About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (June 5, 2024)
Wednesday, June 5,2024 dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 3 A Ribbon-cutting ceremony held for the Peaks of Dawson Erica Jones Dawson County News On Wednesday May 29, the Dawson County Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Peaks of Dawson. By Erica Jones ejones@dawsonnews.com On Wednesday May 29, the Dawson County Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Peaks of Dawson, one of the county’s newest apartment communities. The Peaks of Dawson finished construction at the end of 2023 after several years of work and collaboration with the county’s Board of Commissioners, Development Authority of Dawson County and many other organizations on both a local and state level. Classed by many as “work force housing”, the apartment community serves households with an income between $37,000 and $64,000 per year, Landbridge Development Managing Principal Gary Hammond said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “We finished construction in September of 2023 and working through our interest list we filled our units by February of 2024,” Hammond said. “Whether you refer to Peaks of Dawson as ‘workforce housing’ or ‘missing middle housing’, the demand is incredibly deep for this kind of community; we’re only scratch ing the surface to build high-qual ity housing at a reasonable cost for working families and seniors.” According to Hammond, 78 percent of the current residents at the community are working fami lies, and the remaining 12 percent are retirees. The majority of the residents who moved into the Peaks at Dawson were from Dawson or its neighboring coun ties, and the majority of them work in the area too. The community consists of 80 units and offers one-, two- and three-bedroom homes, all of which include full kitchens, ceil ing fans and provided washers and dryers. Provided community amenities on the property include a furnished community room, fit ness center, outdoor patio and grill area, playground and com munity garden. The community also partners with several organizations to pro vide support to its residents, Hammond added. “We are in a partnership with Rainbow Housing Assistance Corporation, who provides direct ly to our residents programs such as GED preparation, job readi ness and placement, computer and financial literacy classes, lan guage classes and healthcare resources,” Hammond said. “And we are in direct communication with the Good Shepherd Clinic to make our uninsured residents aware of the incredible resources they have for dental, healthcare and medication.” Before officially cutting the ribbon for the apartment commu nity, Dawson County Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Mandy Power and Dawson County Board of Commissioners Chairman Billy Thurmond both spoke, welcoming the communi ty to the county. “We are so excited to be here this morning to celebrate this long-coming occasion of having the Peaks of Dawson here,” Power said. “It truly is a full team effort to be able to have a devel opment like this; it took many, many people to get it to fruition.” “We’re always looking for how can we help our workforce and this is a great way to help our workforce so we’re glad to have you and glad you’re here,” Thurmond added. For more information about the Peaks of Dawson, go to https:// fairwaymanagement.com/peak- sofdawson. FROM 1A Gold Creek Gold Creek has eight poultry processing loca tions in Georgia, seven of which are in the Gainesville area and one of which is in Dawsonville at 686 Hwy. 9 N. The secondary poultry processor has invested mil lions of dollars into the Dawsonville plant, which opened in 2004 after its conversion from the Sweet Orr clothing manufacturing facility into the company’s first poultry-processing plant, according to the law suit. In March 2018, a chemi cal spill from the Dawsonville plant killed fish in the Flat Creek tribu tary of Shoal Creek, according to previous reporting by DCN. In about the same year, Gold Creek put about $1 million into designing and constructing an upgraded wastewater pretreatment facility at the plant that the industrial wastewater goes through before it’s dis charged into the city sewer system, the company’s complaint stated. Damage Gold Creek’s continuous discharge of high strength wastewater has damaged the city’s sewer system and wastewater treatment facili ty in multiple ways, according to the city’s response. The high strength discharge has led to the shortening of life for com ponents in the treatment plant and the buildup of sludge in the treatment pond, thus necessitating more frequent dredging of the pond. The discharge has iso increased chemical and labor usage and cost for treating that type of wastewater, decreased effi ciency in wastewater treat ment and impacted the overall capacity of the treatment facility. Even after fines and cor respondence on the