A few months ago, I received an email from several readers in southwest Atlanta asking for my help.
They had seen one of my columns about a business that wasn’t responsive to neighborhood concerns and they were having a similar problem in their community.
So I hopped in my car and drove out to the Kings Forest subdivision until I reached a curvy stretch of Campground Road.
I stopped in front of a single-family residence sitting on two- or three-acres, littered with felled trees and home to at least eight animals, mostly goats and sheep, lounging behind a small wire fence. One goat had escaped the enclosure and was slowly making his way toward the street.
Iona Walker, a 55-year resident of the neighborhood, lives near Camp Ground Ranch, which is advertised online as a filming location and wedding venue for up to 80 guests indoors and up to 200 guests outdoors.
She and other residents said they have had to contend with goats and sheep roaming the streets and eating their shrubbery, malodorous smells wafting through the air and occasional noise over the past few years, as their neighbor has set about converting his home to a cultural event center.
“The house is beautiful but all of that outside is terrible. It’s an eyesore,” said Walker, president of the Kings Forest Combined Community Association.
Walker and other residents believe their neighbor should not be operating this kind of business in a residential neighborhood. They want him to keep the animals properly contained and limit the disruptions to the community, but efforts to talk to him about their concerns have fallen flat.
“What we are talking about might sound petty but it is serious and the neighbors are just done with it,” said Diane Flournoy, another Kings Forest resident who lives behind the property. “It feels like (the city) just ignores us because we are not in Buckhead or Sandy Springs. I don’t think we should have to get up there and tap dance and act crazy.”
This isn’t the first time neighbors have rallied to preserve the peace in their neighborhood of 310 homes. Back in 2002, they battled a proposed expansion of Ben Hill United Methodist Church that would have turned a 22-acre wooded lot in the community into a 200,000 square feet mega church with a parking lot. Residents convinced the City Council to deny a special use zoning permit that would have allowed the project to move forward.
Now, instead of battling a mega church, they are battling a neighbor and they feel their pleas are falling on deaf ears.
I decided to call Willie Jones, the owner of the Camp Ground Ranch, myself to ask him about his business.
When I reached him by phone, he acknowledged he was the owner of the cultural center and said he had “applied to all the passing of permits” before he declined to speak to me further. He then hung up on me but called back and left a voicemail threatening to sue me if he sees “one paragraph of negative press.”
Figuring I wasn’t going to get much information from Jones, I contacted the city to see if Jones’ property had been granted a special use permit or variance to operate a business in an area zoned for single family homes and, if so, has the neighborhood planning unit or community association been notified.
I also asked if there were any outstanding code violations (particularly related to that runaway goat) and if the city arborist had permitted the tree cutting (residents said the owner claims to be clearing space on his property for a parking lot) since there were no visible orange or yellow signs on the property.
I had to route my questions to three or four different city departments just like Walker and other residents have been doing for years. I knew code violations had been issued but I had to file an open records request to see them. Residents told me a court hearing is scheduled in September.
Walker said she has also reached out to District 11 council member Marci Collier Overstreet for help, so I did as well.
Overstreet said in an email reply that the complaint was beyond the purview of her office. Residents are advised to call or email 311 with these kinds of quality-of-life issues, she said. But she did note that her office “has been very responsive with facilitating and escalating the complaints to the appropriate departments to assist in resolving the issue.”
Walker said she can’t fathom why the city hasn’t done more to address resident concerns. One city employee advised her to make a public fuss, she said. Which is why she reached out to me.
I don’t know if Jones is violating any laws with his business but the city owes it to residents to investigate and cite any violations in a reasonable time frame. They should also make it a lot easier for residents to figure out how to file complaints and follow up to find out how those complaints are being resolved.
It is my full-time job to ask questions, and as of my deadline, I still don’t have any answers.
So if anyone from the city is reading, know the residents of Kings Forest could use your help.
Read more on the Real Life blog (www.ajc.com/opinion/real-life-blog/) and find Nedra on Facebook (www.facebook.com/AJCRealLifeColumn) and X (@nrhoneajc) or email her at nedra.rhone@ajc.com.
