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o o 20 Pages, 2 Sections A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. Winder, Barrow County, Georgia $1.00 Copy Wednesday, March 8, 2023 BOC approves 187-lot mixed-use subdivision on Carl-Bethlehem Road A rezone and amendment to the county's future land use map (FLUM) requested by Inline Communities, LLC for a proper ty on W Star Street and Carl-Bethlehem Road received approv al by the Barrow County Board of Commissioners on Feb. 14 in a 4-2 vote, with commissioners Joe Goodman and Deborah Lynn opposed. The applicant requested to rezone roughly 45 acres from ag ricultural (AG) to high-density residential (R-3) and a FLUM amendment for 27.6 acres from the rural neighborhood charac ter area to the 316 Innovation Corridor to allow the development of a 187-lot open space subdivision with mixed residential uses. The development will consist of 78 single-family detached lots and 109 townhomes with 14.2 acres of open space, four parking spaces per home and 95 guest parking spaces. The single-family homes will have lots 50 feet wide with a density of 1.73 units per acre. The townhome lot size will be 22 feet wide with a density of 2.6 units per acre. The total density of the 187 units is 4.15 units per acre. A traffic study was conducted for the intersections at Hwy. 11 and Christmas Avenue and W Star Street; Carl-Bethle hem Road and Arch Tanner Road; Carl-Bethlehem Road and Briscoe Mill Road; and Carl-Bethlehem Road and the proposed project driveways. The traffic study, which was done in August of 2022 by A&R Engineering, concluded the development would have minimal impact on traffic operations. It also concluded that, per GDOT standards, a left turn lane isn’t warranted at either proposed Credit: InLine Communities The 187-lot development will consist of 78 single-family homes and 109 townhomes. driveway on Carl-Bethlehem Road, but a deceleration lane is warranted at both. Both full-access driveways on Carl-Bethlehem Road will have one entering and one exiting lane, a deceleration lane for entering traffic, will be stop sign-controlled at approaches with Carl-Bethlehem Road and will have adequate sight distance per AASHTO standards. A list of 14 conditions came with the approval, including requiring an additional 10-foot landscape strip for the length of the property to be dedicated to the county for additional right-of-way, a minimum of 1,500 square feet of heated space for townhomes and 2,000 square feet of heated space for sin gle-family detached homes and other landscaping and architec- New elementary school named By Hannah Barron hannah@mainstreetnews.com The Barrow Board of Education voted to name the district’s new school Austin Road Elementary at its March 7 board meeting. Austin Road Elementary will open in the fall. Both the flooring and ceiling grid are currently being installed. SALARY INCREASES The BOE also approved an in crease in the local supplement for certified staff, as well as a 3% in crease for non-certified employees in the FY23-24 budget. The salary increases will cost an estimated $3.59 million, covered by an anticipated increase in prop erty tax collections due to growth in the county. “Both of the salary increases will allow the school system to be more competitive so it can attract, employ, develop and retain high ly effective, diverse staff,” district leaders said. The increase would be in addi tion to the $2,000 state increase proposed by Gov. See BOE, page J Credit: City of Winder Visitors can drop in to learn about the project, complete interactive exercises and talk to the project team during the city’s next open house Thursday, March 30 from 4-6 p.m. at the Community Center. Pictured above are mem bers of the Winder City Council and city staff at the City of Winder Utilities Complex. Winder launches comprehensive planning and zoning update MAILING LABEL The City of Winder has initiated a planning process to develop its first comprehensive plan and rewrite its zon ing ordinance, which officially kicked off at the March 2 Winder City Council work ses sion. The city’s comprehen sive plan will be a vi sion document guiding future growth, develop ment, investment, and land use within the City of Winder. While the Barrow County Com prehensive Plan cur rently includes a small section for the City of Winder, the city be lieves it’s important that it document and create a plan to implement its own vision. This will be the first city-specif ic comprehensive plan for Winder and will be updated every five years — a requirement from the State of Georgia. See Winder, page 2A County reduces large volume water rates, invests in infrastructure '0 4879 14541 7 By Morgan Ervin morgan@barrownews- journal.com The Barrow