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WEDNESDAY I APRIL 27, 2022 DaWSOflNeWS >COnri DAWSONVULE, GEORGIA $1.00
BOC candidates discuss growth at forum
Voters will be able to mark choices for District 1 and 3 seats on ballots for primary election
By Julia Fechter
jfechter@dawsonnews.com
After the county commis
sioner candidates took the stage
at the Dawson County
Chamber of Commerce’s forum
on April 20, local growth was
the preeminent topic of conver
sation.
Seth Stowers is running
unopposed for the District 1
commissioner’s seat, currently
held by Sharon Fausett. With
Tim Satterfield also stepping
down from the District 3 seat,
Alexa Bruce and Deanna
Dickinson are running against
each other for the position.
Chamber of Commerce
President and CEO Mandy
Powers acted as emcee during
the event, taking the podium at
Dawson County Middle School
to ask the candidates questions.
Voters will have the opportu
nity to mark their choices for
both the District 1 and 3 seats
on their ballots for the May 24
primary election.
Stowers is a Dawson County
native who currently owns a
cattle farm and Hillside
Veterinary Services, where he
works as a large animal veteri
narian. Previously, he’s shared
his passion
for agriculture and preserving
District l’s beautiful land while
being amenable to development
in other areas.
Bruce, a longtime county res
ident, worked as the assistant to
Dawson County’s Public Works
department from 2016 to 2021,
so she’s interacted with differ
ent aspects of waste manage
ment, roads, stormwater, proj
ect management and SPLOST
(special local option sales tax).
Dickinson, a Georgia native,
has lived in Dawson County for
five years after moving from
Douglas County. She’s worked
for 40 years in the dental indus
try as a C.D.A, office manager
and dental sales consultant.
Now, she operates her own den
tal consulting business and
holds a specialized real estate
license for medical and dental
practices.
Financing growth
Each of the candidates
Wednesday night talked about
how they would leverage the
knowledge gained from their
unique experiences to make
financial decisions if elected as
commissioners.
For Dickinson, of particular
note was the necessity of suffi
cient county impact fees.
“We can’t continue to grow
and have developers not pay
when they come into the coun
ty,” she said.
Later on, she added that a
TSPLOST, similar to the one
that was on the ballot in 2021,
would be a “growth spurt” to
the county’s finances and an
important way to help address
road and intersection improve
ments.
Stowers emphasized balanc
ing pinching pennies with get
ting quality county amenities
that are needed at a given
moment, such as the new
SPLOST-funded Fire Station 8
See Growth 16A
Mixed-use
village clears
next hurdle
Growing green thumbs
Photos courtesy of Kristi Bearden
Students at Kilough Elementary School learn about gardening and sustainability in the school's greenhouse.
Students learn about gardening through greenhouse project
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
Over the past several weeks, students
at Kilough Elementary School have
been learning about gardening, sustain
ability and important STEM skills in
the school’s greenhouse, which
Nutrition Director Scott Richardson
has helped to revamp and replant.
According to Richardson, the project
first started when he was at Kilough to
check on the school’s kitchen and
noticed the greenhouse sitting dormant
at the side of the school. He asked KES
Principal Teresa Conowal about it and
she emphatically gave him permission
to work on getting it back up and run
ning.
“When they built the greenhouse I
think three years ago, Mr. Pankey
helped get this all up and running and
with the pandemic it just sort of sat
empty,” Richardson said. “This is what
I used to do when I was in my former
job; we had two and a half acres of
farmland behind the school and two
greenhouses; so I had to re-amend it,
tilled it up and put about 10 bags of
garden dirt in there to get it back to
where it needed to be.”
The greenhouse includes several
beds to hold various types of plants, a
system to teach the students about
hydroponic gardening and a “salad
bar”, an old piece of equipment from
the kitchen that was retired when it
didn’t meet code and has been trans
formed into a bed to grow different
types of lettuce.
Richardson said that he’s been com
ing over to the greenhouse several days
a week after work or on weekends to
check on the garden and tend it. Once
the garden was back to a point where
crops could be grown, he and the stu
dents at KES set about planting it.
