Cabins are seen at The Preserve, a 2,100-acre land development near Rising Fawn, Ga., that went bankrupt.RISING FAWN, Ga. – A 2,200-acre real estate development that went bankrupt won’t be clear-cut, mined or transformed into a subdivision of new homes.
That’s the message Georgia Land Trust officials had recently for about 30 people gathered at a clubhouse built at the failed Preserve at Rising Fawn.
“We are committed to protecting the land,” said Katherine Eddins, the nonprofit group’s executive director.
Talk had flown that the land trust planned to log, mine or develop some 1,800 acres it owns there, Eddins said. She called a meeting last week to quell the chatter and explain that the land trust would use a conservation easement so its land never can be developed after it’s sold.
Touted as a mini-Pigeon Forge when it hit the market in 2006, the vacation resort’s 2- and 3-acre lots were snapped up by about 300 people — most from out of the area. Eventually, the project was exposed as a $40 million mortgage-fraud scheme that last week resulted in federal prison sentences for its masterminds, Josh Dobson and Paul Gott.