Georgia Racing Hall
of Fame celebrates
holiday with car show
SPORTS, IB
WEDNESDAY I JULY 13,2022 DawSOflNewS >COnri dawsonville, GEORGIA $1.00
Moratorium issued for development
Photo by Julia Fechter Dawson County News
District 2 commissioner Chris Gaines, left, talks on July 7
about the need for a county residential rezoning moratorium
as BOC Chairman BillyThurmond, right, listens.
By Julia Fechter
jfechter@dawsonnews.com
“We know we can’t just stop
growth,” said District 2
Commissioner Chris Gaines
during the Board of
Commissioners’ July 7 meet
ings. “What we can do is pause
it legally within the bounds that
we have.”
During their voting session on
Thursday, the Dawson County
Board of Commissioners
approved an emergency morato
rium on the acceptance of new
residential development rezon
ing applications effective from
that meeting until Aug. 5, 2022.
At the July 7 work session,
Gaines explained that a morato
rium will allow the board to take
a look at zoning regulations and
impact fees to see if those are
adequate or need to be changed
to account for future growth and
development.
As stated previously in DCN,
impact fees are charged to
incoming developments to help
offset the county’s costs for ser
vicing the new areas.
The moratorium will not
apply to developments that have
already been passed or are going
through the county’s approval
process, like the mixed-use
complex proposed by Fox Creek
Properties or Continental’s pro
posed Avanterra Dawson com
munity, which the BOC denied
on Thursday.
The Fox Creek development
will come up again on the
BOC’s July 21 agenda, at which
time there will not be a public
hearing for it, since one was
already held at the board’s May
19 meeting.
Public hearings
Similarly, the first meeting for
the proposed county millage rate
was held at the beginning of the
BOC’s July 7 work session. A
second hearing will be held dur
ing the July 21 work session,
which will start at 4 p.m.
Public hearings for both a
moratorium extension and the
SeeBOC|2A
Like father, like son
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Photo by James Gilbert Getty Images
Chase Elliott celebrates after winning the Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart on Sunday, July 10, at
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Chase Elliott conquers home track with win at Atlanta
By Rio White
riowhite@dawsonnews.com
While Chase Elliott has
plenty of accomplishments
to his name, he can finally
add a win at Atlanta Motor
Speedway to that list.
Battling through 10 cau
tions due to cause, four
stoppages in the last 25 laps
and a spirited late effort by
Corey LaJoie, the
Dawsonville native’s victo
ry at the Quaker State 400
was no easy task.
The win also meant that
the Elliotts became only the
second father-son duo to
win at AMS after the
Earnhardts.
“I’m not sure my dreams
really grasped something
like that when I was a kid,”
Elliott said. “It’s something
I’m very proud of and I’m
sure [my dad] is too.”
Elliott earned his first
‘hometown’ win through a
consistent performance that
contrasted with the on-and-
off nature of the race.
After inclement weather
canceled qualifying on
Saturday, Elliott was able to
start from pole position and
establish himself in the
leading pack.
Just like the spring race,
there was plenty of drama
to go around, as the race
featured 27 lead changes
among a dozen drivers.
Early on, Elliott stayed
among the top five and took
his first extended lead as the
first competition caution
flag came out at lap 27.
He would lead uninter
rupted until lap 50 but
would soon take it back
from friend Ryan Blaney
for the remainder of Stage
One.
After winning the open
ing stage, Elliott would
begin Stage Two in eighth
position and move into the
lead 20 laps into the stage.
The first crash to truly
disrupt the leaderboard hap
pened with Elliott in the
lead at lap 92.
A compulsory bump by
Ross Chastain triggered a
nine-car incident that did
not involve Elliott but
would take him off the lead
for a long stretch.
Three yellow flags later,
Elliott had worked his way
back up and led the race at
lap 160 as Stage Two con
cluded under caution.
While Elliott was busy
winning the first two stages,
the TV broadcast included a
correspondent who was at
the Dawsonville Pool
See Elliott 13A
is working
on safety
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
One of the Dawson County School
System’s biggest goals is to achieve
“Excellence Together” and to be an exem
plary school district preparing students for
success. One big piece of achieving this
success is to provide a learning environ
ment where students, teachers and staff can
feel safe and be protected at all times.
Tony Wooten, Safe Schools coordinator
for the school system, said that the sys
tem’s approach to school safety is a multi
layered, multi-hazard approach that is
aimed at preparing the schools in the dis
trict for any type of emergency, from natu
ral disasters to fires to active shooter sce
narios.
See DCSS 13A
Local student
takes third at
baking contest
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
Megan Dixon, a member of the Dawson
County High School Class of 2022, recent
ly represented Dawson County at a nation
al FCCLA Baking and Pastry competition
and won third place.
During her time at DCHS, Dixon was an
active participant in the school’s chapter of
Family, Career and Community Leaders of
America (FCCLA). In 2020, she and two
other students placed fourth in the national
competition, so as this year’s competition
See Contest 14A
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90994 04002
Inside
Volume 4, Number 24
© 2021, Dawson County News
Dawsonville, Georgia
Events
2B
Classifieds
6B
Dear Abby
5B
Deaths
2A
Legals
7B
Opinion
7A
Sports
1B
COVID-19
vaccine now
available for
kids as young
as 6 months
3A
4A UNG prepping
for $5M loss in
state funding
Q)amonville
B. MANZUR, D.M.D.
754 HWY. 53 WEST, DAWSONVILLE, GA
706-265-2505
"We all try and go above
and beyond and give that
five start treatment, so it's
rewarding to know that
what we do matters."
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