Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2A
& FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Thursday, November 14,2002
Showing her
true colors
Mary Singleton
performed in the
Forsyth Christian
Home
Educators’ trib
ute to veterans
Monday
morning on
Veterans Day.
Photo/
Jonathan Phillips
MALL from 1A
Although the applications have been
approved, still up in the air is the poten
tial costs to local taxpayers for the infra
structure improvements that will be need
ed for the development.
Foremost on the list are a host of road
way improvements recommended by the
Georgia Mountains Regional
Development Center and the Georgia
Regional Transportation Authority.
Staff for those agencies have said the
improvements are crucial to the local road
system’s ability to handle the increased
traffic generated by the development. The
number of additional daily trips on near
by roads is projected to be 28,000 when
Phase 1 is completed and 43,000 when
the project has been completed.
The major new road recommended for
the project is a four- to six-lane parkway
that would run approximately one mile
through the development from McFarland
Road to Union Hill Road. Access to the
retail center, offices, hotel and residences
would be via McFarland Road to the
north and McGinnis Ferry and Union Hill
roads to the south.
Forsyth County Director of
Engineering John Cunard has estimated
the parkway will cost about $3.3 million
TRUST from 1A
ditiops attached to the board’s
approval of the application.
Among the amended con
ditions were a requirement
that the developer donate a 40-
acre school site to the school
system prior to obtaining land
disturbance permits; that the
project’s amenities include
two pools, 16 tennis courts
and a clubhouse and that that
area be at least 1,000 feet from
Mt. Tabor Baptist Church and
at least 300 feet from any
existing residence on neigh
boring property; that there not
be any construction work
undertaken at the site on
Sundays; that there be a 50-
foot buffer around the perime
ter of the project other than at
places adjoining properties
with existing residences,
where the buffer depth would
be doubled; that no building
take place in each phase until
sewer capacity is available to
serve the users in that phase;
that the future builders avoid a
“monotonous” appearance to
the subdivision’s homes and
build no more than 30 percent
of them at the minimum
allowable square footage of
1,500 square feet; that only
one dock with four “num
bered” boats be allowed for
use in a nearby lake by the
new residents; that Bannister
and Bruton creeks be protect
ed by a 100-foot undisturbed
buffer and that floodplains be
undisturbed except for pedes
trian access or utility ease
ments; and that future resi
dents be notified in writing
that there is an active landfill
on Old Federal Road.
Under the conservation
subdivision zoning classifica
tion, at least 40 percent of the
land must be preserved in its
natural state. Kreager added a
condition that will subtract
from that required open space
any land set aside for the
school or roads.
The application was
approved with no other com
ment.
Opponents of the applica
tion said after the vote that j
their fight is just beginning.
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to build. It also would serve as part of the
connector system that the county is trying
to complete in south Forsyth to provide
local motorists an alternative to Ga. 400.
Funding sources for the one-mile
parkway have not been identified.
However, one of the conditions agreed to
by Rouse and the board of commissioners
is a 50-50 split on the cost beyond any
funding from state and/or federal sources.
Other recommended roadway
improvements include widening
McFarland Road to six lanes north of Ga.
400; widening McGinnis Ferry Road to
four lanes east of its intersection with
McFarland; widening McFarland to six
lanes between Ga. 400 and McGinnis
Ferry; widening McGinnis Ferry to four
lanes between McFarland and Tidwell
Road, east of Ga. 400; widening
McGinnis Ferry to six lanes at Union Hill
Road to a new interchange at Ga. 400;
and widening Union Hill to four lanes
east of McGinnis Ferry Road. There also
would be intersection improvements on
all those routes.
Funding sources have not been identi
fied for any of those projects.
One infrastructure issue the board has
resolved is its decision to reserve sewer-
Joyce Neuner, of the Great
Northwest Homeowners of
Forsyth County group, said
nearby property owners will
don “hard hats and get out our
tape measures” to monitor
future construction to ensure
that buffer zones and anti-soil
erosion practices are strictly
followed.
“I’m not surprised the
commission approved it, but
this fight is not over by a long
shot,” Neuner said. “Our
group has about 30 dedicated
property owners who are
going to keep close watch on
this until the day we die
that’s how long we all want to
stay where we’re living right
now.
“It’s obvious from the
planning commission’s and
board of commissioner’s
actions that we’re going to
have to police this because no
else is going to,” she added.
Neuner said the group also
will continue to push any
developer who takes on the
project to complete archeolog
ical and environmental impact
studies to protect what some
believe could be Native
American artifacts on the land.
The vote on a second large
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conservation subdivision
adjoining the Mashburn devel
opment was postponed until
Nov. 25 at the request of the
developer, Fox Creek
Properties.
That application would
rezone more than 700 acres
for construction of 921 houses
on the west side of Nicholson
Road near Old Federal Road.
The Mashburn project is on
the south side of Nicholson
Road and on both sides of
Mount Tabor Road.
“We’re happy the Fox
Creek plan has been delayed
because it will give us more
time to meet with the develop
er [William Evans] to tell him
our concerns,” Neuner said.
