About The Braselton news. (Jefferson, Ga) 2006-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 11, 2023)
o O Serving Braselton, Hoschton, Chateau Elan, Traditions, Reunion, Deaton Creek and West Jackson $1.00 copy Wednesday, January 11, 2023 Vol. 16 No. 5 A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. www.BraseltonNewsTODAY.com 12 pages Runner-up Panthers The Jackson County High School wrestling team finished as runners-up during Saturdays Region 8-AAAAAA duals PAGE 7A Art program The Braselton Womans Club has started a program to display the work of young artists in the 1904 building. PAGE 6A Special election qualify for State House 119 seat Seven Early voting opened this week for the special election to fill the State House District 119 seat. Seven people have qualified for the State House District 119 seat vacated by Rep-Elect Danny Rampey. A special election is set Jan. 31 for the race. Qualified candidates in clude: •Charlie Chase, Republi can, Winder. Chase is a gen eral contractor. •Shelbey Diamond Alexan der, Democrat. Winder. Alex ander is retired. •Joseph Grodzicki, Repub lican, of Winder. Grodzicki works as a safety coordinator for a gas distributor. •Renee Lord. Republican, no city listed. Lord is a busi ness owner. •Holt Persinger, Republi can, no city listed. Persinger is a landscape architect. •Joe Price, Republican, no city listed. Price works in beauty and barber shop equip ment sales. •Bill Ritter, Republican, Statham. Ritter is an insur ance agent. ELECTION DAY Rampey was election to the House District 119 seat last year, but resigned from the post following his recent arrest on burglary charges in Barrow County. House District 119 covers portions of Jackson County (in the Braselton-Hoschton area) and Barrow County. Jackson County residents in District 119 will cast their vote on Election Day. Jan. 31, at the Braselton Police and Municipal Court building. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on that date. The county board of elections approved relocating the site from Free Chapel to the Bra selton police and municipal court building for this special election. The elections office See Election, page 3A Development Decision on Braselton Lowe’s designs tabled again By Ben Munro ben@mainstreetnews. com Approval of drawings for a Braselton Lowe's across from Chateau Elan is again on hold. Last month, the Braselton Town Council tabled an ar chitectural review approval of the home improvement store planned as part of the Braselton Village devel opment on Hwy. 211. The council again held off on a decision Monday (Jan. 9), voting 5-0 to table the mat ter another month. Braselton Village is a planned unit development (PUD), which provides a mix of residential and com mercial components. The council must approve all architectural designs as a condition of the PUD. “We’ve got to get this right,’' Councilman Jim Jo- edecke said during a Jan. 5 work session. “This is in the gateway-to-Braselton area.” Multiple council mem bers were displeased with the original drawings re viewed last month during its Dec. 8 work session. Mayor Kurt Ward and Joe- decke said the designs from the developer didn’t match the architectural character of Chateau Elan. The coun cil received a revised ver sion on Dec. 12 but opted to table the item to allow more discussion between town staff and the developer. But little dialogue transpired in the past month. “I talked to (Braselton Planning Director) Kevin See Lowe’s, page 3A INDEX News 1-3A Opinion 4A Public safety 5A Social/School 6A Sports 7A State round-up 8A Classifieds 9A Obituaries 10A-11A Panther relay team headed to state PAGE 6A Photo by Ben Munro The Town of Braselton purchased the former site of West Jackson Primary School in November of 2021. The town plans to perform a market study on the building as it considers different uses for the facility. Town property Exploring options Braselton planning study for old school site By Ben Munro ben@mainstreetnews. com The Town of Braselton plans to hire a firm to perform a market assessment and de velopment study for the for mer West Jackson Primary School site on Hwy. 53. The town has owned the 63,500-square-foot building and grounds since purchasing it from the Jackson County Board of Education in No vember of 2021 for $1.2 mil lion. The $35,000 study, per formed by Retail Strategies located out of Birmingham, Alabama and Ft. Worth, Tex as, would provide a market analysis, offer recommenda tions for the use of the facility and “give us some idea for how it can be redone,” Town Manager Jennifer Scott said. The town still needs to sign a contract with the firm but re ceived the study cost estimate last month. The town recently contracted Retail Strategies to perform Braselton’s five-year downtown strategic plan. Scott said this study is com mon practice for the town’s large purchases, pointing to a similar survey commissioned for the Braselton Brothers Store building, which now serves as a restaurant and re tail space. Scott noted that the former school site, which initially served as Jackson Coun ty High School before that school moved to Jefferson in 1979, has water leaks and nu merous roof issues. “It needs to be evaluated by some engineers and archi tects.” she said. When asked if town offi cials and council members have an overall vision for the facility, Scott said she be- See Property, page 3A MAILING LABEL Library Braselton Library facility remains closed due to recent water damage By Ben Munro ben@mainstreetnews.com The Braselton Library remains closed due to wa ter damage sustained from a recent pipe issue. According to town and library officials, the issue occurred on Dec. 25 or Dec. 26 while the building was closed for four days for Christmas. A pipe reportedly blew out of its fitting, resulting in a significant amount of water in the main portion of the library. Braselton Library Di rector Lori Hayes said the water damaged some The Braselton library sustained recent water damage due to a pipe issue. The faclity remains closed. of the building’s drywall. None of the library’s cat aloged books sustained damage, according to Hayes. Town Manager Jenni fer Scott said the library carpet would not need re placing, just cleaning. No estimate has been provided yet for the cost of the damage. According to a Bra selton Library Facebook post, the facility is closed to the public “for the fore seeable future.” But Scott estimated that the build ing could re-open at some point this month. The closure comes as construction crews add a $4.1 million extension to the building. Scott noted that improvements to the main library, including See Library, page 3A '0 4 8 7 9 1 4 5 4 0
