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FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS
Sunday, September 25,2022 FORSYTHNEWS.COM
Impact fees may fund Sawnee Village roads
Cumming City Council discusses plan at meeting
By Kelly Whitmire
kwh itm i re@f o rsyth n ews.com
Members of the Cumming
City Council discussed a poten
tial agreement to fund road proj
ects with developers of a planned
mixed-use development in the
city.
At the council’s meeting on
Tuesday, Sept. 20, City Attorney
Kevin Tallant went over a pro
posed impact fee agreement with
Providence Group of Georgia,
developers of Sawnee Village, a
mixed-use project planned on
152 acres between Hwy. 9 and
Pilgrim Road.
No action was taken during the
work session, and the agreement
will likely be voted on at the next
council meeting.
Tallant said the agreement
would mean Providence Group
would pay for road projects for
the development upfront and
would receive a credit for impact
fees, or charges paid by develop
ers to cover the cost of increased
demand on infrastructure, servic
es and amenities.
“The total idea behind this is
that it’s an impact fee credit,”
Tallant said. “Whereas instead of
this developer paying impact fees
to us for us to use on whatever
projects around the city, this is
one where they are going to be
implementing some needed
improvements to our transporta
tion system, and they will be pay
ing for them, so they will get an
impact fee credit for that.”
Tallant said three projects
would be part of the agreements:
two phases of a project to Extend
Sawnee Drive from its current
end at Hwy. 9 to Pilgrim Mill
Road and traffic improvements
on Hwy. 9 near Cumming
Elementary School.
Costs for the project won’t be
known until bids come in.
“They’re paying for this project
with the money that they will be
paying for impact fees,” Tallant
said. “They’ve already paid for
the design of the project. Once it
goes to bid, we will then have the
final numbers in terms of what
it’s going to cost, then they pay
that before the project begins.”
If costs for the projects are
lower than what the developer
would pay impact fees, the devel
oper will still pay the remainder
toward impact fees, and if the
project is more than the fees, the
city will pay the rest, Tallant said.
In January, the council voted to
rezone 152 acres between
Dahlonega Highway and Pilgrim
Mill Road and east of Pilgrim
Mill from office professional, sin
gle-family residential and
planned shopping center districts
to planned-unit development for
the project.
According to plans submitted
to the city and discussed at previ
ous meetings, the development
will include 102 attached town-
homes and duplexes, 262 multi
family units and six vertical
mixed-use units on Dahlonega
Highway, along with a detached
single-family community with
221 units and, east of Pilgrim
Mill Road, 122 single-family
detached lots around the perime
ter and 98 townhomes in the mid
dle for a total of 220 units.
See Roads 12A
Slinging the spooky sweets
Photos submitted to Forsyth County News
Tammy Varela will compete this year in Food Network's "Halloween Wars."
Ga. 400 lanes to
close for work on
new interchange
By Kelly Whitmire
kwhitmire@forsythnews.com
Forsyth County officials said there will be lane
closures on Ga. 400 between Martin Road and
Hwy. 369 Monday, Sept. 26, through Friday, Sept.
30 for work on the new interchange.
According to a news release from the Forsyth
County government, the right lane of Ga. 400 will
be closed 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., weather permitting, on
Monday for shoulder work. Once that project is
complete, southbound lanes will be closed with
traffic pacing for shoulder work and restriping.
“Commuters can anticipate various traffic delays
and temporary lane closures during the construc
tion of the interchange as crews prepare to move
SR 369 traffic onto the new overpass bridge,” offi
cials said in the release.
Once completed, the interchange project will be
for a continuous-flow, partial-cloverleaf inter
change at the current intersection, while the widen
ing project is for a four-lane road divided by a
20-foot raised median that will include an 8-foot
sidewalk trail along the south side of the highway
and a 5-foot sidewalk on the north.
Forsyth sugar artist to be on Food Networks ‘FTalloween Wars’
By Sabrina Kerns
skerns@forsythnews.com
Halloween has always been Tammy Varela’s favorite hol
iday, spending every October with her husband picking out
the perfect decorations to frighten trick-or-treaters.
But this year, she plans to celebrate the spooky season in
a whole new way.
The Forsyth County native is inviting friends and family
over on Sunday nights through October to watch her com
pete in season 12 of the Food Network’s famous series,
“Halloween Wars.”
“I’m super excited for everyone to see it,” Varela said.
Varela has worked as a cake and sugar artist in the coun
ty for nearly eight years, getting a start in the world of cake
art by teaching herself how to make detailed confections.
Over the past two years, she has fully delved into the
hobby, traveling to cake shows and writing cake art tutori
als for magazines.
And she is no stranger to baking competition shows.
The sugar artist was also featured in another Food
See Wars 12A
Halcyon hosting
Oktoberfest event
By Kelly Whitmire
kwhitmire@forsythnews.com
Halcyon will look a little like Munich this week
end.
On Saturday, Sept. 24, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
Halcyon, a mixed-use community at 6365 Halcyon
Way, will host Oktoberfest at Halcyon in celebra
tion of the annual German festival, which runs
Sept. 17 to Oct. 3.
The event is free and will include a Concours
d’Elegance Classic Mercedes Car Show from 10
a.m. to 2 p.m., followed by “the full Oktoberfest
experience” 2-5 p.m., which will include a live
German polka band, pretzels, brats and other
German food, giveaways and beer.
Outside coolers, drinks and food are prohibited,
and organizers recommend attendees drink respon
sibly and use carpools and ridesharing apps.
For more information, go to VisitHalcyon.com.
Forsyth nonprofit gala raises $650K for pancreatic cancer research
From Staff Reports
Focal nonprofit Purple
Pansies recently held its 13th
annual Pillars of Hope Gala,
bringing the community togeth
er and raising $650,000 in one
night to help find a cure for
pancreatic cancer.
Maria Fundora, owner of
Casa Nuova Italian Restaurant,
founded Purple Pansies in 2009
and holds the gala every
September in honor of her
mother, Iluminada Milian, who
she lost to pancreatic cancer in
2007.
“I lost her three months after
diagnosis, and I could not just
sit still,” Fundora said. “I had to
do something.”
She immediately began hold
ing events at her restaurant to
raise funds to find a cure, but as
her efforts increased, so did her
frustration. She still saw too
many people in the community
suffering.
Reaching out for a bigger
vision, she discovered the
Translational Genomics
Research Institute, part of City
of Hope, a nonprofit medical
research institute that works on
groundbreaking strategies tar
geting pancreatic cancer.
With a volunteer board and
staff, the organization is able to
distribute 98% of all funds
donated directly to emergency
grants, scholarships and
research and clinical trials.
“We may be small, but we do
not let that limit what we can
achieve,” Fundora said. “We
have the ability to grant funds
at a moment’s notice and
bridge the gap between our
organization, the community
and treatments for those in
need.”
To date, Purple Pansies has
raised more than $4 million to
fund research through TGen
and aid affected families. The
nonprofit believes in a practical,
personal approach to tackle
immediate needs in the commu
nity and strives to also help
those who have exhausted treat
ment funding and need support.
See Gala 12A
Photos submitted to Forsyth County News
Purple Pansies raised $650,000 for pancreatic cancer
research with its Pillars of Hope Gala.
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