The Columbia County Board of Commissioners is saddened to hear of Jones Creek Golf Club’s closing set for September 9th.

“It is never a good day for our community when business owners make the decision to discontinue operations in our county,” said County Administrator Scott Johnson.

Columbia County has been involved in two well-known lawsuits with Jones Creek Investors, LLC (Jones Creek) based on allegations, made by Jones Creek, that Columbia County and others are responsible for a water runoff issue into Willow Lake. Columbia County has diligently worked with Jones Creek and its lawyers for several years in hopes of resolving the underlying issues. Columbia County has already prevailed on the federal claims in the United States Southern District of Georgia lawsuit brought against it by Jones Creek. A second action is still pending in Superior Court on other allegations.

Columbia County has not yet been given an accounting by Jones Creek of the approximately $800,000 in settlement monies that Jones Creek received from other defendants. This is important because Jones Creek promised to set aside part of these settlement funds to address the problems and impacts allegedly caused by those other defendants. These settling defendants included 100% of the parties that Jones Creek alleged to be the source of flooding in the federal lawsuit. The County will continue to try and find out where this money went and to find out why Jones Creek has not applied the funds as promised. It should also be noted the County agreed to waive a claim for attorney’s fees it was entitled to pursue against Jones Creek, in exchange for Jones Creek waiving its claim for attorney’s fees and rights of appeal against Columbia County.

For over 30 years, Jones Creek Golf Club has been a fixture in our community and has provided citizens and visitors the opportunity to play golf and enjoy fellowship on a beautiful course. That said, the tax payers cannot be held responsible for the failure of any private business and notes that the golf course went through a bankruptcy with a prior owner in the past.

Columbia County denies liability in this case, and will continue to defend itself should Jones Creek continue litigating its claims. The County sincerely hopes the Jones Creek Golf Club will have the opportunity to open its doors again very soon under the same or future owners, and wishes the best to all concerned.