdivision on ways to allow river access while addressing parking and litter issues that have been noted.

There will be more details tomorrow including letters and emails that have been sent back and forth between Tom Morgan and the county with at least one of those letters not being received by Tom Morgan after it was sent through regular mail. Pike County Times also has county code that is cited by the County Manager in his answers above. Pike County Times also spoke with attorneys on both sides of this discussion. [Note from the Editor: I originally used the word "case" here, but this is NOT in litigation at this time so I changed the word to discussion.]

Open Records have been placed to begin the work of a timeline that is going to run for at least the past 20 years that Pike County Times' Editor Becky Watts has been hearing discussions about this boat ramp in meetings. This has been an issue for longer than Pike County Times has been in existence.

Click here to read about the stop work order that was placed on the finished driveway back in October of last year.

Look for an update to this breaking news article tomorrow morning.

Thank you to First Bank of Pike for sponsoring Pike County Times’ Breaking News Alerts! First Bank of Pike has been serving customers in Pike County and the surrounding area since 1901 and offers Personal and Business banking with a personal touch. Services include checking, savings, money market, certificates of deposit, and IRA’s. Mobile Banking and Bill Payment services are also available! Click here for more. Please let First Bank of Pike know that you appreciate their sponsorship of Breaking News Alerts on Pike County's only FREE online newspaper!

INFORMATION ABOUT RECEIVING BREAKING NEWS ALERTS CAN BE FOUND, HERE.

Thanks for reading and supporting Pike County Times.com!