About The Braselton news. (Jefferson, Ga) 2006-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 2022)
Serving Braselton, Hoschton, Chateau Elan, Traditions, Reunion, Deaton Creek and West Jackson $1.00 copy Wednesday, January 26, 2022 Vol. 15 No. 7 A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. www.BraseltonNewsTODAY.com 12 pages Planning commission Hoschton City Council nixes planning board revival The Hoschton City Coun cil shot down an effort to revive the town's planning commission at its meeting on Jan. 20. In a 4-2 vote, the council agreed to take a planned dis cussion about the planning board off its agenda. But the move didn't sit well with some citizens who were critical of the lack of discussion about the plan ning board. “Why not discuss it?" asked Sue Youngblood. Former planning board chairman Scott Butler was also critical of the move to disband the commission, saying that former Mayor Shannon Sell led the move to disband the group in 2021. Butler said a majority of the council wanted him off the board, but since they couldn't remove him. they decided to do away with the entire plan ning commission. The city did create a down town development authority in place of the planning com mission. OTHER BUSINESS In other business, the council: • named two new members to the city DDA board with Marsha Hunter replacing Ray Vaughn and Jeff Parkin son replacing Anita Boyd. Both Vaughn and Boyd re signed from the board. • named members of the city ethics board: Sam Wait es, Brenda Chapman, Kim Sell, Chris Hardin, Johs Bur dette and Austin Albers. • approved software for the city water department from Black Mountain Software. • approved paying for health insurance for an em ployee's family members, ei ther spouse or children. The city currently pays for em ployee health insurance. • held a closed session; no action was taken following the session. COVID-19 Metro hospitals again feeling effects of another COVID surge By Ben Munro ben@mainstreetnews.com Metro Atlanta healthcare of ficials said the Omicron-driven explosion of COVID cases is beleaguering hospitals which are gripped in yet another wave of a two-year long pandemic. Representatives from six hos pital systems, including North east Georgia Health System (NGHS) — which serves the Braselton area — participated in a virtual conference Thurs day (Jan. 20). The meeting was held as the state recently set a single-day record for new cases at 21,271, vastly surpassing pre vious COVID pandemic peaks. This was the second such ad dress in the last five months. “We met in August to talk about this,’’ said Dr. Robert Jan sen, Chief Medical Officer and Chief of Staff at Grady Health System, who said Thursday marked the two-year anniver sary of the first COVID case in the United States. “Little did we think we’d be talking about it again today, but here we are.” Locally, Northeast Georgia Health System reported 321 COVID hospitalizations across its campuses as of Jan. 24. The system recorded a record 355 hospitalizations back in January of 2021. “If the projections hold hue, we might pass last January’s peak,” said Dr. Supriya Man- nepalli, Medical Director for Infectious Diseases at Northeast Georgia Health System. Mannepalli added that NG HS’s emergency departments and urgent care facilities are seeing record-breaking num bers of patients. She also said a record-number of NGHS employees are out sick with COVID-19. Elsewhere in metro Atlanta there are other troubling num- BY THE NUMBERS •321 — COVID hospitaliza tions at Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS) as of Jan. 24 •341 — COVID hospitaliza tions at NGHS on Jan. 17, the highest yet in the fifth wave of the pandemic •355 — Record number of COVID hospitalizations at NGHS, set in Jan. 2021 during the third wave of the pandemic. bers. Dr. Andrea Shane, Divi sion Chief of Pediatric Infec tious Diseases of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, reported more than 100 children with COVID-related complications being treated at Children’s the past three to four weeks. At Grady, the facilities are at 110% capacity, according to Jansen. And Dr. Danny Branstetter, the Medical Director of In fection Prevention at Wellstar Health System, pointed to 686 COVID hospitalizations sys tem-wide. Members of Thursday’s pan el also related some of the tragic events they’ve witnessed during this latest wave of the pandemic. Branstetter told the story of a 70-year-old patient hospital ized for a fall who later tested positive for COVID, as did nine members of his family — none of whom were vaccinated. Three of the family members died, according to Bransetter. “One continues to ask, ‘what if?’” he said, stressing the need for vaccination and other COVID preventive measures. Mannepalli spoke of a COVID-positive, unvaccinated mother who gave birth to a child at Northeast Georgia Medical Center. The child survived, but