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o O 16 Pages, 2 Sections, Plus Preprints A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. Winder, Barrow County, Georgia $1.00 Copy Wednesday, January 13, 2021 CORONAVIRUS UPDATES Barrow Vaccine clinics offered in area as eligibility expands death toll hits 75 At least 75 Barrow Coun ty residents have died from COVID-19 since the start of the coronavirus pandem ic last March, with the state reporting eight additional deaths in the county since Dec. 31. The county had one death from COVID-19 recorded each day from Jan. 5-8, ac cording to the latest Geor gia Department of Public Health daily update released Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 12. In addition to the 75 con firmed deaths among Bar- row residents, the state also listed one probable death. The latest death numbers come as the record-level number of daily infections continues in the county and around the state. The DPH confirmed another 100 cas es in Barrow on Tuesday, bringing the cumulative to tal to 5,838 cases and rais ing the seven-day average to 81.1 new cases per day, a new high mark. The county had a record-high 143 cases confirmed Friday, Jan. 8. Nearly 28 percent of coun ty residents who have been tested for COVID-19 over the past week have tested positive. As of Tuesday afternoon, the state had a cumula tive total of 648,694 cases, 10,444 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 (including 145 reported Tuesday) and 1,218 additional probable deaths. Hospitals in the area have also continued to be slammed with COVID-19 patients. Northeast Georgia Health System has recorded 60 deaths over the past week, bringing the cumulative death toll to 645 across its facilities as of Tuesday. The system was treating 336 confirmed-positive patients as of Tuesday morning — including 25 at Northeast Georgia Medical Center See Virus, page 2A Index: Public Safety 5A School news 4B Classifieds 5B Legals 6-7B Obituaries 6-8A Opinion 4A Sports 1-2B MAILING LABEL Residents across northeast Georgia who are 65 years or older can now schedule an appointment to receive a coronavirus vaccine at one of several events hosted by Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS). Seven COVID-19 vaccine clinic events have been planned through the end of January — including one in Winder on Jan. 23 — along with follow-up events at which participants will receive their sec ond dose. The first was held Mon day, Jan. 11, in Oakwood. “It’s exciting to finally take this next step in the fight against the pandemic,” said Dr. Sakib Maya, medical director of Urgent Care at NGHS. “I can’t wait to start seeing pa tients receive their vaccines. We know how anxious they are and we’re proud to offer this service for our community.” Appointments are required and walk-ins will not be accepted. The remaining event dates and loca tions are: •8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 14 — Oakwood, Corporate Plaza, 3137 Frontage Rd., second dose on Feb. 11. •8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 16 — Oakwood, Corporate Plaza, 3137 Frontage Rd., second dose on Feb. 13. •8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday. Jan. 18 — Dawsonville, Veterans Park, 186 Recreation Rd., second dose on Feb. 15. •8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 23 — Winder, NGPG Family Health Associates, 63 West Candler St., second dose on Feb. 20. •8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Jan. 27 — Gainesville. NGPG Family Med icine, Medical Park 2, Suite 102, 1439 Jesse Jewell Pkwy., second dose on Feb. 24. •8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 30 — Toc- coa, NGPG Toccoa Clinic, 58 Big A Rd., second dose on Feb. 27. “We are offering as many ap pointments as possible with the vaccine supply and staffing re sources we have available,” said Bobby Norris, vice president of operations for Northeast Georgia Physicians Group. “We will add more appointments — at more lo cations — as soon as we can. In the meantime, we appreciate ev eryone’s patience.” Schedule your vaccine appoint ment at nghs.com/vaccine-regis- tration. See Vaccines, page 2A Annexation approved Google Maps image/ The Winder City Council on Tuesday, Jan. 12, approved the annexation and rezon ing of more than 200 acres south of Atlanta Highway and east of the city limits to allow for a subdivision of more than 230 single-family homes as well as “neighbor hood commercial” development. In split vote, Winder council grants annexation request, rezoning for residential, commercial development By Scott Thompson sthompson@barrownewsjournal.com After it was rejected last summer, a mod ified request to annex more than 200 acres of old Russell family land into the City of Winder and rezone the land for a large resi dential development and some commercial uses was approved by the council by a split 4-3 vote Tuesday, Jan. 12. With the council’s approval of MMK, LLC’s and Sullins Engineering’s requests to annex and rezone the seven parcels south of Atlanta Highway between Pine Hills Golf Course and Russell Cemetery Road, developers cleared a key hurdle to build a 232-home residential subdivision known as Fieldstream on the bulk of the land and undetermined “neighborhood commercial” uses