Resident raises conflict concerns as Kennesaw DDA considers Lazy Guy Distillery bonds-for-title request

City staff briefed the Kennesaw mayor and council on a bonds-for-title / tax-abatement proposal for Lazy Guy Distillery’s planned King Street project, and the downtown development authority (DDA) is slated to consider the proposal this week.

An unidentified staff presenter said the owner seeks a long-term abatement plan that staff modeled over 20 years to capture enough savings to make the project financeable. The presenter said the abatement would exempt the new value for a period so the owner would continue to pay taxes on existing land (about $2,500 now) while the abatement applies to new value; staff estimated the gross abatement savings at roughly $970,000 over 20 years and discussed structuring language so the abatement would end earlier if the developer realized a predetermined savings threshold (staff noted a $750,000 cap could be used to trigger an earlier sunset). Staff also described the financing mechanics for bonds-for-title transactions, including how title and bank collateral interact if a third-party lender is involved.

The presentation prompted technical questions from council members about precedent and term length. One councilor asked whether the city had done pilot bonds recently; staff responded that the city has not used pilot bonds since the “columns” project and that the Lacey projects were the nearest precedents. Councilors expressed concern that a 20‑year term is long for a relatively small ($3–4 million) project but were told longer terms sometimes are needed to produce meaningful savings for smaller developments.

During public comment Mary Miller, a Kennesaw resident, raised ethics and governance concerns tied to this item. Miller told the council that Mark Allen, owner of Lazy Guy Distillery, is a member of the Kennesaw Downtown Development Authority and that the council’s KDDA liaison, Councilwoman Tracy Byers, “is also an employee of Lazy Guys.” She said that family or business relationships across the KDDA and council create “an environment ripe for self dealing,” and urged the council to consider rules or clarifications for KDDA membership and recusals when DDA decisions would benefit an affiliated person.

The work session did not include a council vote on the refinements or on the abatement; staff said the DDA will take the item up at its meeting on Friday. No formal staff response to Miller’s conflict concerns was recorded in the work session minutes.

Next steps: the DDA is scheduled to consider the bonds-for-title request this week; the city council will receive the DDA recommendation at a later meeting.