BOC files restraining order over property in Whitepath

GILMER COUNTY, Ga. – A restraining order has been filed with the Superior Court with the Gilmer County Board of Commissioners being the entity to file. Approved after an executive session during the commissioners regular meeting on March 10, 2022, the complaint was filed the following day, March 11, 2022.

The restraining order was filed against Daniel and Linda Holmer in the Buckhorn subdivision, a portion of the Whitepath Golf Course. According to the complaint on behalf of the BOC, Art Wlochowski, Director of Code and Regulatory Enforcement, went to the property in August and September of 2021 to discuss a deck with the residents. The Holmers have allegedly built a deck illegally, being that it is on the lake of the property. According to reports, the unnamed lake is not to be built on without approved requests.

However, the complaint, according to the county, is not because of the deck itself, but rather, due to repeated interactions with the residents culminating in alleged “threats to employees.”

According to the complaint, Holmer left a voicemail on Wlochowski’s phone saying, “Yes, if this is Art… uh… what’s his name from the Gilmer County Code and Regulation Commission… Compliance, just want to let you know if you come to my property you better bring the (Expletive) with you.”

Additionally, noted in the complaint, on October 15, 2021, officers of the Gilmer Sheriff’s Office went to the location to inform the residents of the surveying crew operations. It is stated that Holmer told Captain Brian Crump that he would defend his property against Captain Brian Crump or any other County employee or agent.

Exercising rights to inspect their own property, the county was encouraged to get a court order before continuing operations. Now, this filed complaint, filed by County Attorney David Clark, states, “…unless Defendants are immediately restrained from interfering from Mr. Wlochowski’s inspection of the County Parcel and Mr. Vick and his crew from surveying the County Parcel, Plaintiff will suffer immediate and irreparable injury in that it remains deprived of conducting all lawful and legal activities on its County Parcel.”

With the complaint mainly focusing on access to the county’s property and performing operations at that location, the problem seems to arise that the county cannot reach the location it needs to be at without passing over a portion of the Holmers’ land. According to the filed paperwork, the Holmers have 30 days from the date of filing, March 11, 2022, to respond.