The Braselton news. (Jefferson, Ga) 2006-current, December 05, 2007, Image 5

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The Braselton news., December 05, 2007, Image 5

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Newspaper Page TextWednesday, December 5, 2007 The Braselton News Page 5A Winder Holiday recipes Plan identifies issues, opportunities for city BY KRISTI REED C ouncil members voted Tuesday to autho rize the submittal of the City of Winder Community Agenda. The agenda is part of Barrow County’s Comprehensive Plan for 2007 through 2027. Marty Sewell of MacTec Inc., an engineering and consulting firm, presented the plan at Tuesday’s public hearing. “The purpose of the comprehensive plan is to provide guidance for future growth of the city and county as a whole,” Sewell said. City Administrator Bob Beck explained that the Winder City Council was voting only to submit the plan for review. Once the plan is reviewed, it will be returned to the council for final approval. The plan must be adopted no later than October of 2008. State law requires local governments to adopt a transmittal resolution before submitting the plan to the Northeast Georgia Regional Development Center (NEGRDC) for review. “This is not an ordinance,” Beck said. “This is strictly for planning purposes. This is a guide, or roadmap, that says we really want to go in this direction.” The plan, updated approximately every 10 years, iden tifies numerous issues facing city leaders over the next 20 years, along with several opportunities. One issue facing the City of Winder is population growth. The city’s population is expected to grow from a projected 18,048 residents in 2010 to 39,199 residents by 2030. The plan recommends the addressing the rapid growth issue through frequent updates to the compre hensive plan and the adoption of appropriate growth management ordinances. Another area of concern is economic development. The plan states that job growth has not maintained pace with population growth. Other issues identified in the plan include lack of infrastructure to promote develop ment, limited entertainment opportunities to meet the needs of the citizens, over abundance of convenience stores and attraction of lower skilled service positions as opposed to higher paying professional positions. To address these issues, the comprehensive plan recommends that city leaders support expansion of job training services, develop an infrastructure master plan and prepare and adopt a Downtown Area Master Plan. The plan also encourages the city to move forward with streetscape improvements in the downtown area to make the area more attractive for business investment. The City of Winder was recently awarded a $500,000 Transportation Enhancement grant from the Georgia Department of Transportation for streetscape improve ments to Broad Street beginning at Porter St. and ending at Stephens St. While the city offers a good supply of affordable housing, few homes are conveniently located to retail and service providers. There is a shortage of housing in the downtown area caused in part by aging residential properties in need of revitalization. Winder will seek to address these issues by encouraging neighborhood revitalization and adopting zoning districts that encour age mixed use neighborhood developments and a variety of housing types. As part of the city’s revitalization efforts, the plan also recommends examining the potential for Commercial Improvement Districts, Business Improvement Districts and Tax Allocation Districts. The North, South, East and West entrances to the city are described as “blight ed” and in need of revitalization. Another major issue identified in the comprehensive plan is the lack of water resources to meet the demands of a rapidly expanding population. The city’s strategy includes implementing a water resources master plan. Traffic congestion is another concern for city plan ners. Citing heavy truck traffic and general congestion in downtown as well as a lack of pedestrian friendly areas, the plan recommends implementing the Barrow County Comprehensive Transportation Plan. Lastly, the plan mentions existing conflicts over annexations and a lack of information sharing between local governments. To address these issues, the plan advises that a system be developed which would allow local governments to share permit information in order to help schools estimate future enrollment. The City of Winder Community Agenda was pre sented at the County wide Open House on November 27. The purpose of Tuesday’s public hearing was to allow citizens to comment on the plan. A final public hearing will be held after the Barrow County Comprehensive Plan is reviewed by the NEGRDC. Subway re-opens new store on Ga. Hwy. 53 Subway is opening a new store at 6072 