Newspaper Page Text
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BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2019
Winder council approves
new depot building
lease with chamber
By Scott Thompson
sthompson@barrownewsjournal.com
Massive Chateau Elan area
project gets approval
Braselton leaders recently approved a con
troversial and legally contentious rezoning for
property across from Chateau Elan on Hwy.
211.
At a special called meeting Dec. 18, the Bra
selton Town Council unanimously approved
the request from HECE, LLC, for a massive
housing and commercial development on 230
acres around the Publix shopping center.
The project was turned down by the coun
cil in August. A subsequent lawsuit against the
town remanded the case back to the council for
another hearing.
The council held that hearing Dec. 9 during
its regular council meeting. During that meet
ing, an attorney for the developer argued that
the council should now go ahead and approve
the rezoning with conditions that had been
worked out between HECE and the city.
One citizen who lives at Chateau Elan said
that the project should have gone back before
the town's planning commission for more pub
lic input before the council took any final ac
tion.
An attorney for the developers of the Pub
lix shopping center also opposed plans by the
Georgia Department of Transportation for a
traffic signal design at the site.
The request was approved with 25 condi
tions, which covered a number of details in
cluding buffers, lot width, housing design and
size requirements and traffic improvements.
DDA
continued from 1A
The Barrow County Chamber
of Commerce will likely contin
ue to occupy the old train depot
building on Porter Street for the
foreseeable future.
The Winder City Council,
during a called meeting follow
ing its Thursday, Dec. 19 work
session, approved a new one-year
lease agreement with the cham
ber for 2020, and the agreement
has four automatic one-year re
newals beginning Jan. 1, 2021.
Either party, however, can opt
out at least 60 days prior to Jan.
1 each year.
The chamber, which has occu
pied the depot since the 1970s.
will pay the city $2,750 per quar
ter. or $11,000 per year, accord
ing to the agreement.
The chamber’s lease was a
source of contention in 2017,
when the council voted to termi
nate the lease at the end of 2018
as some city leaders wanted to
explore other options for the
building, and chamber officials
began a search for a new location.
However, nothing has material
ized to date.
MORATORIUM
Also during the called meeting,
the council approved a moratori
um on builders/developers sub
mitting exterior wall finish mate
rials, including vinyl siding, other
than brick, stone, stucco (exclud
ing EIFS) or cement board in res
idential or commercial zones.
The moratorium is in effect
until 8 a.m. March 4 as the city
works to finalize zoning ordi
nance updates.
The moratorium also covers
any zoning request for an in
compatible zoning use under the
proposed new ordinance and any
detached carport or storage build
ings in the designated residential
and commercial zones.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business at the Dec. 19
work session, the council:
•heard a presentation on the
city’s Fiscal Year 2019 audit by
Rushton and Company. The firm
issued an unmodified opinion. It
recommended more segregation
of duties at the Chimneys Golf
Course with regard to voided
transactions but found “no mate
rial noncompliance.” City finance
director Leslie Wilder said the
city had taken actions to address
that issue that will reflect in the
audit of the current fiscal year.
•heard three proposed agree
ments for service offered to the
city through the Georgia Munic
ipal Association. One deals with
recovering money in the event
that a “third party” party damag
es city property. The company,
Peachtree Recovery Services,
would take 16.5 percent, and the
city would get the rest. Wilder
said. Another would train em
ployees at each of the hotels and
motels located inside the city to
manage hotel-motel tax revenue
at $900 per year, per hotel. That
would be at a cost of $2,700 per
year for the city for the three ho
tels inside the city limits. The
final one would be for restau
rants to manage revenues from
the 3-percent liquor-by-the-drink
excise tax. That applies to 13
restaurants in the city at $300 per
restaurant, per year. Wilder said.
The hotel-motel tax and liquor
tax agreements are designed to
take some burden off the city’s
finance department. The agree
ments will be voted on at the
council’s Jan. 7 meeting.
•heard a presentation on
planned and proposed capital
projects at the Chimneys Golf
Course for FY2020, including
new public restrooms.