issue, the chicken processing company has continued to discharge high strength wastewater into the city’s sewer system and wastewa ter treatment facility, the city’s response stated. The city considers the continual discharge a phys ical invasion of the city’s property and thus a trespass and a nuisance. Furthermore, the city alleged negligence in Gold Creek’s handling of the high strength discharge. “The continuous and repetitive nature of Gold Creek’s trespass and nui sance shows willful mis conduct,” the city’s response stated. Good faith Contrary to Gold Creek’s assertions, the city reaf firmed the legality of the ordinance and fines men Start earning today with BankOZK! <5.30$> 8-MONTH CD OR IRA CD** SPECIAL <5.002£> 13-MONTH CD OR IRA CD**SPECIAL Visit our Dawsonville location or open an account online at ozk.com** <> BankOZK Greater awaits" ozk.com I Member FDIC ‘Annual Percentage Yield (APY) effective as of the publication date. Offer applies to new CDs only. $1,000 minimum deposit to open and is required to earn stated APY Penalty for early withdrawal. IRA CD is subject to eligibility requirements. Offer not available to Public Funds, brokers, dealers and other financial institutions. Fees could reduce earnings. Offer subject to change without notice. Offer good at locations in Dawsonville, GA only. “IRA CD must be opened in person and cannot be opened online. tioned in the federal law suit, noting that the compa ny’s discharges from the Dawsonville plant meet the criteria for “high strength groundwater.” The city also maintained that the ordinance and fines are meant to deter users from continuously dis charging high strength wastewater and damaging city infrastructure and that assessing surcharges and collecting revenue isn’t the main point of testing Gold Creek’s wastewater dis charge. In the response, the city did admit that it’s threat ened to cut off water and sewer service to Gold Creek and its Dawsonville plant. However, that approach comes only after the high strength wastewater dis charge, which the city alleged Gold Creek has been aware of “since at least May 26, 2005.” Despite various sur charges and fines, Gold Creek has continued these kinds of discharges “since at least November 2019,” the city’s response stated. This prompted the city to enact an amended ordi nance related to high strength wastewater dis charge violations in January 2022. That October, Gold Creek stopped making payments on the fines tied to the wastewater discharge. After a March 2024 meeting to try to resolve the situation, the response explained that the city was presented with the lawsuit instead of any sort of reso lution proposal. Requests The city also detailed that it has not acted on col lecting the fines owed or terminating the water and wastewater service to Gold Creek’s Dawsonville plant. Gold Creek owes at least $1.73 million in unpaid surcharges, penalties and/or fines related to the high strength wastewater dis charge, according to the city The city is also asking for interest “on all accounts more than 30 days past due from the date on the bill in the amount of one percent per month.” Other requests include a jury trial, punitive damag es, attorneys’ fees and an injunction on the city’s behalf to prevent Gold Creek from discharging more high strength waste- water and to require the chicken processor to pre treat it. 'BIG CANOE ANIMAL RESCUE All BCAR dogs are placed as indoor family pets. No electric fences, please. Visit pets every Saturday 11:00 am to 2:00 pm (706-268-1346) or visit our website for adoption information at www.bigcanoeanimalrescue.org. FACTS ABOUT ME Breed: Terrier/Shepherd Mix Color; Black & White - (shorthair) Age: 7 months old Size: Fully Grown - Medium Size - (50lbs) Weight (Current); 28lbs Sex: Male Healthy/ All Shots current / Good w/ dogs & children/ Chipped/ Neutered/ Good leash walking & car rides / Crate trained MEET PORTER Don’t miss out on our sweet Funny boy! Porter would bring any Family years oF joy and happiness! He has a gentle way about him with a sweet calm disposition. He would be great For a Family with children of any age. He gets along with other dogs and never met a human he didn’t like. He is playful, is learning his commands and is pretty smart. When he looks at you, you can see the love in his eyes. Come visit this wonderful pup! FACTS ABOUT ME Breed: Husky / Pomeranian Mix Color: Tan/Black & White - (shorthair) Age: 1 yr. old Size: Fully Grown - Medium Build - (35-10 lbs) Weight (Current): 28 lbs Sex: Male Healthy/ All Shots current / Neutered & Chipped /Good with dogs & children / Cats? / Loves car rides MEET LUCKY Looking for a best Friend? Some lucky family will hit the jackpot with this wonderful little boy! He is a little shy at First but will quicky warm up once he knows you care. Kisses, Food, love and toys would rock his world. Adopting him would be his best day ever. Come meet him and see For yourself.
