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County appeals battlefield price
By Michael Davis

Henry County officials are headed back to court over a once-again contested Civil War battle site.

On the same day county officials paid more than $8 million to take title of the 203-acre site at Jonesboro and Babbs Mill roads, they filed an appeal of the award.

The county won the battlefield after condemning the property for proposed park land last month. A court-appointed special master, who hears arguments from the government and the land owner in condemnation cases, awarded developer Maxie Price Jr. $8,077,000 for the land which the county paid Nov. 28.

Price testified last month that if he developed the land as he planned, with 399 home sites, he could've made as much as $22 million. He said he bought the property earlier this year for about $4 million as part of a deal in which he also purchased about 80 acres adjacent to it in Clayton County.

Henry leaders want to build walking trails with historical markers on the site and perhaps host battlefield reenactments and other educational activities. They want to convert an existing house on the lot into a museum to house artifacts from the war found on the site.

Henry County Attorney Patrick Jaugstetter said that procedurally, paying the award into the registry of the court made sense because it allows the county to take title to the property while the appeal is pending. “By paying the money into the court, we own the property,” he said.

He said Price could draw the money from the court, but if the award is decreased on appeal, Price would have to pay it back.

On the same day that the condemnation hearing wrapped last month, the county commission voted to deny Price's rezoning request that would have paved the way for the development.

Henry County Civil War historian Mark Pollard has said the property was the site of the largest cavalry charge in Georgia history, the site of four Confederate encampments and stood as the last stop on Gen. William T. Sherman's campaign through Atlanta.

District II Commissioner Elizabeth “BJ” Mathis wants to establish a steering committee of residents and history buffs to help determine exactly what to do with the property, and said money to develop it could come from Civil War preservation organizations.

Jaugstetter, the county attorney, said a jury will decide the award appeal.