•heard a request for mainte
nance to the right-of-way on Bet
ts Street.
Lays Drive Project Corpora
tion to hold title to the build
ing. Authority leaders have
said the project is a “safe”
way to eventually have its
own money coming in.
Forum representatives told
the board that even if the state
exercised an option to termi
nate the lease ahead of time,
which has never happened, or
if the company were to go un
age in most states (16 with pa
rental consent where allowed
by state law), weigh at least
110 pounds and are in general
ly good health may be eligible
to donate blood. High school
students and other donors 18
years of age and younger also
have to meet certain height and
weight requirements.
BRING ONE FOR THE
CHIPPER EVENT SET
Keep Barrow Beautiful will
host a "Bring One for the Chip-
der, the DDA would not have
any financial liability.
“It’s almost a no-brainer
for us,” then-DDA chairman
Chris Maddox said at a meet
ing in May.
“We’re going to be a pass
through for some financing.
Someone else’s money is go
ing to fund it. Someone else’s
money is going to do the de
velopment. If the worst-case
per” event Saturday, Jan. 4.
The event will take place
from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the
Barrow County Leisure Ser
vices Complex, 80 Lee St.,
Winder, between fields 8-11.
People are encouraged to bring
their Christmas trees to be re
cycled.
AKA Tree Care is sponsor
ing the event.
For more information, con
tact Danielle Austin at daus-
tin@barrowga.org or 770-307-
3005.
scenario happens, we might
have a little egg on our face
but we’ve got no financial re
sponsibility.”
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business at the Dec.
19 board meeting, Maddox
tendered his resignation as
chairman and the board ap
pointed Jason McDaniel as
the new chair.
WOMEN’S SHARE GROUP
CAM Pregnancy Care Cen
ter, 127 West Candler St.,
Winder, will host a confiden
tial share group for women
only at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 6.
“Coffee Break Share Group
is a great way for women to get
together to share the laughter
and hard times of their lives,”
leaders state. The share group
is held monthly.
For more information, call
770-867-3000 or email cen-
ter@campregnancycare.com.
Briefs
continued from 1A
Schools
continued from 1A
Greene said, “I don’t
know,” a lot recently
when asked about the
options for getting stu
dents from one school to
another or from school
to home or vice versa.
The district now has
three times a day it takes
students to Sims Acad
emy, which is adjacent
to the new high school.
Students are delivered
for each period, starting
with the second.
Could buses make
those deliveries and run
a route earlier from a
school to the new school?
“I don’t know, yet,”
Considering
buying or
selling?
770-867-9026
www.maynardrealty.com
Greene answered.
The district also deliv
ers kids daily to the Cen
ter for Innovative Teach
ing. That also is one of
those “school-to-school”
rides.
Greene said a major
factor for buses going
to Sims Academy, CFIT
and now BASA, is how
the instructional time for
students is affected.
Greene said the trips
to Sims take at least 15
minutes. That is half an
hour of time that can
not be used for teaching.
Similar considerations
are given to CFIT and,
next year, to BASA.
School Bus Logis
tics is a consulting firm
working with the task
force. Greene said the
“task was so big” a con
sultant was needed to
sort through the options.
In addition, the con
sulting company is fa-
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miliar with the district’s
software — mapping bus
routes is a complicated
exercise.
After the main routes
in the morning and deliv
ers to Sims and BASA,
the district has to deal
with special education
trips, regular field trips
and sports teams for
away games.
Greene said schools
have been notified that
their school governance
teams should look at the
question and their buses.
He said others may be
asked to comment on
particular scenarios as
the task force gets closer
to February.
He does not rule out
asking other people to be
on the task force.
“I don’t know,” Greene
said.
The district also is
training bus drivers, he
said. One reason to study
the question is to deter
mine the number of bus
es needed, which then
tells Greene how many
drivers are needed.
The system has been
short on bus drivers,
which is nearly a contin
ual problem, most of the
year.
If the ones being
trained now make the
grade, Greene said, the
district will have just
about enough — for now.
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