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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2009
Bio-tech company considers move to county
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
A bio-technical company
that would need a million
square feet of parking is one
of three new potential indus
tries who looked at Jackson
County during April.
Shane Short, president,
briefed the Jackson County
Area Chamber of Commerce
board of directors on new
project activity at last Friday's
monthly meeting.
Details were slim: Short said
the company - which is looking
at two sites in Jackson County
and other sites elsewhere -
seeks a 350,000-square-foot
facility expandable to 1.5 mil
lion square feet.
The two other new projects
are a plastics manufacturing
company looking at an exist
ing building that would pro
vide 35-55 jobs; and a small
wastewater treatment plant.
Short, who said 20 projects
remain “open,” also recounted
a meeting with officials of
one of those projects. A local
delegation met with those
officials at Chateau Elan,
where they hosted a dinner
and took them on a tour of
Jackson County. In a
follow-up with state
economic develop
ment officials, Short
said he was told that
the presentation was
flawless.
“The head guy from
the company said
he was blown away
by the reception,”
Short said. “This is important
because it says to the state
that if they bring someone to
Jackson County, we’re going
to do it right.”
TO GAIN
WORKREADY STATUS
Jackson County will be a
“certified WorkReady coun
ty” by the end of June.
Short said Dr. Howard
Ledford, coordinator of
instruction, will have reached
the goal of more than 600
WorkReady tests required for
the program.
WorkReady is a national
program aimed at provid
ing assurances to companies
that prospective employees
have certain levels of training
through a certification process
that covers employees' ability
to gather information
from reading, their
basic math skills and
their work ethic.
Short said that
Ledford has done the
heavy lifting to get
the county in line for
certification.
“He’s really, solely,
done this almost by
himself,” said Short.
“The school systems have
also been very helpful in let
ting us go in and test students,”
remarked Keith Johnson, to
which Jackson County school
board chair Kathy Wilbanks
responded: “And they all
passed.”
In other business, Short told
the directors that the staff is
checking into a new health
insurance provider that could
be available via chamber
membership. The web-based
operation promises savings of
10-30 percent for companies
and a $2-$3 per employee
payment to the chamber.
“Ten to 30 percent savings
for some of our larger employ
ers could be a substantial sav
ings,” he pointed out.
SHORT
Website offers info on volunteering
A new website is available
for people seeking to help or
be helped by Jackson County
nonprofit groups.
The site, www.helpjackson-
county.com, is the project of
the 2009 Leadership Jackson
class of the Jackson County
Area Chamber of Commerce.
Class members Teddie
Lohmeier and Rick Baldwin
unveiled it to the chamber's
directors at their May 15
breakfast meeting.
The site provides informa
tion — purpose, contacts and
information on how to donate
to or volunteer for — 73 non
profit groups. The groups are
organized by category and
alphabetically.
“We developed a place
where if you wanted to volun
teer, you could go in and find
one that fit your interest,” said
Lohmeier.
Family Connection will
maintain the directory in the
future, Baldwin explained.
The site not only provides
access for those wanting to
make donations or help, but
also for people who need their
services.
“If you're in need of help,
you can go to their web site
to find the service you need,”
pointed out Shane Short, pres
ident of the chamber.
Jackson County airport authority splits projects
BY BRANDON REED
The Jackson County
Airport Authority broke its
expansion plans into three
projects last week, a move
that should have plans in
hand and ready to imple
ment if federal grant money
become available.
By breaking it into three
projects, the action will give
the authority the ability to
receive funding at various
levels, according to airport
manager Bob Stapleton.
The authority voted unani
mously to authorize the engi
neering firm of Talbert and
Bright to put together plans
for t-hangars and private
hangars for general aviation
purposes on the east side
of the airport in one proj
ect; commercial and corpo
rate hangars on the west side
of the airport in the second
project; and an access road
for the west side of the facil
ity in a third project.
The authority authorized
$416,000 for the plans.
Also during last week’s
meeting, Stapleton said that
the state DOT is preparing
two grant offers for the air
port. One will be for crack
sealing of all paved areas at
the facility, while the other
will be to remove or bury
power lines to the north of
the runway 34 approach
path.
Arcade council adopts zoning ordinance
BY BRANDON REED
After voting last month to
leave the Quad Cities Planning
Commission, the City of
Arcade adopted a zoning code
ordinance on May 11.
The ordinance essentially
follows the QCPC guidelines,
with references to the other
towns removed. The city will
form a planning commis
sion and city clerk Deborah
Mochus was appointed zon
ing administrator and building
inspector.
The vote to adopt the ordi
nance by the Arcade City
Council was unanimous.
The council also voted
unanimously to approve a
contract with McFarland,
Dyer and Associates to handle
the city's planning and zoning
on an as-needed basis.
Also at the May 11 meeting,
the council;
•adopted a resolution to
surplus and sell some of the
city’s older vehicles.
•approved an extension of
the service delivery strategy
agreement with other cities in
the county.
Agri-Cycle cleanup still not done
BY KATIE HUSTON
Talmo residents are upset
that the cleanup at Agri-Cycle
still hasn’t been completed
even though it’s been one
year since a court ordered
that it be done.
At a town hall meeting on
May 12 in Talmo, Jackson
County Board of Commissioner
Bruce Yates led a discussion
about the clean up of the plant.
Bill Chandler, a retired Talmo
resident, is ready to see more
progress.
“We talked about this last
year,” Chandler said. “I'm
ready to move.”
Yates told residents that the
BOC is doing everything with
in its power to complete the
process.
“It's like when you’re up
against a certain point you can
only go so far and you just keep
beating on the wall,” he said.
Yates said it is up to the
Georgia Environmental
Protection Division to oversee
the cleanup process.
