Newspaper Page Text
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
