CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson & Board of Commissioners:

Please take action to return Intrenchment Creek Park to its rightful owners, the citizens of DeKalb County. In 2002, the land was entered into county's park inventory, intended to be protected forever from private development. Now it's under threat of becoming a Data Center! CEO Cochran-Johnson and DeKalb Commissioners, please don't let this happen. Buy the land back from Ryan Millsap and protect it as intended, for the people.

Since 2018, citizens have consistently asked DeKalb County (County) leadership to protect the park. In 2021, a citizen's lawsuit was filed funded by hundreds of residents. After the swap, Ryan Millsap sold his movie studio almost immediately after the swap and continues to break all promises of economic development, job creation, job training at McNair High, and the contribution of $1.6 million in park improvements. Additional unresolved issues with the swap were cited by the Georgia Court of Appeals (see below*) and are sufficient to challenge the swap.

The swap left the County at a multi-million dollar loss. In 2021, an independent appraisal (Childers and Associates) established that the land swap would result in an approximately $2 million loss to the County. Currently, the DeKalb County Tax Assessor values the 40 acres given to Millsap as approximately $3 million more valuable than the land the County received.

Please buy the land back from Millsap and rightfully restore the park back to the people! The County could even enter into Millsap's recently filed "Quiet Title Action" to reassert its interest in the land.

Please use the power of your office to protect our public land!

* * *

*Unresolved issues with the swap as cited by the Georgia Court of Appeals, 10.23.24:

​​​• Precedent set by the land swap threatens public greenspace county-wide. The swap violated the “Park Property Restriction” in the deed, which specifically protects the Intrenchment Creek Park land “in perpetuity as park property” for the “benefit and use of the public.”

​• Upon lifting the deed, The Blank Foundation required that “Any land transaction must result in the County receiving land that clearly is more valuable than land that is being transferred." Appraisals in 2021 and now both confirm that the County received land of significantly lesser value:

• January 14, 2021 – Childers and Associates concluded in an independent appraisal of all properties that “the proposed swap of properties is not economically advantageous to DeKalb County”, with valuations concluding that the swap would result in DeKalb’s “Overall Value Benefit” to be -$2,082,000 (a loss of over $2 million).

• Q2 2025 – DeKalb County Tax Assessor indicates the 40 acres of park land traded to Millsap is appraised at $3,136,300. The 52.9 acres received by DeKalb is appraised at only $194,700. A discrepancy/loss to the county of nearly $3 million.