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4A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, December 25,2019
BOC updates land
use ordinance
Anthem, NGHS could be
close to deal; public hearing
to focus on negotiations
By Joshua Demarest
jdemarest@dawsonnews.com
The Dawson County Board of
Commissioners updated the Land Use
Resolution during its Thursday, Dec.
19, voting session.
The updates included two new zon
ing classifications, a land use chart,
and an update to the language of the
ordinance mandating commissioners
follow the future land use map exactly.
The first change was to further subdi
vide the zoning classification
Residential Suburban. The original
classification called for a density of
one residential unit per acre. The two
new categories establish a Residential
Suburban classification that calls for
two and three units per acre.
“Currently we don’t have anything
between one (residential unit per acre)
and six units per acre,” Dawson County
Planning and Development Director
Jameson Kinley. “So we need these
two- and three-units-per-acre to try to
move away from the Residential
Multifamily. . . . But we don’t have a
classification for that, so we tried to
create those classifications to better
feather the density per se from 400 out
into these 5-acre lots.”
The resolution was also updated
from mandating the commissioners fol
low the future land use map to allowing
them the flexibility to approve rezoning
applications they believe to be for the
betterment of the community.
“I could only come up with two
(other counties that have a mandate
clause in their land use resolution)
across the state,” said Angela Davis,
the county’s attorney whose firm repre
sents local governments across the
state. “I think it’s very much the excep
tion that there’s a mandatory compli
ance, and I think that’s in part because
it works both ways. You know, a land
use plan is supposed to be adopted at
least every ten years, but it’s intended
to last for a while. And so having that
mandatory compliance does not give
the opportunity to adjust for changing
conditions, whether it be infrastructure
or how the rest of the community
builds out, that provides additional
strain on infrastructure.”
“So that’s going to give us discre
tion,” commented District 1
Commissioner Sharon Fausett. “So if
we had a public hearing, then what the
citizens said could really carry weight.”
“The spirit of it is that it’s the guid
ing document,” said District 2
Commissioner Chris Gaines. “The
comp, plan still has weight to it as the
guiding document, but it’s not the end
all, be all if something changes in two
years and there’s a drastic change in
the landscape and that we’re mandated.
We can get feedback from citizens.
This is the 15th time the Land Use
Resolution has been amended since its
initial adoption in 1998.
“Really since 1998, when this docu
ment was formed, it’s just kind of been
updated piece by piece,” said Kinley.
“This is really kind of an overall look
— face lift, for lack of a better term.
“And this is just the first update, too.
The next thing that [we] are going to
tackle is the commercial portion of
this, which as far as from the planning
standpoint, is actually huge for us,”
added Kinley. “Moving forward with
these tables is really going to help me
and my staff and planning through dif
ferent committees to help plan for the
future. And hopefully after we get done
with this, we will take another closer
look at the future land use map so that
we can take some of these principles
and apply them into the long-range
confidence plan.”
By Megan Reed
DCN Regional Staff
A public hearing on Dec. 30 will
bring patients, Anthem, the Northeast
Georgia Health System and state legis
lators together to discuss an agreement
between the insurer and the health sys
tem.
State Sen. Butch Miller,
R-Gainesville, and State Rep. Terry
England, R-Auburn, issued a joint
statement Friday on the negotiations
between Anthem and NGHS.
“Anthem and Northeast Georgia
Health System have told us they are
close to an agreement in principle, one
that will benefit the patients of
Northeast, the customers of Anthem/
Blue Cross and the constituents of the
entire service area,” the statement
reads. “The parties have specifically
told us the following: NGHS and
Anthem have resumed active negotia
tions and are diligently working in
good faith toward an agreement. The
parties have documents in hand that
are moving towards a deal. Evaluation
of those documents is underway
through next week.”
The system has been out-of-network
with Anthem since Oct. 1, although
NGHS has said it will treat Anthem
patients as in-network through Dec.
31. A judge has also issued an injunc
tion that will keep the system’s
Gainesville and Braselton hospitals, as
well as Hospice of Northeast Georgia
Medical Center, as Anthem locations
through Feb. 7, 2020, according to the
NGHS website. Anthem members can
get care from those locations and will
only be billed for their plan in-network
deductibles, coinsurance or copays,
according to NGHS.
Anthem and NGHS began negotia-
'Anthem and
Northeast Georgia
Health System have
told us they are close
to an agreement in
principle, one that
will benefit the
patients of Northeast,
the customers of
Anthem/Blue Cross
and the constituents
of the entire service
area/
Reps. Miller, England
joint statement
tions for a renewal of the five-year
contract in January but have long dis
agreed on several key points in the
contract, including rates paid by the
insurer and what services should be
covered.
Miller, England and representatives
from the Georgia Department of
Community Health, Anthem and
NGHS will be at the Dec. 30 event at 9
a.m. at the Gainesville Civic Center to
hear from the community and discuss
negotiations.
Photo courtesy of Dawson County Fire and Emergency Services
Dawson County Emergency Services responded to a structure fire on
Millsap-Wacaster Road on Dec. 20.
DCES responds to house fire
off Millsap-Wacaster Road
By Jessica Taylor
jtaylor@dawsonnews.com
On Friday, Dec. 20, Dawson County
Emergency Services responded to a
structure fire on Millsap-Wacaster Road.
According to a press release from Fire
Chief Danny Thompson, fire units
arrived on scene at 2:56 p.m. Dec. 20 to
find a single family home with heavy
smoke and flames visible. Crews initiat
ed an aggressive interior attack and a
rapid search for the homeowner, who
was initially unaccounted for on arrival.
The fire was declared under control at
3:16 p.m.
Personnel began overhauling the
scene for any hidden fires and remained
on scene for several hours extinguishing
“hotspots.”
Investigators were also on scene. The
cause of the fire has yet to be deter
mined but does not appear to be suspi
cious in nature, according to Thompson.
There are no injuries to firefighters or
civilians.
Cherokee County Fire responded with
an Engine Company and Battalion Chief
as a mutual aid request.
Forsyth County Fire covered Fire
Station 2 during the fire until units were
placed in-service.
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FROM 1A
Indictment
Detention Center under no bond. Stryker
is being held in custody by the Fumpkin
County Sheriff’s Office.
Two other individuals, Elizabeth
Donaldson, 21 and Bailey Diane
Williams, 21, were arrested and charged
with tampering with evidence following
the discovery of Bender’s body.
They were not included in the
indictment.
This case will be presided over by
Judge Kathlene F. Gosselin of the
Northeastern Judicial Circuit and will be
prosecuted by Conley Greer, senior assis
tant district attorney for Dawson County.
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