Newspaper Page Text
Wednesday, May 24,2023
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 5A
On Saturday May 20,
the Rotary Club of
Dawson County held its
annual Rotary Day com
munity event, signifying
the opening of the Rotary
Island splash pad at Rock
Creek Park and providing
free fun and food for
community members of
all ages.
The event lasted from
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and fea
tured the splash pad, a
bounce house, balloon
animals, bubbles, face
painting, music by the
Dawson County Tiger
Pride band, a dunk tank,
pet adoptions by the
Dawson County Humane
Society and free food for
all attendees.
To kick off Rotary Day,
members of the club and
the Dawson County
Chamber of Commerce
also held an official rib
bon-cutting for the new
restroom located next to
the splash pad, which
was the club’s most
recent project and will
provide a much more
convenient location for
splash pad or playground
visitors to use the rest
room.
The splash pad at
Rotary Island is located
in Rock Creek Park at
445 Martin Road and is
now officially open for
the season.
Erica Jones Dawson County News
Above, Members of the Rotary Club of Dawson County cut the ribbon to
officially open the new restroom by the splash pad at Rock Creek Park dur
ing the club's annual Rotary Day celebration on May 20. Top right, local
children enjoy blowing bubbles during the Rotary Club of Dawson
County's annual Rotary Day celebration on May 20. Bottom right, commu
nity members pet dogs up for adoption by the Dawson County Humane
Society during the Rotary Club of Dawson County's annual Rotary Day cel
ebration on May 20.
Rotary Club of Dawson County holds Rotary Day
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
Moratorium extended for the county’s
proposed property maintenance rules
Julia Hansen Dawson County News
Perry Betterton asks whether Dawson County
should "force people to beautify their property"
through the then-proposed property rules during
the BOC's May 18 voting session.
By Julia Hansen
jhansen@dawsonnews.com
Regardless of the ulti
mate decision made on
proposed changes to prop
erty maintenance rules, the
end result will have to
work for all Dawson
County residents, speaker
Lance Carruth said to the
Board of Commissioners
on May 18.
“This county is chang
ing. It is growing, and you
guys and ladies have the
difficult responsibility of
managing that growth,”
Carruth said. “My grand
father told me once that
change is happening, no
matter whether you like it
or you don’t. He said, ‘If
you don’t get ahead of it,
it’ll run over you like a
steamroller. I hope that
you guys and gals are able
to get in front of this
change and this growth to
keep it from running over
this county like a steam
roller.”
The board unanimously
voted Thursday to extend
Dawson County’s morato
rium on the rollout of its
property maintenance
ordinance and some relat
ed solid waste provisions
for an unspecified amount
of time.
Dawson County com
missioners originally enact
ed an ordinance moratori
um on Feb. 16.
That wasn’t the only
moratorium the county has
put into place in recent
months. After 10 months,
the county’s moratorium on
most residential rezoning
applications has expired
since public officials
wrapped up changes to
local land use provisions,
too.
Since there was not a
need to extend the rezoning
moratorium, another hear
ing wasn’t held for it, said
county attorney Angela
Davis.
Outstanding
concerns
Although public opinion
on the matter stayed split,
more people came out
Thursday to speak in favor
of the proposed property
maintenance rules as com
pared to the February meet
ing.
“Thomas Jefferson said,
‘A wise and frugal govern
ment who shall restrain
men from injuring one
another shall leave them
otherwise free to regulate
their own pursuits of indus
try and improvement and
shall not take from the
mouth of labor the bread
that is earned...it’s not the
role of the government to
make sure the entire county
looks like a homeowner’s
association,” said speaker
Perry Betterton.
While Betterton pointed
out what were in his view
problematic provisions for
cosmetic property features,
he said his complaint was
“more so with the overall
mindset” of the proposed
changes.
“If you think that proper
ty rights are granted by the
government, you shouldn’t
call yourself Republican,
conservative or even an
American,” Betterton said.
“The question is whether
the county should use the
police power of the state to
force people to beautify
their property, and that’s a
very serious question,” he
added.
Speaker James Brewer
called the ordinance “criti
cal to the future of Dawson
County” in terms of peo
ple’s safety and wellbeing,
especially for any housing
that’s “unfit for human
habitation.”
“Some of these houses
are structurally deficient.
Some of these houses are
known to have no septic
system,” Brewer said.
“Failure to enforce this
ordinance will allow slum
lords to prey on underprivi
leged families and threaten
the safety of all the people
in the community. Failure
to enforce it could also lead
to lawsuits against the
county, with people hurt by
defective construction or
low septic tank standards.”
Brewer gave a nod to
property rights while clari
fying that he doesn’t have
the right to devalue his
neighbors’ property.