Ga. Hwy. 53 in Braselton, according to Subs of Cornelia. The company announced that after two and a half years, it is opening Subway again in Braselton. “After numerous setbacks and frustrations of not being able to re-open Subway in its old location, we finally found a solution,” according to a Subs of Cornelia press release. BUDGET — continued from page 1A Wednesday, Dec. 19, at 7 p.m. The latest budget amendments would increase the 2007 general fund budget from $798,808 to $831,858. The council last amended the 2007 budget in October, after slumping revenues. The city plans to include $92,000 in reserve funds from the 2006 general fund budget in the latest amended budget for 2007. However, city officials will once again reduce the anticipated revenue from building permit fees, and water and sewer system installation and connection fees. Building and sign permit fees were budgeted in October for $40,000 for 2007. The latest budget change calls for $22,000 in such fees for the year. Hoschton has received $21,893 in building and sign permit fees to date. Water and sewer system installation and connection fees were budgeted for a total of $242,500 in October. City officials are now expecting a total of $137,500, after receiving $126,150 of such fees to date in 2007. As for the water and sewer budget, Hoschton will car ryover $177,000 from the 2006 budget into the proposed changes for the 2007 budget. WINDER — continued from page 2A pending approval by the Department of Transportation and the police chief. The parade is scheduled for Monday, January 21. The parade will start at Quality Foods and will travel on North Broad Street, Athens St. and King St. before ending at White Oak Springs Baptist Church. •approved annual Christmas bonuses for city employees. The amount of the bonus is determined by years of service. •approved a statement of sup port for the National Guard and Reserve. “It goes without say ing that the City of Winder does support the National Guard and Reserve,” Beck said. “We are in complete support of all their activities.” •denied a request by the Winder Housing Authority to transfer own ership of the old swimming pool property located at the corner of BellviewandMidland. Councilman Frank Dunagan motioned that the city retain ownership of the prop erty and offer the housing author ity a 10-year lease. That motion was unanimously approved. •approved an agreement with the Department of Transportation which requires the city to acquire right of ways for improvements to McNeal Road, West Athens Street and Horton Street. •approved a beer and wine per mit by the package for the Rite Aid located at 39 East May Street. The request was made due to a change in manager and store name. Recipes used Svithout fail’ for 25 years Share your favorite recipe Do you have special Christmas season recipes you’d like to share with other readers of The Braselton News? If so, e-mail them to news@mainstreetnews.com or mail them to MainStreet Newspapers, c/o Kerri Testement, P.0. Box 908, Jefferson, Ga., 30549. Please include your name, city of residence, and any other informa tion about the recipe, such as how you got it, how long you’ve been using it and why you like it for the holidays. The Braselton News will publish holiday recipes from residents of Braselton, Hoschton, South Hall, Mill Creek, Chateau Elan and West Jackson throughout the month of December, according to available space. June Smith, Braselton, has sub mitted her recipes for “June’s Easy Holiday Toffee” and cranberry Christmas salad. Smith, a resident of Chateau Elan, said she has been using these recipes without fail for at least 25 years. Her 87-year-old mother passed on the cranberry Christmas salad recipe to Smith just after she got married 46 years ago. The toffee recipe was one that Smith made up on her own, after trying many varia tions of toffee recipes. Smith said both recipes are favor ites of her family and family, and she gets requested for both each holiday season. “Since I have been an educator for the past 35 years, it’s important to me to have easy but delicious recipes that I can whip up quickly,” Smith wrote. “Both of these fit that criteria and are gobbled up quickly.” ‘JUNE’S EASY HOLIDAY TOFFEE’ 1 cup of sugar 2 sticks of butter (no substitutes) 3 tbs. water 1 milk chocolate bar Mix all ingredients except the chocolate bar together and cook in a heavy saucepan until it almost burns (If it’s smoking, don’t be afraid; let it smoke before removing from heat!). Immediately pour onto a greased cookie sheet. Wait two or three minutes and spread the chocolate bar over the toffee. Sprinkle with chopped pecans if you desire. Allow to cool until solid and break into pieces. Store in an air tight container (It won’t last long!). CRANBERRY CHRISTMAS SALAD 1 pkg. whole