FCP already has received
county approval to build one
of its planned subdivisions in
that area. It will be southwest
of the larger Fox Creek site
and the Mashburn develop
ment that will have 385
houses.
Combined, all three devel
opments would add more than
2,900 residences in the north
west part of the county. That is
about 8.4 percent of the
34,565 households in the
county that were identified by
ACTORS from 1A
local schools competed at the AAAA
level.
In winning at state, Forsyth Central
beat Pebbiebrook High, a school of the
arts magnet school in Cobb-County. That
school came in second.
The other cast members in “The
Runner Stumbles” were Jon Meier,
Jaime Morris, Barry Bettis, Ashley
Pinson and Jesse Bergeron.
Jo Boling was the student director.
Travis O’Dell and Danielle Conant were
stage managers. Alex Stage was lighting
technician. In charge of sound were
Christian Randall and Julie Parker.
The stage crew included 15 other stu
dents who had to go from bare stage to
bare stage within 55 minutes, said Yatesy
Harvey, the theater director of the play
and the chairperson of the school’s fine
arts department.
She said art teacher Kevin Whitley
designed the set, and Terry McGonigle
and Nolan Floyd built it. Jan Stage,
choral director, designed the music.
Harvey said that even though the stu
dents moved up to AAAA competition
this year, she knew they would be com
petitive.
“I felt we had a good, solid play, and
I knew I had strong actors.”
age capacity to service the development.
The construction of a new wastewater
treatment facility on the old Fowler prop
erty off Hwy. 9 south of the city of
Cumming limits will provide that capaci
ty-
Rouse officials acknowledged
Tuesday night that the county’s commit
ment to water and sewerage availability
was a deciding factor in their decision to
locate in south Forsyth County.
The board on Tuesday night also
ended speculation on just how much
money Rouse will have to donate to the
fire department to help offset the
increased costs of fire protection service
to the development.
The board attached a condition to the
rezoning that will require Rouse to pay
SIOO,OOO at the time of completion of
each of the three phases for a total of
$300,000.
That figure is far higher than the origi
nal proposal by Rouse to donate a total of
SIOO,OOO.
Company representatives also have
noted in the past that the development
will generate hundreds of thousands of
dollars over the years via the one-mill
Fire Tax paid on the improved site.
the 2000 census.
One aspect of the proposed
development that wasn’t made
any clearer by the board’s vote
is how the county plans to pay
for the millions of dollars of
roadway improvements that
are needed to make sure thor
oughfares can handle the
influx of thousands of vehicles
in the future.
The board’s approval did
carry with it conditions that will
require the developer to pay for
such things as utility reconfigu
ration, rights-of-way and widen
ing of roads near the develop
ment.
- But other improvements
were recommended by the
Georgia Mountains Regional
Development Center and
Georgia Regional Transportation
Authority in their reviews of the
project.
According to a report by
GRTA’s technical staff, the
Mashburn Trust develop
ment’s 1,598 single-family
houses and 900-student ele
mentary school would gener
ate 14,138 average daily trips,
with a morning peak of 1,389
vehicles in an hour and an
evening peak of 1,538 vehi
cles.
TAX from 1A
the City of Braselton, which
has not been receiving any of
the funds.
Hall County after the first
of the year will get 75.49 per
cent of its LOST revenues.
The City of Gainesville
will receive the next largest
portion —19.87 percent.
Oakwood will get 1.63 per
cent, Lula 1.05 percent,
Clermont .44 percent,
Gillsville .09 percent and
Buford .03 percent.
Cumming is the only
municipality in Forsyth.
Kieffer made the motion to
ask the Cumming City
Council to maintain the cur
rent split, not only for LOST
funds, but also for Special
Purpose Local Option Sales
Tax revenues.
He said he would like a
response from city officials by
Nov. 20 the day after the
city’s November council meet
ing.
Kieffer also asked that the
agenda for the commissioners’
Dec. 9 meeting include action
on a resolution to request a
March 2003 special election to
ask voters to extend the coun-
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Forsyth County News
J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 J
USPS 205-540
Veterans Memorial Blvd., Cumming, Georgia 30040
Phone:77o-887-3126 Fax:77o-889-6017
Internet Address: www.forsythnews.com
® Publisher DENNIS STOCKTON
General Manager NORMAN BAGGS
Editor SUSAN NORMAN
Advertising Director HARRIS BLACKWOOD
Circulation Director PHIL JONES
MEMBER
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The facts
• Sales taxes in
Forsyth County total 7
cents on every dollar.
• Four cents go to the
state, and three cents
go to the local commu
nity in the form of the
LOST tax and
SPLOST taxes for the
local governments and
the schools.
ty’s Special Purpose Local
Option Sales Tax.
Sales taxes in Forsyth
County total 7 cents on every
dollar. Four cents go to the
state, and three cents go to the
local community in the form
of the LOST tax and SPLOST
taxes for the local govern
ments and the schools.
In other business at the
meeting, the board approved a
nuisance ordinance that
defines various conditions that
threaten the public’s health,
such as failing septic systems,
and gives designated staff at
the health department the abil
ity to enforce the ordinance.