See Hospitals, page 3A Schools Submitted photo West Jackson Elementary School teacher Jessica Frazer will appear on a Georgia Public Broadcasting “Classroom Conversations” podcast airing Feb. 28. Classroom conversations West Jackson Elementary teacher to appear on upcoming GPB podcast about STEAM schools By Ben Munro Feb. 28. STEAM schools teach sci- ben@mainstreetnews.com Frazer was invited to ence. technology, engineer- Jessica Frazer has a GPB’s Atlanta studios in ing, arts and math through self-described passion for late December to discuss project-based learning that STEAM teaching and re- STEAM (Science, Technol- blends the subjects, cently had a podcast platform ogy, English, Art and Math) “We move away from to talk about it. education. teaching in a box because The West Jackson Ele- “Just kind of what it is to somebody says you should mentary School fourth-grade be a STEAM school ... the learn this at this age,” Fraz- teacher took part in a Georgia ways it looks different and er said, “to making learning Public Broadcasting (GPB) the challenges and the re- a lot more authentic for our “Classroom Conversations” wards, too, that come with podcast episode that will air that,” Frazer said. See Frazer, page 3A COVID-19 Number of new area COVID cases drops over the pastweek While the number of new COVID-19 cases, driven by the Omicron variant, is still high in the area, the latest data has shown the rate of new in fections falling or at least leveling off. Here is a look at the numbers: •Jackson County dropped from a daily moving average of 148.9 new cases last week (Jan. 17) to 110.7 cases as of Jan. 24. •Hall County saw a slight dip in its average from a week ago, drop ping from an average of 272.7 new cases on Jan. 17 to 269.6 on Jan. 24. •Barrow County report ed a slight drop as well, falling from a daily aver age of 129.6 new cases on Jan. 17 to 127.4 cases on Jan. 24. •Gwinnett County fell from a daily average of 1.135.3 new cases on Jan. 17 to an average of 1.181.4 new cases on Jan. 24, though the average had dipped to 954.1 on Jan. 23. Jackson. Hall and Bar- row counties remain amongst the state's hard est hit in terms of COVID cases, however. Jackson County ranks fourth in the state with a rate of 22,969.21 cases per 100.000 people. Hall County is not far behind, ranking sixth with a rate of 21,224.72 cases per 100.000 people. Barrow County ranks eight with a rate of 20,919.63 cases per 100,000. MAILING LABEL Braselton Amendment would prohibit new gas stations, drive-throughs, other specific businesses in Hwy. 211 overlay district By Ben Munro ben@mainstreetnews.com An amendment to Bra- selton’s development code would prohibit any new gas stations, drive-through restau rants, car washes and auto ser vice stations along the town’s Hwy. 211 overlay district. And the proposal has al ready cleared one hurdle. The Braselton Planning Commission voted unani mously on Monday (Jan. 24) to recommend the amend ment. The Braselton Town Council, which will have the final say, will hold a public hearing over the proposal on Feb. 10 (4 p.m.), followed by a potential vote on Feb. 14 (6 p.m.). The Hwy. 211 Overlay District is defined as any land throughout Braselton on ei ther side of the highway 750 feet from its centerline. The intent of the amend ment — according to findings from the planning department included with the amendment — is to preserve a diversity of land uses along the highway. According to the findings, the concern is that allowing more of these particular busi nesses would crowd out other potential land uses along the corridor. Concerns about the traffic that accompanies these businesses was also noted in the findings. The findings state that a “more than adequate amount” of these business already exist in the area surrounding the overlay district. This amendment, how ever, would not affect any current gas stations, drive-in/ drive-through restaurants, car washes and auto service sta tions — all of which would be grandfathered in. The planning board also voted on Monday to recom mend other amendments to the town’s development code. Related to the Hwy. 211 overlay district amendment, it recommended a change to the definition of a drive-in/drive- through restaurant. The new definition specifies a drive-in/ drive-through as “an eating/ and or drinking establishment where one can order and/ or pick up food and/or drink without leaving one’s vehicle often characterized by a menu or a pick-up window and/or a drive-through window.” Bra selton planning director Kevin Keller said the change makes the definition “a little more clear.” The planning board also recommended approval of two development code chang es for planned unit devel opments (PUDs). The first defines a PUD as a develop ment having two differing land uses and two differing densities. It specifies that two residential uses with differing See Amendment, page 3A o