on the roughly 45 acres at the front of the land along the highway. Mayor David Maynard broke a 3-3 tie in favor of councilman Travis Singley’s mo tion to grant the annexation and rezoning requests, joining Singley and council mem bers Sonny Morris and Kobi Kilgore in sup port. Council members Chris Akins, Jimmy Terrell and Holly Sheats objected to the requests, and the final votes on the residen tial and commercial components came after motions by Akins and Terrell, respectively, failed along the same 4-3 lines. The council’s vote was a significant move that will reshape the appearance of the city’s eastern gateway coming in from Ath ens on Atlanta Highway and a stark reversal from its position in July, when it rejected similar requests by a 5-1 vote. It also came after the city’s planning staff recommended approval of the requests with several condi tions and the planning board unanimously recommended denial due to concerns over what board members contended were a lack of specifics about the project and a lack of community input. Julie Sellers, an attorney for the appli cants on the residential end, noted Tuesday and during a council work session Thurs day, Jan. 7, that the applicants made sub stantial changes to the original request, which sought a higher-density residential development with just under 400 homes and “light industrial” uses on the pro posed commercial parcels and garnered significant pushback due largely to traffic concerns. The property has been under the county’s agricultural zoning and designated “Rural Reserve,” which would have only allowed for about a third of the homes orig inally sought if the applicants had tried to rezone it through the county. The applicants have said previously that less than 150 homes wouldn’t be economically feasible for the project. According to the revised site plan, the number of proposed homes would be re duced by 165 and the commercial com ponents would be “neighborhood com mercial.” Sellers said the revised site plan increases lot widths from 75 to 100 feet and commits to having at least 43 percent of the homes be on 15,000-square-foot lots with a minimum of 12.000 square feet. Homes would be a minimum of 1,800 square feet for single-story and a minimum of 2,200 square feet for two-story houses. The residential development is also slat ed to include 42 acres of open space and an amenities area that will include a junior Olympic-sized swimming pool, community lawn and children’s play area. Sellers said Fieldstream would give the city new “quality single-family homes” that the city “doesn’t have a lot of right now.” She said it would help improve the city’s tax base, attract new residents to the city and be a potential boon for downtown-area businesses. See Winder, page 3A Bill Ritter Ritter elected new BOE chair, replaces Stevens By Scott Thompson sthompson@barrownewsjournal.com The Barrow County Board of Education shook up its officer leadership Tuesday, Jan. 12, electing Bill Ritter to serve as board chairman for 2021. Ritter was elected over Lynn Stevens, who had served as chair the last two years. She replaced Mark Still as chairman in 2019 after Still’s re tirement from the board. Stevens, who has been in office since 1997, is the longest-serving board member. Ritter, who served as the vice chair in 2020, is serving his first term on the board after being elected in 2018. “I’m humbled and honored that (the board) made that decision,” Ritter said after the vote Tuesday. “I promise I’ll do my best to do what’s right for the board and the schools, and (superintendent Chris McMichael) and his team on a daily basis.” The board elected Debi Krause vice chair after she was the only member nominated for the post. Krause has been on the board since 2015 and is in her second term. The board also officially welcomed new mem ber Vince Caine, who took part in his first voting session Tuesday. Caine was the lone person to qualify for the District 2 seat last year after Garey Huff opted not to seek re-election. OTHER BUSINESS In other business Tuesday, the board: •extended McMichael’s contract as superinten dent following a closed session. Details of the agreement were not immediately available Tues day night. •was recognized by McMichael for achieving Exemplary School Board status from the Georgia School Boards Association for a fifth year in a row. •awarded a security camera installation services contract to Adapt to Solve of Winder in the amount of $37,162. The district has 279 replacement and 156 new security cameras to install in 13 schools. •approved the purchase of network switch equipment from MXN of Woodstock in the amount of $437,000. Of the amount, 80 percent will be funded by the federal e-rate program, and 20 percent will be funded by the district (project ed at $87,400). In related items, the board also approved the purchase of wireless networking equipment from MXN in the amount of $31,648 and UPS equipment from SHI in the amount of $53,330. The same 80-20 split between federal and district funding will also be applied to those purchases. •approved utilizing Superior Commercial Clean ing for custodial support along with the district’s current Primero staffing. The anticipated cost for the remainder of fiscal year is $150,000. 1 4 5 4 1