cranberries 1 can crushed pineapple 2 California navel oranges (peeled) 2 small packages of any red Jell-0 (I use strawberry or cherry) 1 cup of chopped pecans 1 Vi cups sugar (I use Splenda sugar mix) Chop cranberries and oranges in a food processor, cover with the sugar and set aside — making sure to pull out any large pieces of orange mem brane and discard. Drain pineapple well and add enough water to juice to make 2 cups. Heat the 2 cups of liquid until hot and add Jell-O, stirring well to dissolve. Pour the dissolved Jell-0 mixture over the cranberries/orang- es/sugar mixture and mix well. Add the crushed pineapple and pecans mixing well again. Pour into a bowl or mold and refrigerate until Jell-0 sets (over night). Serve on a lettuce leaf as a salad for your Christmas din ner. This doesn’t taste like a Jell-0 salad, but a fruity/nutty salad. You can also add a dollop of sour cream or whipped cream if desired for more color contrast. Serves 8-10. New tradition comes to table for family events Judy Rouse, Braselton, submitted her recipe for cheese Danish. Rouse said the recipe is easy to make, and can be served as a dessert or breakfast pastry. “It’s a fairly new tradition at the Rouse house, but I always have it ready for our family’s Christmas Eve gathering,” Rouse wrote. “Then, I hope there will be some left for Christmas morning breakfast for Larry and I! The recipe came from my ‘heart and soul’ sister, Martha Garmon.” CHEESE DANISH 2 cans crescent rolls 1 8 oz. cartons cream cheese 3 A cup sugar 2 tsp. vanilla or almond flavoring 1 egg — separated 2 tbsp. lemon juice Spray a 9 X 13 baking dish with Pam. Spread one can of crescent rolls in bottom of pan, pinching seams together. Combine softened cream cheese, sugar, flavoring, egg yolk and lemon juice until smooth and creamy. Spread over crescent rolls in pan. Layer other can of crescent rolls over cream cheese mix, pinching seams together. Brush with beaten egg white. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. ORDINANCE — continued from page 1A to three of the city’s commissions in January. The economic develop ment commission has two openings, the historical commission has two openings and the planning com mission has three openings. Some of those positions may be filled by another term with existing commis sion members. •approved an ordinance on sewer connection fees, which would allow existing houses with failing septic tanks to connect to the city’s sewer system, if a line is near the resi dence. Mayor Copenhaver vetoed a similar measure adopted by the city council last month. The new ordinance removes a low-income requirement. Homeowners may pay an estimated $5,000 connection fee in monthly payments over 60 months, or a lump sum payment. •discussed the status of city ordinances and legislation adopt ed since December 2005. Council member Jim Jester said the ordi nances haven’t been updated in city records for more than two years. Hoschton used to send all of its adopted ordinances and legislation to the Northeast Georgia Regional Development Center (RDC) at the end of the year to update city records. Hoschton now does some that work in-house with city employees. City employees will try to update the records as soon as possible. •approved a resolution to give refunds for customer deposits. •terminated a ground maintenance contract with Tiger Landscaping Services, which included mainte nance of the city square, cemetery and park. City officials plan to purchase equipment to have city employees maintain the properties, which will save about $7,500 a year. •heard from council member Richard Green, chairperson of the city’s water, waste and envi ronmental services committee. Green said the additions to the city’s wastewater treatment plant remain on schedule. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) cited two minor issues at the plant, related to silt fencing and access road conditions. Green said those issues have been addressed. •heard from Green, who said the engineering drawings for a sewer line from Nancy Blvd. to Hwy. 53 to Jopena Blvd. will be done by Dec. 7. He added that drawings for the southern extension of the sewer line project are underway. •heard from Green, who said the city will seek bids for reuse water pipes for industrial sewerage. The committee is also recommending that Hoschton investigate the fea sibility of drilling and piping for a second city well, and seeking an opinion from the city attorney on banning any new non-municipal wells in the city limits. What Gift Will Bring The Most Joy & Happiness This Holiday Season? The Gift of LASIK! Cal not> him! tydar a LASIK Gilt Certificate vv ytKirseif Of a lVl'hH pne ih s holiday sedECfi :tr;c gvE Ihe q J l d zee:, nalmal vie on. 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