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4A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, November 7,2018
FROM 1A
Budget
They also voted in favor of
District 2 Commissioner Chris
Gaines’ proposal to remove a pro
posed full time fire training officer
job and replaced it with overtime
amounting to $15,000 for the emer
gency services department, resulting
in a savings of around $46,000. The
board also decreased the public
works department’s asphalt budget
by $25,000 and allocated $2,000 to
the Good Shepherd Clinic.
Gaines had previously suggested
the board look at increasing the
county’s 401 (k) match but said he
would like to wait for more informa
tion to make sure that the increase
would be equitable across the board
and include pension employees.
Also approved was District 1
Commissioner Sharon Fausett’s rec
ommendation of allocating $2,716 to
the satellite library to be used to
potentially keep the library open for
more hours during the week.
The budget includes more new
personnel than the county has seen
in some time with approval of 23 of
the 42 positions that the department
heads requested during budget hear
ings in August at a cost of around
$937,000.
The 2019 general fund budget is a
$752,755 increase over the amended
2018 budget.
Capital improvement projects
approved include $100,000 for audio
visual replacements in the court
house, $10,000 for cameras for the
Tax Commissioner’s Office,
$100,000 for paving the parking lot
at the KH Long building, $31,071 to
activate emergency call buttons for
the sheriff’s office radios and
$50,000 for new AC units for the
sheriff’s office.
The SPLOST VI budget for 2019
is $7,500,000, and is earmarked for a
new public works facility, a new fire
station in the west side of the county,
road paving and phase two of coun
ty-wide computer replacements.
In other business, the board voted
unanimously to deny an alcohol
license for a restaurant set to go in at
the Publix shopping center.
Crave Hot Dogs & BBQ applied
for a license to serve wine and beer
by the drink and to have a wall of
beer on tap for customers to sample
a variety of craft beers.
According to the applicants, cus
tomers would receive reusable, pre
paid wristbands that they would use
to access the beer wall. Customers
would hold their wristband up to the
tap, which would activate it and
allow beer to be poured. The tap
would show how much was poured
and how much was left of the cus
tomer’s initial purchase of up to 32
ounces.
Taylor Harper, who represented
the applicant, said that customers
who wanted to try different types of
craft beer could get a two ounce
pour rather than having to order a 16
ounce pint or 12 ounce glass before
deciding if they liked it. State law
prohibits bars and restaurants from
providing samples of alcohol.
“It enables you to try a variety of
products that otherwise you might
not be able to do,” Harper said.
Harper said that though there are no
Crave restaurants currently operating
in the state, other restaurants have
adopted the same basic concept of a
beer wall.
Commissioners were concerned
that the wristbands took the “human
element” out of the by-the-drink
sales and could allow for customers
to get over served as well as allow
underage patrons to access the wall.
Harper explained that after the ini
tial purchase of 32 ounces runs out,
customers would have to go back to
an employee who would assess the
individual, who could then be
approved to purchase an additional
24 ounces. Identification would also
be scanned as opposed to just
observed by employees to help root
out fake IDs.
The restaurant owner, Robert
Bibb, said that the cutoff would be
determined per-person by the
employees like at any restaurant or
bar.
District 2 Commissioner Chris
Gaines questioned how effective the
removable wristbands would be for
preventing over consumption if so
much of the typical interaction with
an employee were removed.
The Dawsonville restaurant would
be the first Crave restaurant in
Georgia.
The board also voted to table a
decision on providing funds to retro
fit lighting to LED at the Dawson
County Library until more quotes
are received.
The BOC also voted to reallocate
$10,200 within the public defender’s
office, accepted a $750,000 grant for
construction of the new senior center
and voted to award new contracts for
inmate food services and an external
auditing firm.
FROM 1A
Proposal
Also on Nov. 5, the
Dawsonville Planning
Commission heard a site
plan change for a 36.84 acre
development at the corner of
Perimeter Road and Hwy. 9
S.
Current plans show a large
residential development with
a smaller commercial por
tion at the outside comer of
the lot, where a horse pas
ture is currently.
