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PAGE 2A
-FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS-WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 1990
Forsyth County News
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ZONEcontinued from page 1
values, said Robert S. Stubbs, council
to Forsyth County
The appraisal of land value is deter
mined under the practice for apprais
ers, but “the difficulty of rezouing
property from AGII to other uses may
impact on an appraiser’s determina
tion of market value of property clas
sified as AGII. If there is a distinct
difficulty in rezoning property from
AGII zoning, then that may decrease
the market value, which should thus
translate into a lower tax value for
that land,” said Stubbs in an opinion
to Forsyth County tax assessors and
county commissioners.
The new A-II zoning addressed a
number of problems in Forsyth
County.
There are nearly 8.000 agricultural
zoned parcels in the county, but many
of these are owned by developers or
are being held for speculation to be
sold for residential, commercial or in
dustrial uses and will be rezoned
For example, Technology Park has
176 undeveloped acres in Forsyth
County zoned agricultural. That land
is worth a good deal more than the
same amount of land in the same area
which a fanner plans to continue to
farm, yet they are taxed about the
from page 1
In other business the commission
accepted as presented the 1991 bud
gets of departments which depend
partially on county funds. Forestry
was granted $3,336; the Department
of Family and Children’s Services,
$178,704; Public Health, $168,893;
Forsyth County Public Library,
$64,780; and Mental Health, $34,134,
pending the submittal of a budget
The board also accepted bids for
the water line projects on Atlanta
Highway, Watson/Tribble Roads and
Hubert Martin/Oak Grove Circle.
Fred Hawkins, of Rindt-McDufTAs
sociates Inc., the county’s engineering
from page 1
Then in November the group suf
fered a defeat when a referendum to
raise more money for the center
through property taxes was turned
down by a 600 vote margin. Roughly
3.000 people voted in the election.
Had it passed, county residents would
have seen a .4 mill increase in their
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same.
“Speculative land sales are driving
up the land assessments of family
owned farms and I just don’t like
that" said Hillgartner. a supporter of
the A-II zoning.
Many fanners and owners of family
land have to sell small parcels one at a
time to pay taxes, Hillgartner said.
There is nothing illegal about tax
ing all the agriculture land the same,
"but it is immoral,” he added
Another purpose of A-II zoning is to
retain the rural lifestyle of Forsyth
County.
“My promise when I was campaign
ing was to try to preserve our rural
environment as long as possible,” said
Michael Bennett who introduced the
A-II zoning.
The board recently voted unani
mously to rezone 137 parcels from A-l
to A-11.
To be eligible for A-II zoning the
property must have state preferential
assessment which means it is used
for agricultural production including
timber, and cannot change zoning
without penalty. The preferential as
sessment taxes farm property at 75
percent of its normal assessment
which should be close to 40 percent of
the market value.
firm, congratulated the commission
ers for being $260,000 under the pro
jected cost in the last nine road
projects.
The county also signed Local Assis
tance Road Program agreements with
the Georgia Department of Transpor
tation for funds to resurface 12 roads
including: Akins Way, Branch Drive.
Charleston Park, Heards Circle, Hick
ory Hills Rd„ Holly Court, Sharon Cir
cle, Sharon Drive, Technology Drive,
Wills Wood Circle and Worley Road.
The county also has received verbal
agreement on funds for an additional
nine roads.
properly taxes over the 15-year time
span of the bonds.
Many local observers believe the
opposition of Cumming Mayor H.
Ford Gravitt helped sink the referen
dum. In November Gravitt said he op
posed the referendum because of the
property tax increase.
JpABRICjpAIR
BS
from page 1
into streams and lakes.
More tests described as “routine”
will be done on the lake this week,
said Mike Miller, Chief of Natural
Resources Management for the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers. The corps
oversees Lake Lanier, as well as five
other regional lakes.
Parts of the lake found to have me
dium potential for fecal coliform
problems will be tested again around
July 4, Miller said. Several beaches
around Lanier have turned up read
ings in the single digits. Miller said,
and they will only be subject to spot
checks for the rest of the summer.
