Real estate developer Crowell & Company, Inc. has filed a major lawsuit against the City of Aiken, seeking over $40 million in damages. The suit alleges the City breached a recorded 2020 utility agreement, abruptly halting a 247-unit residentia development on Toolebeck Road after five years of collaborative planning.

The agreement, approved on August 24, 2020, authorized sewer service to Crowell’s Toolebeck Road property for up to 247 residential units. The document was formally recorded and contains no expiration date or reference to a two-year limitation.

For approximately five years following the agreement’s approval, Crowell worked in coordination with the City’s Planning and Engineering Departments regarding sewer extension design, infrastructure planning, and development review. In May 2025, the City approved Crowell’s off-site sewer extension plans after multiple rounds of revisions. The $250,000–$300,000 extension, funded entirely by Crowell, was prepared for construction pending final administrative steps.

In late 2025, the City informed Crowell that it must reapply for sewer access, asserting for the first time – nearly three years after the alleged expiration date had already passed – that the 2020 agreement was subject to a two-year limitation.

The lawsuit further highlights that the City’s commitment to the project went beyond mere paperwork. In late 2020, less than a month after approving the sewer agreement, the Aiken City Council authorized the $5,000 purchase of a 10-foot-wide strip of land specifically designed to establish continuity between the Toolebeck property and the city limits, thereby triggering the requirement to petition for annexation.

According to City records from September 2020, City leadership described the purchase of this “strip of property” as a strategic move to enable the annexation of the Toolebeck tract, aligning with the Council’s stated goal to grow the City’s footprint to the east. Crowell maintains that the City’s proactive land purchase further solidified the company’s belief that the 2020 agreement was a long-term, binding commitment intended to bring the development into the City fold.

Crowell maintains that the City’s new interpretation of the 2020 agreement is contradicted by its own records, alleging that the recorded agreement contains no expiration language and notes that the City did not raise any two-year limitation during five years of collaboration. The company further states that City departments continued approving engineering plans as though sewer rights remained valid.

“We spent five years working hand-in-hand with City staff based on a recorded agreement,” Crowell & Company Vice President Mark Gilliam said. “This isn't just about sewer lines. It's about whether a developer can trust the City’s word.”

The Toolebeck Road property has been the subject of public discussion regarding annexation and development. Crowell stated that while it respects the public process surrounding land use decisions, this lawsuit addresses a separate legal issue: whether the City can retroactively impose an expiration term that does not appear in the recorded agreement and was never previously asserted.

According to Crowell, the City’s recent position has caused losses exceeding $40 million.

The company states that if the matter proceeds through litigation, it will seek compensatory damages as well as punitive damages, alleging bad-faith dealings.

“We have been building in this community for decades and filing a lawsuit against the City was the absolute last thing we wanted to do,” Development Manager Danny Geddes said. “We are taking this step to protect our rights and to ensure that when the City of Aiken makes a commitment, they are held to it.”

Crowell & Company was founded in 1966 and has developed dozens of neighborhoods totaling an estimated 10,000 lots throughout the CSRA.  

Keystone Homes, a Crowell affliliate, was founded in 1995 and has constructed approximately 6,000 homes, including roughly 600 within the City of Aiken over the past two decades.

The lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Crowell & Company, Inc., the property owner and developer of the Toolebeck Road tract. Company representative Danny Geddes is available for comment.