The current zoning for the
Planned Unit Development,
or PUD, was approved in
2006. The residential por
tion, located on 32.6 acres,
was originally earmarked for
123 housing units at a densi
ty of 3.77 units per acre. The
applicant, Fall Leaf
Residential LLC, is asking
for a reduction to 102 units,
with a new density of 3.12
units per acre.
Tommy Barnes of Fall
Feaf Residential said that the
property owners would be
developing the commercial
portion independently of the
subdivision.
The applicant has also
requested to retain an origi
nally approved 70-foot front
lot line instead of an increase
to the current 75-foot stan
dard and will be providing
19 percent open space with
amenities to include a small
park with a playground. The
development will have an
entrance on Hwy. 9 and on
Perimeter Road.
“They are proposing a
right-in, right-out on Hwy. 9,
which should be beneficial
as far as traffic flow,”
Planning Director Robbie
Irvin said.
City planning staff recom
mended approval of the
request.
Planning commission
member Steve Sanvi said he
was concerned about how
the development would
impact the potential truck
bypass around the city, as
one of the potential routes
goes along Perimeter Road
and crosses Hwy. 9.
“We’re going to get to a
point in our development of
the city where we’re waiting
on the state to do some of
these things and we’re going
to be putting roadblocks in
front of them if we don’t do
this planning in a responsi
ble way,” Sanvi said. “That
was one of my concerns if
we’re approving a lot of den
sity in these areas that we’re
going to run into a bottle
neck so to speak for future
plans.”
Sanvi motioned to table
any vote for 30 days. The
commission voted unani
mously to table the request
until the next planning com
mission meeting at 5:30 p.m.
Dec. 3.
In other business:
Consideration of
impact fee study
The council also reviewed
an impact fee study proposal
by Bill Ross of Ross and
Associates. Impact fees are
one-time fees collected on
new developments during
the building permit process
that are intended to help off
set the costs of capital
improvements and services.
If implemented, the fees
collected by the city could
help fund capital improve
ment projects in the catego
ries of parks and recreation,
road improvements and
water and sewer as the city
grows.
Eason said he wanted to
get input from the council
members on what they
thought about pursuing an
impact fee study.
“This process will have to
start with a contract with a
consultant and it would
probably take about six
months and we would have
to look at trying to manage
our continuation of growth
inside the city,” Eason said.
City council member
Steve Tolson said he was
interested in moving forward
with the study.
“It is my opinion that a
study is worthwhile to see
whether we burden the tax
payers or we ultimately put
the infrastructure cost on the
newcomers to the city,”
Tolson said.
The council could vote to
pursue an impact fee study
at the Dec. 3 meeting.
Consideration of
TSPL0ST projects
The city council also
reviewed a potential list of
projects that could be funded
by TSPFOST, or a
Transportation Special
Purpose Focal Option Sales
Tax, if approved by county
voters in March.
County and city officials
met a few times in October
to discuss the tax, which
cannot be taken to voters
until a project list is nailed
down.
District 2 Commissioner
Chris Gaines said in October
that the potential revenue for
a TSPFOST at one cent over
five years is $50 million. The
county and city must have an
intergovernmental agreement
and decide on a percentage
split. The current SPFOST is
divided 85 percent to the
county and 15 percent to the
city.
The city’s list of projects
currently includes repaving
and resurfacing several roads,
some working jointly with
the county, as well as several
proposed roundabouts.
Extension of Perimeter
Road to bypass the city is
also on the list.
Items on the county’s pro
posed project list include
widening and rehabilitating
Shoal Creek Road as well as
replacing the bridge; rehabili-
tating and widening
Dogwood Fane and Nightfire
Drive in the Chestatee subdi
vision; improving the
Fumpkin Campground Road
corridor; widening Elliott
Road and funding the exist
ing asset road improvement
program.
The council also adopted a
resolution to include a con
sent agenda with the intent to
make meetings shorter as
well as approved an updated
speed zone ordinance.
The council also heard the
first reading of a new zoning
ordinance and amendments
to the city’s business license
ordinance, with second read
ings and public hearings on
both to be held at 7 p.m. Dec.
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