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DawsonCountyNews
WEDNESDAY I AUGUST 1,2018 DaWSOflNeWS ^com DAWSONVULE, GEORGIA $1.00
Board sets hearings on impact fees
Funds would be collected on new developments
By Allie Dean
adean@dawsonnews.com
The Dawson County Board of
Commissioners has scheduled
two public hearings for August
for citizens to weigh in on pro
posed impact fees before they are
adopted.
Impact fees are collected on
new developments and help off
set the cost of capital improve
ments and services as the county
develops, including parks and
recreation, roads, libraries and
public safety.
One document required for the
collection of impact fees is called
the Capital Improvements
Element, which is adopted as a
chapter of the county’s compre
hensive plan.
According to Dawson County
Planning Director Jason
Streetman, the Capital
Improvements Element, or CIE,
is a “wishlist of projects and how
the impact fees would be ear
marked and utilized to pay for
those capital improvements.”
“Since the county is looking to
restart an impact fee program, the
county had to revise its Capital
Improvement Element,”
Streetman said.
To do that the county hired Bill
Ross of Ross & Associates in
June 2017 to update the county’s
impact fee ordinance and sched
ule as well as the CIE.
The board enacted impact fees
in 2006 and voted in May 2009 to
suspend the fees so that develop
ers who were deterred by the
high cost would build in the
county. Since then, no impact
fees have been collected.
The cost to the county for the
update is around $50,000. Of the
amount of impact fees collected
by the county, $1,651,000
between 2006 and 2009, some
was set aside to cover the cost of
Ross’ work.
Ross researched the projected
growth of the county (50,000
county residents by 2040, com
pared to 24,000 currently) and
how much new demand the
growth will place on services.
The cost of capital projects that
county staff have determined nec
essary to fit that demand is used
to create the impact fee schedule.
See Impact 12A
Gaines set to retire this Sunday
Allie Dean Dawson County News
Jim Gaines, senior pastor at First Baptist Church of Dawsonville, is retiring Sunday after 20 years at
the church.
New school year
begins Thursday
Superintendent discusses
technology, safety upgrades
By Jessica Brown
jbrown@dawsonnews.com
The school year starts tomorrow and it’s an exciting
year for Dawson County Schools.
Construction will begin on the new College and
Career Academy after Sept. 1, with an expected com
pletion date of August 2019.
The third and final phase of the 1:1 initiative will be
implemented at the high school, giving access to iPads
to grades 10-12.
And safety upgrades that were discussed during a
March 8 school safety workshop and approved by the
board of education in April have been put in place to
make Dawson County schools a safer environment for
all.
1:1 implemented at DCHS
Phase three of the 1:1 technology initiative has begun
at Dawson County High School, signifying that the last
group of students in the county has received access to
See School 14A
Pastor is First Baptist of Dawsonvilles longest-serving
Director of Economic
Forthe Dawson County News
The building that used to house First Baptist Church of
Dawsonville, which now houses Grace Presbyterian Church.
By Allie Dean
adean@dawsonnews.com
Senior Pastor Jim Gaines, First
Baptist Church of Dawsonville’s lon
gest serving pastor, is set to retire on
Sunday from the pulpit where he has
spent the past 20 years.
Gaines, 67, came to Dawsonville in
1998, leaving a job as executive
director of missions for the Georgia
Baptist Convention.
It was the fine finagling of four
local men that brought Gaines to the
church originally.
“Don Gordon, Billy Wallace,
Herbert Robinson came to me and
asked me to come and be their pastor
here,” he said. “I had this big conven
tion job and was working all over the
state, so they asked me to pray about
it. I came and talked to Gordon
Pirkle, and I felt like at home.”
In 1998 the congregation of First
Baptist numbered 40 people. Under
his ministry, the congregation has
blossomed to a strong 500.
“We grew really fast, the church
has just grown by leaps and bounds
since I’ve been here,” Gaines said.
First Baptist is one of the oldest
churches in the county, established in
1854. The church gathered in a one-
room building for decades before
constructing a new facility in 1943 at
the comer of Hwy. 9 and Hwy. 53,
where Grace Presbyterian sits now.
The church was remodeled and
See Gaines 17A
Development hired
By Allie Dean
adean@dawsonnews.com
The Dawson County Chamber of Commerce has
hired a director of economic development, chamber
President Christie Moore announced on Monday.
Betsy McGriff is stepping into the
new role that is a product of the cham
ber’s multi-year partnership with the
Development Authority of Dawson
County, which went into effect in May
of this year.
The two groups officially joined forc
es to help the authority manage day-to-
day tasks after former executive director
of the authority, Charlie Auvermann, resigned in
September 2017.
The new director of economic development is an
employee of the chamber of commerce, but the devel
opment authority board still has an active role in decid
ing who serves in the position.
See Hired 17A
McGriff
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9 0 9 9
Inside
Volume 3, Number 44
© 2018, Dawson County News
Dawsonville, Georgia
Church Events
3B
Classifieds
7B
Dear Abby
6B
Deaths
2A
Legals
8B
Opinion
9A
Sports
1B
2A Board set
to hold open
budget
hearings
3A City council
discusses
public comment
policy
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