“It’s the responsibility of
the government to protect
and ensure the general wel
fare of the people and the
county,” said Brewer. This
is your opportunity to do
so.”
Board's thoughts
District 4 commissioner
Emory Dooley ultimately
made the motion to extend
the moratorium on the
property maintenance rules.
“I believe there are some
substantial changes that
need to be made to this
ordinance. I think a lot of
the outside storage needs to
be removed and just tailor
it [to] where it’s only for
public health and safety
issues,” Dooley said.
He added that there
“shouldn’t be an eye test”
where people get to indi
vidually judge whether or
not something’s right on a
person’s property but men
tioned keeping the lan
guage about unfit struc
tures.
Before his remarks,
District 2 Commissioner
Chris Gaines noted that the
people speaking were split
four for and four against
the proposed rule changes.
“Not only do we live in a
great community where we
can have this dialogue back
and forth and it’s our
responsibility to try to bal
ance it out,” said Gaines, “
but a common thread that I
heard on both sides was to
protect life, health and
safety issues. That was
[with people] both for and
against it.”
“The aspect of the gov
ernment coming onto your
property and saying what
looks good and what
doesn’t look good...falls
outside of the scope of
what we should be doing,”
Gaines added, “but I think
the life-safety points are
valid points to take into
consideration.”
Like the other board
members, Gaines reiterated
county officials’ responsi
bility to take public input
from Thursday with them
while the property mainte
nance and related rules are
being updated.
“There are things that
were not intended the way
that it was rolled out.. .and
I’ll apologize publicly to
the public for being a part
of that process because it
wasn’t intended that way,”
Gaines added.
District 3 Commissioner
Alexa Bruce, who attended
remotely, agreed with her
colleagues that the current
draft of the property main
tenance rules “doesn’t sat
isfy or please anyone at the
moment.”
Bruce joined in calling it
a “big overreach” but high
lighted what she called
“very valid points” that
come from the county’s
waste management ordi
nance and that she thought
the board “would be failing
you as a community if we
took [them] out.”
“We need to make sure
we’re not passing some
thing again that we’re not
fully understanding what it
says ourselves and we
make sure that the intent...
comes to fruition,” Bruce
said.
“There are health issues
and public safety issues
that have to be addressed,”
Thurmond said. “I don’t
think anybody is against
addressing either one of
those particular things. But
we have to get that right so
everybody has an under
standing that it’s truly a
public safety issue [and]
it’s truly a public health
issue.”
He mentioned the coun
ty’s duty to protect proper
ty rights while upholding
their mandate to maintain
public health and safety for
county citizens.
“It’s time to go back and
look back at every word
and make sure we’re
attuned to those two
issues,” Thurmond said.
“Public health and safety
isn’t an opinionated test ...
we don’t need an opinion
on this. We need something
set in stone that will protect
[people’s] health and safe-
t y,” District 1
Commissioner Seth
Stowers said.
Thurmond also wanted
the board to look at how
county officials could
incorporate language into
the maintenance ordinance
for elderly or disabled peo
ple who have a public safe
ty or health issue and need
help cleaning up their prop
erty.
“It’s not the goal of the
board to come to your
house and say you have to
pay a fine,” Thurmond said.
“If you can’t even afford to
do what you would do any
ways if you could, getting
the fine from the magistrate
court ain’t going to help the
situation.”
City employees
get honored at
council meeting
From staff reports
During the May 15
meeting of the
Dawsonville City
Council, the mayor and
council members hon
ored several of the city’s
employees for their hard
work to make the city a
better place.
The city recognized
the employees of the
month for April, who
were selected by their
fellow city employees.
The two employees of
the month were Planning
and Zoning Admin
Assistant Stacy Harris
and Building Inspector/
Code Enforcement
Officer Clay Moss, who
City Manager Bob Bolz
said have done a great
job helping the city
through its transition
between planning and
zoning directors.
“David Picklesimer
left in December so the
two of them kept the
department going in
October, we hired
Harmit in October and
he suddenly passed away
in February so now
they’ve had to step up
and do it again, and
they’ve done a superb
job,” Bolz said.
The mayor and coun
cil also recognized two
employees with service
awards for their years of
service with the city.
The two service
awards presented during
the meeting went to
Treatment Plant
Operator Westin Lee for
six years of service with
the city and to City Clerk
Beverly Banister for
eight years of service
with the city.
All of the employees
recognized during the
meeting were presented
with certificates honor
ing their achievements.
Photo courtesy of the City of Dawsonville
During the May 15 meeting of the
Dawsonville City Council, the mayor and
council members recognized Planning and
Zoning Admin Assistant Stacy Harris and
Building Inspector/Code Enforcement Officer
Clay Moss as the April employees of the
month.
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