“Agri-Cycle, basically, it
was shut down by the court,”
Yates said. “The courts, they
can only shut it down. The
courts cannot tell them when
to clean it up. That’s up to
the (Environmental Protection
Department).”
Gina Mitsdarffer, interim
director for Jackson County
Public Development,
said that an order for
the cleanup has been
issued to the legal
department of the
EPD and once it goes
through, cleanup may
begin.
“They have a time
period to do that
and so they're going
through that process,” she said.
The rehabilitation of the plant
into an agricultural site was
expected to take at a minimum
one year. Still, cleanup is slow
and residents have been left to
deal with continued odors and
persistent pests.
OTHER ISSUES
Another topic discussed at
the town hall meeting was the
county’s first quarter finan
cial reports. County finance
director John Hulsey said the
county is fiscally healthy and
the “general fund reserves are
sound.”
“Those reserves are all the
money that you could have, so
to speak, in a savings account,”
he said. “Those are the reserves
that we can need that sustain the
fluctuations in the economy.”
Property taxes are the most
significant source of revenue
for the county, with sales tax
coming in next, Hulsey said.
“Right now, our sales tax
is not doing that great,” he
added. “It’s very
unpredictable. If we
were to plot it, it'd be
all over the place and
so you know, we need
reserves.”
For the first quar
ter, revenue exceeded
expenditures by more
than $77,000.
“That’s a small gap,
but we’re very satisfied with
that,” he said.
Yates also talked about land
usage in the county and spe
cifically, the 85 percent that
is undeveloped, which totals
13,000 acres. He said that land
used for agriculture and for
estry, commercial purposes,
single family residences and
undeveloped vacant lots are the
county's largest areas where
taxability is concerned.
“I say that to you because
whenever you say, ‘what costs
the government and where
are tax dollars coming from?'
understand that we have, first
of all, we’ve got 13,000 acres
of undeveloped (land),” he
said. “There's nothing there.
It’s not doing anything. It
doesn't mean it’s not taking,
but it’s not giving.”
Yates also said that even
though development can be a
key in generating revenue, the
BOC is not interested in over
developing the area.
YATES
Industrial park expansion plans approved
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
A large industrial park in
Jefferson will soon expand,
according to plans approved
on Monday by the city coun
cil.
The McClure Industrial
Park plans to add a 200,000
square-foot building to its
existing development, which
is located near Dry Pond Road
and 1-85, between Jett Roberts
Road and McClure Industrial
Drive — formerly known as
Hog Mountain Road.
Kubota Industrial Equipment
Corporation and Kubota
Tractor Corporation are ten
ants in the industrial park.
The Jefferson City Council
approved the annexation and
rezoning of four parcels total
ing 8.3 acres on McClure
Industrial Drive from A2 (agri
cultural rural farm district) in
Jackson County to LI (light
industrial) in the city.
The property owners are
Ollie Smith, Carlton Reeves
and Lois Gee. The rezoned
property will now became a
part of the McClure Industrial
Park.
The council also approved
several conditions on the prop
erty that include the require
ment that the developer —
Gwinnett Industries, Inc. —
provide 10 feet of right-of-
way along the south side of
Hog Mountain Road/McClure
Industrial Drive for free.
The developer is also
required to assist Jefferson
for road improvements to
Hog Mountain Road/McClure
Industrial Drive.
City manager John Ward
said the conditions are similar
to other large-scale industrial
projects in Jefferson.
OTHER ZONING
ACTION
The Jefferson City Council
also approved the following
zoning-related requests on
Monday:
•a request from Sheila
Underwood for a sign vari
ance to allow a digital sign
to be located in front of the
Pendergrass Flea Market.
Among some of the conditions
approved by the council, the
flea market will be required
to subdivide its property and
bring its property up-to-date
on fire codes.
•a resolution support
ing plans of Hathaway
Development and CRT Realty
& Development to locate an
80-unit development, Oconee
Overlook, on Hwy. 11. The
city initially approved the proj
ect in 2005 for 160 units and
then last month for 64 units.
The plan now calls for 80 units
of “affordable housing.” The
development is eligible for tax
incentives from the Georgia
Department of Community
Affairs. Council member Bosie
Griffith opposed the move to
support the resolution.
•annexing 0.53 acres at 266
MLK Jr. Drive, 0.17 acres at
277 Magnolia Avenue, 0.62
acres at MLK Jr. Drive, all for
medium density residential.
These annexations were initi
ated by the city instead of the
property owners.
•annexing 0.57 acres at 1236
Winder Hwy. at the request of
property owner Joseph Henry.
His request that the property
be rezoned from A-2 to R-2
(medium density residential)
was also approved by the
council.
•rezoning 11 acres on
Hwy. 129 and 1-85 owned
by UPS (previously Overnite
Transportation) from C-2
(highway commercial district)
to L-I.
•rezoning 9.5 acres on
Holder Siding Road owned by
Water Esch from R-2 to A-G
(agricultural district).
•rezoning 0.53 acres on
MLK Jr. Drive owned by
Rufus Moon Jr. from A-2 to
R-2.
•rezoning 0.17 acres on
Magnolia Avenue owned by
Mera Jackson from A-2 to
R-2.
•rezoning 0.62 acres on
MLK Jr. Drive owned by
Bobby Watson from A-2 to
R-2.
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CONGRATULATIONS
^k*k*k*k*k*k*k*k*k*k*k*k*k*k*k*k*k*k*k*k
\
Lack Bradley Dad and Mom t
Lacie
The true measure of a person is *
what's inside of them and we are
very proud of the person you have
become.
Because of who you are and the *
young lady you are becoming, we
know you have a bright future ahead
and we look forward to watching
you expand your horizons. Your
hard work will take you far!
Our Love,
Dad and Mom