“We came out and planted romaine
lettuce and now they’re able to see
what the lettuce looks like when it’s
almost fully grown,” Richardson said.
“It’s been a labor of love getting it
going, letting the kids come back out
here and learn and getting this to where
kids can learn.”
The goal for the plants in the garden,
Richardson said, is to grow enough that
the kitchen staff at Kilough can begin
using them in the menu for the students
to eat at school.
“The goal is this greenhouse is gonna
be for the kitchen, the kitchen is gonna
become a test kitchen, and all the crops
we grow here are gonna go into the
kitchen to be processed for the stu
dents,” Richardson said. “The reason
this is a test kitchen is they’re going to
have to learn how to properly process it,
how to store it and serve it; it’s different
when you’re dealing with fresh produce
than the stuff that’s in the store.”
He added that letting the students
work in the greenhouse and grow their
own vegetables for use in the school
kitchen is a great way to get kids excit
ed about eating healthy.
“This is how kids learn how to eat
healthy; when they learn how to grow
it, care for it and harvest it then the nat
ural inquisitiveness of the kids natural
ly want to eat it,” Richardson said. “All
of this is naturally grown and organi
cally grown; we don’t use pest control
or anything, and it gets them excited
about eating vegetables, so that’s really
what I’m all about.”
In order for the greenhouse to pro
duce enough fresh vegetables to feed
all the children at Kilough, Richardson
said that it should be able to sustain
one or two crops at a time.
“In the fall I’m gonna do more let
tuce, probably some radishes and some
peppers, smaller things we can use
that’ll be enough for all the students to
have,” Richardson said. “And this sum
mer in the box out back I’m gonna do
By Julia Fechter
jfechter@dawsonnews.com
Developer Fox Creek Properties is now
one step closer to realizing their vision for
a mixed-use village at the intersection of
Lumpkin Campground Road and Ga. 400.
The Dawson County Planning
Commission voted 3-1 to recommend
approval of Fox Creek’s rezoning request
of 500-plus acres for the project, with
Chairman and District 1 representative
Jason Hamby abstaining.
This decision follows fiery public input
on the topic during the commission’s
March meeting and an April 12 community
forum held by the developer. The Board of
Commissioners will ultimately approve or
deny the rezone at their May 19 meeting.
At that time, Fox Creek will have the
opportunity to give an updated presentation
that includes additional stipulations and
information.
At residents’ requests, project spokesper
son and PEC president Ken Wood provided
updated tax and fee figures publicly when
he spoke to the planning board on April 19.
Fox Creek predicts about $5 million in
annual tax revenue for the project. He said
there will be just under $10 million paid in
impact fees, with $7 million of that going
to Etowah Water and Sewer and the rest
going to the county.
See Planning 14A
During the April 18 meeting of the
Dawsonville City Council, council members
voted to approve a rezoning request on
Highway 9 with several stipulations, and to
indefinitely table a second annexation and
rezoning request off of Perimeter Road.
The rezoning application, submitted by
Smith Douglas Homes Atlanta LLC, asks to
rezone a total of 121.11 acres located off of
Highway 9 South from Restricted Single-
Family Residential District (Rl) to Single
Family Residential (R3) to allow for the con
struction of a new development adjacent to
Thunder Ridge.
The city’s planning commission heard the
request on Feb. 14 and recommended denial.
Should the council approve the request, the
planning commission made several recom
mendations, including the addition of buffers
around the development, not allowing it to
See Council 13A
See Green 12A
Council OKs
Hwy. 9 rezoning
request with
stipulations
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
9 0 9 9 4
Inside
Volume 8, Number 16
© 2021, Dawson County News
Dawsonville, Georgia
Events
2B
Classifieds
6B
Dear Abby
4B
Deaths
2A
Legals
7B
Opinion
9A
Sports
1B
2A Bowen
Center for the
Arts hosts
Juni Fisher
concert.
4A Commissioners
OK contract for
paramedic
class.
