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Bickford v. Yancey Dev. Co. Inc.

The automatic 20-year renewal provisions of O.C.G.A. § 44-5-60 d 1, as amended in 1993, do not apply retroactively.

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We granted certiorari in order to consider whether OCGA § 44-5-60 d 1, as revised in 1993, automatically renewed restrictive covenants that were established in 1977. For the reasons explained below, we hold that subsection 44-5-60 d 1, as revised in 1993, applies only to covenants established after the revised subsection’s effective date, July 1, 1993. Therefore, we affirm. In 1977, Frank Swift subdivided a 165 acre tract of land he owned in Cobb County into home sites for a residential development. That same year, Swift recorded a plat of the tract which contained a notation restricting the subdivided lots to a minimum size of two acres.

In 2000, appellee Yancey Development Company, Inc., “Yancey” purchased two of the subdivision’s larger lots. Yancey then announced its intention to subdivide the two lots into roughly 80 half-acre parcels and applied to Cobb County for a permit to develop the property as R30, which requires a minimum lot size of 30,000 square feet. Appellants, adjoining property owners, filed suit seeking to enjoin the development and also sought declaratory relief that Yancey is subject to the 1977 covenant restricting lot sizes to no less than two acres.

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