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FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS
Midweek Edition-December 28-29, 2022 FORSYTHNEWS.COM JJforsythcountynews @ForsythNews @ForsythNews $1.00
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City approves building design standards
By Kelly Whitmire
kwhitmire@forsythnews.com
New design standards are
coming to certain new buildings
in the city of Cumming.
At a meeting on Tuesday, Dec.
20, the Cumming City Council
approved a zoning ordinance
amendment that will deal with
building design standards and
create a design review panel after
a presentation from Cumming
Planning and Zoning Director
Scott Morgan and Jerry Weitz, of
Jerry Weitz and Associates Inc.
the firm hired by the city to help
with the update.
“Basically, the ordinance itself
would set up a design review
process that would require cer
tain developments — multi-fami
ly developments with six units or
more, and any commercial,
industrial, institutional, office-
type building additions of 1,000
square feet or more — would
have some standards to go by
that’s what we’ll call the design
guide document,” Weitz said at
the meeting.
Weitz said the update was
needed as part of the city’s recent
comprehensive plan update and
includes a three-member design
panel, made up of one member
of the city’s planning board and
two council members, that will
look at plans submitted to the
city and give feedback to
Morgan, who will make the final
decision.
Potential members of the
board were not discussed at the
meeting, except for planning
board member Ralph Webb.
Any appeals to decisions
would go to the City Council.
Morgan said the board would
be made up of three members to
keep it manageable and there
will be a time limit on the panel
to ensure projects don’t drag.
“The process is a maximum of
21 days,” he said. “A minimum
of seven, maximum of 21, to
review the application, give any
comments, make a decision about
whether or not it complies.”
At a planning meeting in
November, Morgan told board
members the design guide would
have requirements for colors,
materials, walls and more.
Weitz told members of the
council the rules would also have
standards for facades, fencing,
materials and signage.
There were no speakers during
a required public hearing.
A 'marry' Christmas
Sabrina Kerns Forsyth County News
Jake Smith gets down on one knee in front of the Christmas tree at the Cumming City Center to ask
his girlfriend-turned-fiancee, Caroline Hood, to marry him.
Man surprises girlfriend with ring at City Center
By Sabrina Kerns
skerns@forsythnews.com
Caroline Hood and Jake Smith
knew from the moment they met
they were meant for each other.
The couple of a year and half
grew up in Forsyth but didn’t
know each other despite spending
time with each other’s families
and friends at church and both
going to school at North Forsyth
High.
After graduation, Caroline left
Forsyth to go to the University of
Alabama and didn’t meet Jake
until she came back home in 2020.
“Some of our mutual friends
just kept bringing him around,”
Caroline said. “I remember asking
my friend, ‘Who is that? I’ve
never seen him before.’ And then
once we started hanging out and
talking, we realized that some of
his family, I’ve grown up with in
my church my whole life.”
The two started dating soon
after they met and have been
inseparable ever since. This past
year, they even started talking
about marriage, planning for a
possible engagement early next
year after the craziness of the holi
days was long gone.
But after a faked electrical
disaster and a trek through the
cold, Jake surprised Caroline on
Friday, Dec. 16, with what would
become the greatest Christmas gift
she could have gotten this year —
a diamond ring.
Jake first started planning the
proposal months ago, enlisting the
help of Caroline’s mom, Lisa
Mason. After finding the perfect
ring and the perfect words to say,
Jake asked Lisa if she had any
good ideas of where he could take
Caroline to finally pop the ques
tion.
“When I saw the big Christmas
tree go up at the [Cumming] City
Center, I thought, ‘How perfect,”’
Lisa said.
The city center shares a space
right next to where the couple’s
first home together will be and
serves as a reminder of where they
first met in downtown Cumming.
Not to mention, the background of
the tree and Christmas lights
would make for the perfect holi
day proposal Caroline had been
secretly hoping for.
“When I talked to Jake about it,
he just loved it,” Lisa said. “And it
worked out perfectly with the city
See Couple 14A
Man dies in
Christmas
Eve crash
By Kelly Whitmire
kwh itm i re@f o rsyth news.com
Officials are investigating a fatal single-vehicle
crash that occurred on Christmas Eve.
In a news release sent on Tuesday, Dec. 27,
FCSO officials said the Traffic Specialist Unit is
investigating a crash that occurred at about 11:15
p.m. in the area of River Club Drive and Riverhill
Court in the Chattahoochee River Club subdivi
sion off Buford Highway.
“A 2016 Chevrolet Silverado, driven by 30-year-
old James Allen of Alpharetta, had just entered the
subdivision, and was traveling on River Club
Drive when he failed to negotiate a curve in the
See Wreck 12A
Boil advisory
issued after
water outages
By Kelly Whitmire
kwh itm i r e@f o rsythnews.com
A boil water advisory was issued for parts of
north Forsyth County starting on Christmas Day
after customers reported no or low water pres
sure.
In a news release on Monday, Dec. 26, officials
said the advisories “can last 48 hours to allow for
sampling before consumption without boiling.”
The advisory is still in effect as pf press time.
“There was no break in the Forsyth County
system and chances of contamination are low,
however, the boil water advisory was issued last
night for water customers that lost water pressure
completely, or feel that they had extremely low
pressure, that are north of SR 369 (Matt
Highway) from the Hall County border to the
Cherokee County border,” the release said.
See Water 12A
Medical leaders providing free health care to Forsyth residents
By Sabrina Kerns
skerns@forsythnews.com
Dr. Carrie Hamilton went on
a mission to Haiti in 2010 with
the Christian Medical Dentistry
Association to help give care to
those impacted by a devastat
ing earthquake. But while she
was there, she couldn’t help but
think of her community back
home in Forsyth County.
After about 22 years working
as a pharmacist, now at
Northside Hospital Forsyth,
Hamilton still sees patients
who regularly don’t receive
care because they can’t afford
medicines, dread expensive
hospital bills or simply don’t
have health insurance.
“I love going on medical
missions, but there is a lot [to
do] right here at home,”
Hamilton said. “And there is
even more now with the econo
my and inflation, and people
are just really struggling.”
So as she was caring for oth
ers in Port au Prince, she prom
ised to bring that same help
back to her community. Now,
more than 10 years later,
Hamilton has helped lead the
opening of the Forsyth
Community Clinic, a free
health center serving Forsyth
County residents without insur
ance.
How it got started
When Hamilton came back
home in 2010, her first mission
was to become more involved
in the community. She took her
time meeting with medical pro
fessionals in the state before
also joining Leadership Forsyth
See Clinic 14A
Forsyth
Community
Clinic gov
erning board
members
brainstorm
ideas on
how to
expand the
nonprofit for
patients.
Sabrina Kerns
Forsyth County
News
52/33
Forecast! 2A
Board member
sworn in, will
represent District 1
in Jan. 2023, 5A
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Volume 113, Number 99
© 2022, Forsyth County News
Cumming, Georgia