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PAGE 2A
BARROW JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2009
BARROW CROSSING PLANS
Barrow Crossing continued from 1A
More on Barrow Crossing
continued from 1A
The first phase, with
350,000 square feet of
retail space, will have 20-25
stores, he said.
His company already has
signed lease agreements for
more than 80 percent of the
first phase's available space
and hopes to have the rest
leased by the end of the
year.
The second phase of the
project will have 150,000
square feet of space, he
said.
Cohn said his Charlotte-
based company saw the
intersection of highways
316 and 81 as a retail “bull's
eye.”
“That location is funda
mentally the best location
for retail anywhere between
Gwinnett County and
Athens in terms of access,
long-range planning, cross
streets, and accessibility to
quality neighborhoods,” he
said.
“For a retail development
of this type, that’s the bull's
eye between Gwinnett and
Athens. And it will con
tinue to be, despite the cur
rent economic cycle, which
is, hopefully, a short-term
issue. The fundamentals of
this location are long term.”
Barrow Crossing is the
largest retail center to open
in the county since Holly
Hill Mall in 1970.
“Barrow County has been
losing sales tax dollars to
other municipalities for
years, and one of our main
goals is to help keep as
many of those sales dol
lars home so the county can
continue to build the infra
structure and build schools
and provide services to its
constituents,” Cohn said.
In addition to the $100,000
“It’s very exciting that
Target is going to open this
store and it’s being managed
by local people. I'm excited
about the opportunity to get
to manage a store here in my
hometown.”
The other managers
include Heather Greenburg,
manager of human resourc
es; Tim Miller, manager of
logistics; and Jennifer Kadia,
manager of the sales floor.
Target hired 130 employ
ees out of a pool of 1,500 to
2,000 applicants.
“Quite a few people are
needing a job," Thurmond
said. “We were able to hire
some great people, just an
awesome staff. We’re very
excited about the people
from the local community
that we were able to hire.”
Also opening next week is
the new Belk store.
On Saturday, March
7, from noon-8 p.m., the
77,000-square-foot Belk will
have a “charity day” allow
ing admission to anyone pur
chasing a $5 ticket to benefit
local charities.
The store’s official open
ing is at 10 a.m. Wednesday,
per month for county gov
ernment operations, Barrow
Crossing sales are expected
to generate at least $1 mil
lion in SPLOST revenues
for county and municipal
capital projects annually and
more than $1 million annu
ally in ELOST revenues for
the public school system.
For that reason alone, the
chamber’s president said it
is vital that local residents
shop locally.
March 11, after a 9:30 a.m.
ribbon cutting.
Royce Pittman, vice presi
dent and regional store man
ager of the new Belk, said his
store has about 90 employees
that are undergoing training.
“We are currently receiv
ing trucks twice a day and
merchandizing the store, and
getting ready for our grand
opening, and training our
associates on selling tech
niques and register usage,”
Pittman said.
“We are extremely excited
to be a part of the Winder-
Barrow County community,”
he added. "I’ve opened other
stores - this is my sixth -
and I’ve never worked with
a chamber or area business
community that is so excited
and so welcoming as Barrow
County has been. They have
been awesome, over the
top.”
Other anchor stores open
ing soon at Barrow Crossing
are Publix, Staples, and
PetSmart.
Faison Enterprises will
release a full list of the shops
and restaurants in the com
ing weeks.
“We understand what
shopping in Barrow can
mean for our residents in
terms of tax revenue that
otherwise would have gone
to other counties, and we
certainly hope our Barrow
County residents will con
tinue to support our Barrow
County merchants no matter
who they are and no matter
where they are located in
Barrow County,” Jennings
said.
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BOE to review budget next month
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
The Barrow County Board
of Education is expected to
take a hard look at its finan
cial outlook for the coming
school year during a meeting
next month.
The board is slated to hold
a financial planning session
to review details of the 2009-
2010 fiscal year budget on
Thursday, March 19, at 6
p.m.
It's a meeting that will take
place when school systems
across Georgia are still uncer
tain of potential education
budget cuts coming from the
state.
“We're working on the bud
get daily,” said assistant super
intendent of business services
Ken Cato at Thursday’s board
work session.
Following the planning ses
sion, the board is expected to
be given a proposed 2009-
2010 budget on March 24.
Additional meetings will
continue through March and
April, with the board plan
ning to renew teacher con
tracts no later than April 15.
The BOE plans to hold
budget hearings in May and
adopt a preliminary budget
on June 2. A final budget will
be approved later that month
and public hearings on pro
posed millage rate changes
will be held in September.
District leaders started
meeting with principals in
January to discuss allotments
at each school to start the
budget process, Cato said.
“In a normal budget, folks
would have asked for a lot
more stuff,” Cato said, while
adding that schools have
trimmed expenses.
And while the school sys
tem did receive a mid-term
budget allocation from the
state, those funds were offset
by additional budget cuts, he
said.
Currently, it appears that
one item that will be slashed
from the state education bud
get is funding for school nurs
es, Cato said.
Another funding source for
Barrow County Schools that
dropped in recent months is
sales tax revenue.
Special Purpose Local
Option Sales Tax (SPLOST)
funds for education in
February totaled $774,917
- compared to $847,084 in
February 2008. The sales
tax funds were collected in
December during the holiday
shopping season.
Cato estimated that with the
amount of sales tax revenue
the district has collected, it
has almost a $30,000 deficit
to fund its debt service for
various projects.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business, the BOE:
•met in a closed-door meet
ing for about 15 minutes to
discuss personnel. When the
meeting was opened to the
public, the board approved
personnel changes recom
mended by the superinten
dent.
•reviewed a proposal to
adopt new textbooks for K-8
Reading/ELA, high school
Math 3 and 4, and high school
accelerated math 3. The text
books were recommended
after teachers reviewed the
content to match Georgia
Performance Standards. The
total cost of the textbooks
is $975,220. The board was
asked to adopt the textbooks
for its next voting meeting,
but could discuss if the dis
trict will purchase the text
books during budget talks.
•discussed a bid to provide
the Sidewinder firewall to
protect the school system’s
network from hackers and
control access to undesired
websites on the internet.
One company. Technology
Integration Group, submitted
the lone bid for $26,694. Some
board members said they felt
uncomfortable approving the
bid when only one company
submitted a proposal.
•learned that new federal
regulations will require par
ents to report their child’s
race and ethnicity. The dis
trict will send letters to par
ents soon about the requested
information, which will ask
parents to answer two ques
tions about their child's racial
background. The data must be
given to the state by August.
•discussed a certificate that
states that all labor, materials
and services for the Winder-
Barrow High School construc
tion project have been paid.
The certificate will be given
to the Georgia Department of
Education.
•discussed a class size waiv
er for Holsenbeck Elementary
School. Superintendent Ron
Saunders said the move
would be preventive, should
the school system need an
exception to state-mandated
classroom size requirements.
•reviewed middle school
CTAE course revisions that
will reflect changes approved
by the state in recent years.
•discussed a new course for
high school students called
Scientific Research I, which
would allow students to
meet science credit required
for graduation. The course
combines bio-tech research
with biology and chemistry.
Innovation Crescent will fund
start-up costs for materials,
equipment and textbooks at
both high schools for next
school year.
•reviewed proposals to
purchase new textbooks for
e-marketing and education
pathway courses.
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