About The Braselton news. (Jefferson, Ga) 2006-current | View Entire Issue (May 25, 2022)
Serving Braselton, Hoschton, Chateau Elan, Traditions, Reunion, Deaton Creek and West Jackson $1.00 copy Wednesday, May 25, 2022 Vol. 15 No. 24 A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. www.BraseltonNewsTODAY.com 12 pages Election results Bingham, Clack and Sanders top local races The Braselton and West Jackson area will be repre sented by some new faces in Jackson County's government — and at the state level — fol lowing the results of the May 24 election. Chad Bingham will rep resent the area in the District 3 seat on the Jackson Coun ty Board of Commissioners having defeated Steve Wittry 1,793-1,223. Bingham will replace Ralph Richardson who didn’t seek re-election. Also serving on the BOC from West Jackson will be Marty Clark who ran unop posed for the new District 5 seat on the board. District 5 was created this year due to growth in the county on the west side. Ty Clack will represent the West Jackson area on the Jackson County Board of Ed ucation in the Post 5 seat af ter defeating Richard Irby and Joe Martin. Clack got 53.8% of the vote to avoid a runoff. He will replace Don Clerici on the BOE. Clerici ran for District 31 in the state house, foregoing a re-election bid to the BOE. Also serving on the BOE from the West Jackson area will be Ricky Sanders who defeated Tommy Rainey 1.017-644 for the BOE Post 2 seat. That district stretches from north of Braselton (north of 1-85) through Pendergrass to Maysville. Sanders lives in the West Jackson area and will replace Carol Anglin on the BOE. Anglin didn’t seek re-election. LOCAL STATE CONTESTS In state-level results, West Jackson resident Don Clerici lost his bid for the District 31 seat in the state House of Rep resentatives. Emory Duna- hoo Jr. is on track to win the seat with 53.01%- of the vote. Dunahoo received 4,930 votes to Clerici’s 4,371 (the district included a small part of Hall County as well as much of Jackson County.) Dunahoo is an incumbent State Representative who was moved into District 31 during the redistricting process. The seat is currently held by Rep. Tommy Benton who did not seek re-election. In other area state races. See Election, page 3A Jackson Co. BOC Housing lot sizes going up in Jackson Co. Several major changes were approved May 16 that could have a long-term impact on residential development in un incorporated areas of Jackson County. Among the items approved by the Jackson County Board of Commissioners was to in crease the minimum residential lot sizes in the county, a move designed to prevent high-densi ty subdivisions of cookie-cutter houses similar to what’s often seen in neighboring Gwinnett County. The BOC also approved the first part of implementing im pact fees on future residential developments, fees that will be prioritized to improve roads in unincorporated Jackson Coun ty- All of the actions come as the county continues with a 1-year moratorium on residen tial rezoning in unincorporated Jackson County. The morato rium was put in place last fall to give county officials time to update county codes and to create an impact fee system. LOT SIZES Under the new R-l devel opment codes, the smallest lot size will be 1/2 acre, but only if the development has both pub lic water and sewer available. In unincorporated areas of the county public sewer is rare in most areas. For most future develop ments, 3/4 acre lots will be the minimum size if the develop ment has public water and a septic tank. For properties that lack public water and public sewer, 1.5 acres will be the minimum lot size. In addition to raising lot sizes, the BOC also approved doing away with open space subdivisions. Those develop ments had allowed higher-den sity projects in exchange for preserving green space. But some officials thought that process was being abused by some developers who county unbuildable land (such as wet lands) as green space just to get higher-density on their build- able property. The board also did away with single-family housing in R-2 and R-3 zoning ar eas which are designed for high-density projects, such as townhouses, condominiums, duplexes and apartments. In related action, the BOC also amended county codes governing storm water de tention ponds and fencing. Among the details the county is doing away with solid met al fencing and is creating rules to cover the use of berms as a See BOC, page 2A JCHS graduation ahead Thursday Jackson County High School will hold its graduation ceremo ny Thursday, May 26 at 8 p.m. at JCHS Stadium. JCHS Stadium is located at 152 Jaxco Jet, Hoschton. MAILING LABEL Movie night Photo by Ben Munro A crowd gathers on the Braselton Town Green Saturday (May 21) for a showing of “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” as part of Braselton’s “Movies Under the Stars” series. Jackson Co. parks Gum Springs Park nearing completion, according to county manager Photo by Ben Munro Construction of Gum Springs Park is nearing completion, according to Jackson County manager Kevin Poe. By Ben Munro ben@mainstreetnews. com A project beset by delays could soon wrap up. Jackson County man ager Kevin Poe said Gum Springs Park, located near the intersection of Gum Springs Church Rd. and Hwy. 124, is almost com plete. Poe said on Friday (May 20) that the park is two to three weeks away from being finalized after construction ran approxi mately nine months past its original completion date. “We had some major parts of it that had some — just like any other project going on now — supply-chain is sues,” Poe said. “But we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We’re getting close to finishing. It’s going to be a good park for that area.” The park will feature baseball and soccer fields, a playground, batting cages, baseball courts and walking trails. Poe said the playground in place, and that area is being sodded. Bleachers, concrete and slat work at the ballfields will all be ready within in two to three weeks, he said. Poe said the project’s big gest delays came with con crete, which required an or der five weeks in advance: fencing, which was delayed three months; and delivery of the playground equip ment, which was delayed six months. The project has been car ried out in two phases. Grading work, concrete work and original sodding were installed during the first phase. Lights, fencing, See Park, page 3A Hoschton Hoschton police chief wants school zone speed cameras By Ben Munro ben@mainstreetnews. com Hoschton Police Chief Brad Hill is pushing for school speed zone camer as to slow down traffic on Hwy. 53. Hill went before the Jack- son County school board earlier this month to advo cate for school speed-zone cameras along Hwy. 53 near West Jackson Elemen tary School. Hill, who took over Hoschton’s re-instated police department less than a year ago, said the city is having issues with speed ers along the state route. He told the BOE that a speed study indicated traf fic reaching speeds of 60- 70 mph on Hwy. 53 during school hours. The speed limit is 25 mph. “Those cameras will re place an officer having to sit up there and run speed detection,” Hill said on Wednesday (May 18) of last week. “It’s not a mon ey-maker thing. It’s not try ing to bring in revenue for the department. It’s a cor rection thing, a deterrent for people to not speed through there during school hours.” According to school See Cameras, page 2A
