10/28/2026
🚧”This is for QTS so we need to do it soon if we can.”🚧
That is the explanation in a text exchange obtained through open records, where Early County’s commission chairman requested road-closed signs at both ends of W.J. Davis Road near the McKnight property proposed for QTS development.
Citizens deserve to know why.
Mark Averitt presented photographs and documentation of reported gopher tortoises and burrows to city and county officials and requested DNR review. Gopher tortoises are a protected, state-listed threatened species in Georgia. The road closure now raises concerns about public access to observe the area.
Who requested this closure? What public safety concern justified it? Who had authority to approve it? The road is inside Blakely’s city limits, yet the city manager and city clerk reportedly were unaware of the instruction. What agreement, if any, authorized the county to act?
Did QTS request the closure? Has DNR assessed the reported habitat? When will the road reopen?
The loss of public access also raises an unsettling question: What is happening to the reported tortoises and their habitat while citizens cannot observe the area? Have burrows been disturbed, has clearing occurred, or have any tortoises been moved, harmed or killed and, if so, under whose supervision and authorization?
We do not have evidence establishing that any of those actions occurred. But unanswered wildlife concerns, followed by restricted access, understandably create suspicion. Officials and QTS should address that concern with documented answers, a DNR assessment, and disclosure of any surveys, relocation permits, or work performed near the reported burrows.
The text does not prove wrongdoing or establish that the closure was connected to the wildlife concerns. But “for QTS” is not a sufficient explanation to the public for restricting access to a public road.
When citizens formally document concerns about a protected species and its habitat, elected officials owe them a clear response and meaningful follow-through. Without that, citizens are left questioning whether their concerns are being ignored while requests associated with QTS receive immediate attention.
A follow-up records request is being sent, with DNR and QTS included for visibility. It seeks the complete text exchange, communications with QTS, the closure’s justification and authorization, records establishing who controls the road, taxpayer-funded expenses, and any wildlife surveys or response to Mark’s submission.
These records matter because they can establish whether proper procedures were followed, whose interests the closure serves, and whether officials acted on the wildlife concerns brought before them. Citizens should not have to guess how decisions affecting public roads and local wildlife are being made.
http://georgiawildlife.com/georgia-initiative-reaches-gopher-tortoise-conservation-goal
https://gophertortoisecouncil.org/faq
https://georgiaconservancy.org/gophertortoise/
QTS
Early County Board Of Commissioners
City of Blakely
Development Authority of Early County, GA
Georgia Department of Natural Resources - Georgia DNR
Wildlife Resources Division - Georgia DNR
