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PAGE 2A
BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2021
Major commercial
developer to purchase 20
acres in Park 53 from county
By Scott Thompson
sthompson@barrownewsjournal.com
An Atlanta-based development com
pany has agreed to purchase a portion
of Barrow County-owned Park 53 to
build a speculative commercial building
aimed at attracting a new company to
locate at the industrial park.
Following a closed session during
a called meeting Oct. 26, the Wind
er-Barrow Industrial Building Authority
approved an agreement with Panattoni
Development Corporation to purchase
roughly 20 acres at Park 53 South
(southwest of the intersection of high
ways 316 and 53) for $83,000, multi
plied by the total acreage identified in
a property survey — meaning the actual
purchase price will be close to $1.7 mil
lion.
Lisa Maloof, Barrow County’s di
rector of economic development, said
Panattoni plans to begin working on the
project immediately and will partner
with the county’s economic develop
ment department to search for a tenant.
She said the company will also consider
a build-to-suit project for a prospective
company.
“Barrow County’s marketing efforts
focus on attracting companies related to
advanced/high-tech manufacturing and
life sciences/biomedical, among other
areas,’’ Maloof said in a statement. “Our
goal is to attract good companies that
contribute positively to our community
and provide good jobs with above av
erage wages and benefits for Barrow
County citizens.”
Panattoni was recently named At
lanta’s largest commercial developer
by the Atlanta Business Chronicle and
specializes in building speculative and
built-to-suit industrial and office spac
es for national, regional and interna
tional companies in the U.S., Canada
and Europe. FedEx, The Home Depot,
PetSmart, Bridgestone, Ace Hardware
are listed among its major clients.
As part of an unrelated confidential
project in Barrow County that being
headed up by state officials, Panattoni is
seeking to rezone land northeast of the
intersection of Bowman Mill and Bird
Hammond roads in Winder in order
to build almost 600,000 square feet of
warehouse space for a specific company
that is considering locating to Barrow.
That project, which has an estimated
$40-50 million full buildout value, is
still undergoing a regional review pro
cess and the rezoning request has not
yet come before the county planning
commission and board of commission
ers.
“Panattoni Development is a high-
ly-reputable company with a tremen
dous amount of experience in industrial
development,” Maloof said. “Choosing
Barrow County is a testament to our
great location in northeast Georgia,
skilled workforce, quality of life and
friendly business climate. We are ex
cited to see this two-year relationship
culminate into a much-needed modern
industrial building at Park 53 South.”
Panattoni’s agreement to purchase the
land marks the second major develop
ment this year for the industrial park that
had sat vacant for more than a decade
after the county first purchased it. In
January, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and
state economic development officials
announced that global home products
manufacturer Spring Mountain Center
had agreed to become the park’s first
tenant and invest $45 million in open
ing its new headquarters on 106 acres
of land on the south side of the park and
eventually create 200-plus new jobs.
Ground broke on that project earlier this
year, and Spring Mountain Center has
a five-year buildout plan with the first
phase expected to be completed and the
first 100 or so employees in place by the
end of 2022.
continued from 1A
County eyes new speed hump ordinance
Winder
necessary to fund crit
ical city infrastructure
projects and a much
larger investment in
downtown development
and as a way of lower
ing the city’s year-to-
year dependency on
utility fund transfers
to balance its General
Fund.
Terrell, the biggest
critic on council of the
city’s spending, was the
lone council member to
vote against the millage
increase and one of two
to oppose the adopted
FY22 budget. The oth
er, Holly Sheats, re
signed her seat follow
ing the budget vote and
was not part of the mill-
age rate discussions.
Terrell, who will now
get set to serve his sec
ond term on the council,
was opposed by Darby,
who fashioned himself
as a political outsider
and touted his long run
of experience in man
agement.
By Scott Thompson
sthompson@barrownewsjournal.com
Barrow County officials
said last week that an up
tick in resident complaints
about speeding drivers has
them considering a process
that could pave the way for
speed humps to be installed
on locally-owned roads and
streets — if enough resi
dents want and are willing
to pay for them.
During its Oct. 26 work
session, the county board
of commissioners directed
staff to prepare a draft ordi
nance that would establish
a citizen-led petition and
public hearing process for
speed humps to be installed
primarily on county-owned
internal streets within resi
dential subdivisions, wher
ever the posted speed limit
is 25 miles per hour or be
low.
The board last consid
ered, but failed to approve,
a speed hump ordinance
in 2006, but a substantial
growth in population over
the past decade has prompt
ed more citizen calls and
emails complaining about
drivers speeding and now
has the county considering
a method for speed hump
installations, said coun
ty transportation manager
Jessica Jackson.
