For the second time in a decade, a Snellville homeowner is refusing to sell out to a developer.

Ken Brockway and his wife are the only homeowners left in what used to be the Surrey Farms Subdivision in Snellville.  The only other house, out of what used to be 19 in the neighborhood, is boarded up next door.

“We’re not being bothered at all back here,” he tells WSB’s Sandra Parrish.

The couple moved into their home in 1990 and were told the subdivision would be built out to more than 100 homes.  At the time, it had a club house and pool.

But when developers pulled up and left before the second phase could begin, investors bought out the remaining lots with plans to build a multi-million dollar retirement community.  Eventually, all the Brockway’s neighbors were bought out and their houses torn down.  But no development ever came.

The couple remained because they weren’t offered enough, at the time, to be able to buy a comparable home in the area.

Brockway says the same is true now as Lynwood Development wants their land as part of a proposed nearly 400-unit development of apartments, homes, and townhomes.

“They want to pay for a lot and I say ‘no, this is home’,” he says.  “They can keep on offering me low offers and I’ll keep on saying ‘I’m happy’.”

As it stands now, if the rezoning is approved by the Snellville City Council, the Brockways’ home would be in the middle of the new development.

But Brockway is hoping anything will go in except apartments.

“I just don’t like apartments because it brings down the property value of everybody else around it,” he says citing the $600,000 to $700,000 homes that back up to his property off Tree Lane.

A second proposed development would bring in an additional 250 apartments to the area.

An attorney for Lynwood Development says their property would be geared towards seniors, empty nesters, and professionals who work at nearby Eastside Medical Center.

A community-sponsored meeting on both proposals will be held at 6:30pm Thursday at Brookwood High School.