Dawsonville schedules special meeting to review developer bonds for Thunder Ridge

The Dawsonville City Council scheduled a special called meeting for March 20 at 5:00 p.m. to allow city staff and the city attorney time to review bond documents tied to the Thunder Ridge development.

Corey Guthrie, who identified the developer as Garden Street Communities during public input, told the council the bond materials for agenda item 12 “arrived very late today, and there wasn't enough time to take a look at them.” Guthrie asked the council to consider either conditional approval pending review or a special meeting to expedite the process.

City Attorney Kevin Tallent told the council the documents “came in today at about 3 something” and that he had only received drafts earlier that day and needed additional time to review. Mayor Walden and council members discussed available dates and times; after checking schedules the council agreed, and Mayor Walden said, “Let's do a special call meeting on the 20 fourth at 05:00.”

Council and staff said the intent of the meeting is to provide time for a substantive legal review before the council acts on any final approvals related to the bonds. Staff noted the fees and amounts tied to the final plan remain outstanding items to be settled before final action; during the exchange a $1,900 fee for the final plan was mentioned as part of outstanding items tied to the submission.

The special meeting was set by consensus and will be used to review the bond documents, the attorney's findings, and any remaining submittals the city's attorney requests. No formal vote on the underlying bond approvals occurred at the March 17 meeting; the council limited its action to scheduling the special meeting and asking staff and the city attorney to review materials and report back.