“We’re looking at that
possibility,” Jackson told
the board, while also pre
senting commissioners
with examples of speed
hump ordinances in Bra-
selton, Loganville and
Walton County. “The ju
risdictions in our area are
a mixed bag. Some allow
them, some have an offi
cial policy, and some don’t
allow them. We don’t have
an official policy, but (it’s
generally understood) that
we don’t allow them on our
roads.”
Speeding drivers have
been the subject of a num
ber of citizen complaints
at local government meet
ings around the county in
recent years and have led
to officials taking action.
Two examples: In Statham.
new speed humps were re
cently installed along Rail
road Street in the heart of
the downtown area, while a
few streets within the City
of Winder also have them.
County commissioner
Ben Hendrix, who lives
within the Winder city lim
its, said he has also seen a
dramatic increase in speed
ing traffic in his neighbor
hood corresponding with a
growth in population.
“I’m not opposed to
looking at it and making
some recommendations,”
Hendrix said.
Jackson noted that mu
nicipalities would gener
ally have more flexibility
with speed hump installa
tions, but that most coun
ty-owned roads are larger,
longer and have higher
speed limits than what are
recommended for speed
humps. She said any speed
humps installed on county
roads would primarily be
within subdivisions.
Jackson and commis
sioner Bill Brown noted
there are both pros and
cons with speed humps.
“You’ve got to take them
up whenever you redo
streets.” Brown said.
“Historically, (the Geor
gia Department of Trans
portation) doesn’t want to
put money into roads with
speed humps,” Jackson
added. “We will have emer
gency services comments
on the maneuverability of
them. The transportation
and public works staff
dealing with them may feel
differently than the con
stituents asking for them,
so it’s going to depend on
perspective.”
Based on the board’s
conversations last week,
any potential ordinance
brought before the board
would require a vast ma
jority of property owners
adjoining the street/road
in question — at least 70-
75%, Jackson said — to
sign a petition in support of
the installation and a pub
lic hearing to be conducted
before the board, followed
by a final vote on approval.
The speed humps would
also likely be “revenue-neu
tral” — meaning the adjoin
ing property owners would
have to pay for a required
formalized, comprehensive
traffic study justifying the
need for the speed humps,
determining their location
and distance between each
other on the street and ex
amining whether speed
humps would be the most
appropriate traffic-calming
device, Jackson said. Prop
erty owners would also be
on the hook for the cost of
installation and upkeep of
the speed humps and the
associated signage. Jack-
son suggested those costs
could be paid through the
creation of a special tax
district.
“I get the calls and
emails, too,” BOC chair
man Pat Graham said in
her support of a new or
dinance that would estab
lish an official process for
speed hump installations.
“This is a way for it to be
entirely citizen-driven (and
where) we put something
in place that’s entirely rev
enue-neutral. You want a
speed hump in your subdi
vision. you’re going to pay
for the study. You’re going
to pay for the installation.
You’re going to pay for the
maintenance. You’re going
to pay for the pavement
markings. You’re going to
pay for the signage.
“If people think there’s a
speeding problem, our or
dinance should allow staff
to go out and determine if
there’s a speeding problem
(and whether speed humps
are appropriate). I think in
many cases residents will
often find that, as many of
them that want them, there
are also just as many that
don’t.”
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business at the
Oct. 26 meeting, commis
sioners:
•heard a recommenda
tion to adopt a service-lev-
el agreement between
the county and Northeast
Georgia Physicians Group/
Northeast Georgia Health
System that is part of the
overarching agreement be
tween the parties for the
hospital system to assume
full operations of ambu
lance transport services
within the county. The
service-level agreement is
expected to be approved
by the BOC at its Tuesday,
Nov. 9 meeting as part of
the board’s consent agenda.
Barrow County Emergen
cy Services deputy chief
Heath Williams said that,
as of Nov. 1, the hospital
system will have taken over
four of the six ambulances
covered under the overar
ching agreement and ex
pects to be in full operation
of the services by the end
of December.
•heard a recommenda
tion from county human re
sources director Elizabeth
Bailey and the county’s
benefits broker to switch
from Trustmark and Aet
na to Cigna as its employ
ee health/dental insurance
provider, a move they said
would save the county mon
ey in the coming years with
no benefit reduction. That
item will also be placed on
the board’s consent agenda
next week.
Considering
((TM*R) )) buying or
selling?
770-867-9026
www.maynardrealty.com
Statham continued from 1A
Former candidate Parker Elrod, who
withdrew from the race due to plans to
move out of the city but remained on
the ballot, had 33 votes (5.2%). There
were nine write-in votes.
Each of the incoming council mem
bers had campaigned on working to
better position Statham for continu
ing population growth and supporting
measures to make the city more wa
ter-independent and improving its in
frastructure.
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