The fecal coliform tests consist of
four water samples being taken from
different parts of the lake. The fecal
Hometown thoughts
By Jan Hamilton
Special to the Forvyth County New*
Tonight, about an hour ago, I was
thinking about home and some of the
nice memories from 20 or so years
ago.
Because many of the memories are
about Forsyth and Dawson Counties,
this is a simple reflection.
Down the street from the present
Lanierland Country Music Park upon
the right side ofthe hill, stood a wood
en house with a front porch. There
was a country vegetable garden on
the right side ofthe property. Further
to the left of the home above the
weeded and wooded landscape was a
small chicken house. It was in the
1950 s and my sister and I picked fresh
berries and fruit Grandma lived
there in this wooden house in For
syth County, upon the hill.
Oh! someone could get really in
volved and think back to 1958. Cum
ming was by zoning standards a small
village.
During that year. State Senate Bill
No. 310 went into effect The Bill cre
ated an act to change the pay of the
Sheriff and the Clerk of the Superior
Court of Forsyth County from the fee
system to a salary system.
Both section two and three of this
Bill stated the Sheriff and the Clerk
of Superior Court would be paid a
salary of $8,500 per year according to
Georgia Laws of 1958, Vol. Two.
The Act became effective April 1,
1958.
During this spring season, I was 10
Mon-Fri. 9:30 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Sat. 9:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
Sun. 1:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
4
coliform count of each ofthe samples
is averaged and compared to the lev
el established by the state. The
state’s permitted maximum is 200 fe
cal coliform per 100 milliliters of
water.
The highest fecal coliform level
detected so far at Lake Lanier has
been 25 fecal coliform per 100 millili
ters, Miller said.
“We tested 19 beaches, and every
thing looked really, really excel
lent” Miller said.
On the other hand. Lake Allatoona
has shown higher fecal coliform lev
els than Lake Lanier, Miller said, but
they have not exceeded state stan
dards so far this season.
years old. The area was still a very
rural countryside where cattle
graced the hillsides and old fash
ioned roses covered many unpainted
wooden front porches.
In an environment, my sister and I
realized early to be entangled be
tween poor and middle classes, we
were characterized by our own inse
curities. The phrase old family mon
ey was unheard of and obviously
there was very little new money.
By the early 19605. the sun shone
differently upon the landscape. Be
cause Lake Lanier was creating hope
our insecurities would be replaced
with knowledge and confidence
about an expanding world beyond
boundaries of county lines.
The growth and potential of the
area were not completely under
stood. By August of 1970, the Sawnee
Electric Membership Corporation
had a total of 13,065 consumers. The
number was up almost a thousand
from the previous year according to
one of their filed documents. Georgia
Power Company consumer figures
were not available at this writing.
On June 17. 1972, an old general
store which was built around 1897
succumbed to memories. Located at
the intersection of hwys. 369 and 306.
the general store was filled with vin
tage heirlooms. They included such
items as a grasshopper muzzle, de
pression glass, home furnishings,
clothes, Sunday bonnets and straw
hats, among other things. When the
contents were auctioned off. the For
syth County News covered the event
and ran the story on page seven in
their June 29 edition. By the fall of
that year, a new contemporary store
was constructed.
The faded R.C. Cola posters nailed
to the old wooden stores are now bur
ied deep within our reflections. But
it is quite nice to reach out and em
brace the past
A past which includes beautiful
memories of Forsyth County at my
grandmother's house upon a hill.
Jan Hamilton is a former Staff
Writer for the Forsyth County News.
She now lives in Loch Arbour, New
Jersey.
CALLING ALL
HOME MAKERS
Brought To You
By Carter Pruitt
FREE STANDING
FURNITURE ORA
BUILT-IN?
When you’re
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case, it’s good to
consider advan
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opposed to built
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Now, we’re not saying that
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whenever you decide to re
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The same applies if you ever
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used in your new home.
Not only do you have the
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Etageres, bookcases and
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also to '’stand on their own” de
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but many may also be used, if
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you might consider, and we’ll be
nappy to help you.
PRUITT'S
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606 Old Buford Rd.
Cumming
887-7551 »
Pruitt