A Superior Court judge has sided with the city of Dawsonville in a three-year-old lawsuit involving the rezoning of a portion of the Gold Creek subdivision.

Former Gold Creek subdivision owners, Jeff and Bob Tablak, sued the city over a 2006 denied rezoning request. Gold Creek had requested a rezoning to make changes to its master plan in 2006.

The Tablaks' attorney, Joey Homans, said the Tablaks wanted to add more housing and take away several holes on the golf course.

Mayor Joe Lane Cox said the plaintiffs sought "millions in damages ... saying we had caused them to go bankrupt because we didn't grant their rezoning."

Homans plans to appeal the March 1 ruling this month, he said.

"There were delays in getting the case through to trial ... by the time it came back up on the court's calendar, Regions had foreclosed so at that point Gold Creek no longer had standing to request that it be sent back for a rezoning," Homans said.

Cox said the ruling was a relief. "We thought all along we were right," Cox said, "and it cost us a little money to be right."

Cox said the city is "hoping somebody will buy the property and revive it ... it was a great asset to the city."

Gold Creek Golf Club became the property of Regions Bank in April 2009.

According to a foreclosure notice, more than $5 million was owed to the bank for the golf course property.