County Utility Department re quested the Board of Com missioners (BOC)establish and adopt a new large vol ume water user rate sched ule, which was approved on Feb. 14, and will take effect April 1. The large volume rate is determined by the cus tomer’s meter size, daily gallon volume water de mands and only applies to customers with meter sizes between three and 12 inches. The large volume water rates reflect the county’s economic development goals to be more compet itive in attracting business and industry. Large volume users al low for more water to be See Water, page 2A Bethlehem shooting results in one arrest, juvenile victim hospitalized One person was shot and another person was arrested Friday night following a shooting in the Barrow Crossing shopping center in Bethlehem. Deputies responded to a shooting call at 916 Loganville Highway at 11:21 p.m. on Friday, March 3, to find ajuve- nile male with gunshot wounds. The juvenile was trans ported to an area hospital for treatment. Edwin Emiliano Rodriguez-Pena, 18, of Athens, was ar rested by Barrow County Sheriff’s deputies on the scene of the shooting. He was transported to the Barrow County Detention Center and was charged with the following: •Aggravated Assault (5 counts) •Aggravated Battery (2counts) • Criminal Attempt to Commit Murder (1 count) •Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony (1 count) Rodriguez-Pena remains in the Barrow County Deten tion Center with no bond. The investigation into this case is continuing and no mo tive for the shooting has been determined. If anyone has any information regarding this case, they may contact the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Unit at (770) 307-3080 ext. 3083. County managerresigns The Barrow County Board of Commissioners accepted county manager Kevin Little's resignation letter following an executive session Tuesday, Feb. 28. The board also approved a motion to allow county operator Billy Pittard to assume day-to-day operations as interim county manager. Statham ’s first St. Patrick’s Day parade set March 18 The City of Statham will be hosting its first annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Sat urday, March 18, through the historic district of Downtown Statham beginning at 10 a.m. “We are very excited to bring this international hol iday to the City of Statham. There are so many great cel ebrations of St. Patrick’s Day in this country and other coun tries and we wanted to bring that to the City of Statham and grow it each year for the benefit of this area of Geor gia,” said Joe Davis, Statham utility clerk and parade orga nizer. "The parade will consist of floats, a vintage fire engine, classic cars and walkers from several different clubs and or ganizations.” The Grand Marshals of the City’s inaugural St. Patrick’s Day Parade are brothers Drew and Wade Casto whose fami ly-owned hardware and retail store, Casto Trading Co., lo cated in Statham, have been big supporters of the Statham community for many years. “Every community has some one or some group of people who pride themselves on giv ing back to their community, and for us, it’s Drew and Wade Casto,” said Mayor Joe Piper. “We appreciate all they do for our community and they are very deserving of being the first Grand Marshals of our St. Patrick’s Day Parade,” The Winder-Barrow High School JROTC will lead the parade with their Color Guard team and platoon. Following will be the Grand Marshals, leprechauns and other partic ipants, including the Carpen ter Academy of Irish Dance of Athens, Encourage HER Academy, baseball teams, Girl Scout troops, classic cars, hot rods and more. Hand-crafted Shamrock Awards will be given to the Best Float, Best Walking Group, Best Vehicle and Most Creative Entry. The judges for the inaugural parade are Kierra Herring, Angela Man or and Tasha Colquitte, all of Statham’s community-driv en financial institution. Bank OZK. “There will be tossed can dy and green beads, people dressed in their best Irish green and a lot of smiling fac es will be seen. We hope to see everyone there,” said Davis. To participate in the pa rade, contact 770-725-5455 or email staff@ cityofstatham. com. Registration is free. New townhomes on Hwy. 81 get green light A rezone request allow ing for a townhome devel opment was approved by the Barrow County Board of Commissioners during its Feb. 14 meeting. Applicant, Stanton Por ter, applied for a rezone of 12.52 acres, located at 1192 Loganville Highway in Winder, from intensive commercial (C-3) to medi um-density residential (R- 2) with a special use to al low for a five unit per acre residential development consisting of 53 townhome units. After three defeated mo tions, the BOC approved the rezone request with See BOC, page 2A