The Putnam County Board of Commissioners held its first of two regularly scheduled monthly meetings on March 7. More than 50 minutes were again devoted to a neighborhood dispute over a shared property line.
It marked the fourth time this issue on East River Bend Drive beside Lake Oconee has reached official discussion — twice in county Planning and Zoning meetings and for a second time in the monthly commission meetings — as pointed out by Commissioner Steve Hersey of District 3, where the property in question is located.
“This particular project was constructed in violation of the ordinance, clearly, and that’s why there was a notice of violation issued in September,” Hersey said after hearing Anne Foster reiterate her objection to a large pool retaining wall built within stated setbacks to her property line. “Are we now going to say, ‘Okay, somebody can build a structure in violation of our ordinance and then come back to this board and say, ‘Hey, forgive me, I didn’t understand, I didn’t know?’”
After hearing from Foster and pool/homeowner James Walker Jr., recently elected District 2 Commissioner Richard Garrett said he visited the property in question, as did District 4 Commissioner Tom McElhenney, though at separate times.
Garrett clearly was sympathetic to Foster’s complaints. However, he said, “I can certainly see the argument for the variance is based on the topography. The land does bend in a certain way that would make a variance appropriate, and that justification for a variance is in our ordinance.”
Still, Garrett recognized it remained a two-way street.
“You could look at this either way,” he said. “Ideally, neighbors would’ve talked a year ago and come up with a satisfactory solution before this even began. So, I think a lot of that is to do with just a lack of goodwill conversation. Nonetheless, I’m concerned that if we grant this appeal that we’re overturning valued professional judgment that we shouldn’t discount.”
That judgment came from Putnam County Director of Planning and Development Lisa Jackson, who was not available for the meeting.
McElhenney said he, like Garrett, had spoken with Jackson and was reluctant to challenge her opinions or decisions on the matter.
“I agree that several people have looked at this, and we trust their professional expertise, and I just don’t think there’s anything in my mind that would make me go against what they have said based on what I’ve seen and heard,” McElhenney said.
“Ms. Jackson has clearly been trained on planning and zoning more than any of us. And if that’s her interpretation, and I’m sure she’s consulted with others on this, then it’s our responsibility to support her,” McElhenney added.
Eventually, a vote on a motion to deny Foster’s appeal was taken. At Garrett’s suggestion, a second, inner fence around the pool was added to prevent access to the area above the retaining wall, which will remain in place. Garrett, McElhenney, and Wooten voted in favor.
Hersey remained unconvinced and voted “Nay.”
“All too often in Putnam County, Georgia, it’s easier to get forgiveness than it is to get permission,” he stated. “And I think we have grown to the point where it needs to stop, and people need to know what they are doing. They need to go to Planning and Zoning with an actual plat and stay with that plat, rather than changing it to some different structure and then seek forgiveness.”
In the remaining 12 minutes of the meeting, the commissioners approved the 2026 county budget, set the 2025 mill rate schedule, agreed to submit Lou Benjamin, Charlene Swain, Philip Ethridge, and Rachel Deraney Harvey as the candidates for two positions on the Putnam General Hospital board, and named Shauna Bells and Evan Reese to the county board of assessors.