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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2009
Historic courthouse
projects to move ahead
BYANGELA GARY
RESTORATION OF the
clock and the interior of the his
toric courthouse will move for
ward following action Monday
of the Jackson County Board of
Commissioners.
The clock restoration con
tract is for $47,000 to Classic
Clocks of Atlanta. The contract
for the interior restoration design
is for $250,000 and is with
Barker Cunningham Barrington
Architects.
The renovations are being
funded with $2 million in bonds
approved earlier for the project.
The BOC also approved a
request from the historic court
house committee to proceed with
a fundraising effort to help get
additional finances for the resto
ration. The committee wants to
raise an additional $1.5 million
from donors.
The BOC also approved the
committee’s request to apply
for a $150,000 Appalachian
Regional Commission grant.
OTHER BUSINESS
The BOC also approved:
•a request from Sheila and
Darrell Jackson to move a 1994
manufactured home at 737
Antioch Church Road to prop
erty they own on Old Kings
Bridge Road.
•a request from the City of
Pendergrass to rename a por
tion of Old Gainesville Hwy. to
Glenn Abby Lane.
•a request to create a 2010
Census Count Committee to
develop a local effort.
•a proposed contract with
the Georgia Department of
Corrections stating that the coun
ty will house 200 state inmates.
This is 26 more than the county
currently houses and will bring
an additional $189,800 in rev
enue to the county.
•a change order for the airport
runway extension project at a
cost of $55,000 to Ace Grading
Company.
•a proposed policy on han
dling requests for county funds
from charitable organizations.
•a request from county recre
ation director Rick Sanders to
lease 10.2 acres adjacent to West
Jackson Primary School.
•proposed procedures and
rules for conducting BOC meet
ings, including an increase to
four minutes for citizens to
speak. The BOC chairman will
have the authority to increase
the time if needed or stop people
from speaking who repeat com
ments made by other speakers.
•a request from James Ray
Mattox to rezone 6.2 acres at Old
Savage Road from A-2 to R-l
for a four-lot split.
•a request from Cindy
Braymiller to rezone four acres
of a 13.2-acre tract at 65 Cane
Creek from A-2 to M-H to locate
a single family home.
•a request from HP Land for
a special use permit to classify
The Fields of Walnut Creek sub
division, located on Hwy. 60 in
Pendergrass, as a private gated
community.
Maysville City Council
considers pouring license
BY JUSTIN POOLE on the ordinance.
A POURING license ordi
nance for the City of Maysville is
one step closer to reality follow
ing a unanimous vote last week
to have the city attorney draw up
an ordinance.
The ordinance will come back
before the council during the
August meeting where a public
hearing date will be set for input
Other matters brought
before the council during last
Monday’s council meeting was
the issue of the Department of
Transportation’s right of way
through the city. For the city to
encroach upon the existing right-
of-way would require a permit
from the state, the council was
advised.
GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY
Jefferson City Council members, along with Jackson County commissioners, are among those shown at the
groundbreaking at John B. Brooks Road before tossing the dirt, signaling the beginning of the construction pro
cess. The project is estimated to be completed on August 15, 2010. Among those shown are: Gina Mitsdarffer,
John Ward, Raphael Tomlin, Hunter Bicknell, Pat Bell, Larry Guthrie, Monk Tolbert, Tom Crow, Roy Plott, Bruce
Yates, Scott Martin, Darrell Hampton, Jim Shaw, John Hulsey, John Buchanan, Steve Adams and Don Clerici.
John B. Brooks Road improvement project underway
By Katie Huston
CONSTRUCTION is under
way on the John B. Brooks Road
improvement project and orga
nizers kicked-off the roadwork
with a groundbreaking ceremony
at Seydel last Thursday.
The road, which is the main
collector for Walnut Fork
Business Park and also connects
two major state routes, has just
under 10,000 vehicles a day trav
eling on it.
The project will widen the
road from Hwy. 129 to Hwy.
332. It will add a continuous cen
ter turn lane and curb and gutter
along its entirety.
The project designer for
the improvements is James
Hudgins with Arcadis, an inter
national development company
that works with other compa
nies and governments. Pittman
Construction Co. is contracting
the project.
The construction contract is
estimated at over $2 million and
the completion date is August
15, 2010. Upon completion,
there will be approximately 2.8
new lane miles of road.
The project is a joint
effort between the Industrial
Development Authority, Jackson
County Board of Commissioners
and the City of Jefferson.
The road was closed from 6
a.m. on Friday until Sunday at 9
p.m. The closure was supposed
to last through Wednesday, how
ever, work was finished three
days ahead of schedule and the
road was open to through traffic
Sunday night. The next closure
should be within the next 30 to
45 days and advance notice will
be given of dates and times.
WELCOME SPEECH
County manager Darrell Hampton addresses the
crowd at Thursday morning’s groundbreaking cer
emony held at Seydel in Jefferson. It was an event to
kick-off the reconstruction and widening of John B.
Brooks Road.
Industry considers corporate hangar at airport
By Mark Beardsley
THE 900-FOOT extension
of the runway at the Jackson
County Airport won’t be com
pleted until August, but it appar
ently is already yielding some
dividends.
Shane Short, president of the
Jackson County Area Chamber
of Commerce, told the county’s
industrial development author
ity last Friday that a Fortune
500 company is considering an
industrial site at the airport as
one of two Georgia sites it’s
considering.
“It looks like things may be
starting to work with the airport
expansion,’’ Short said.
The project will extend the
runway to 5,000 feet - long
enough to accept corporate jets.
IDA member John Buchanan,
who also serves on the county’s
airport authority, said the com
pany wants a 20,000-square-foot
hangar for its corporate aircraft.
“They’re moving their head
quarters to Gwinnett County,
so we’d be perfect for them,’’
Buchanan said.
After the IDA meeting, Short
said the impact of the com
pany’s location at the airport is
much greater than its hangar
facility.
Having a major company
house its aircraft at the airport
“elevates your community to a
status where it may attract other
companies like that,” he said.
“Corporations want to be able
to land their corporate aircraft
nearby.”
The company is also looking
at the Barrow County Airport,
Short said.
Buchanan told the IDA the
investment by Gresham Motor
Sports in the old Jefferson
Speedway is also tied to the
airport.
Gresham plans a grand
re-opening of the track - on
which it is spending $5 million
to revamp - in mid-November,
and the airport authority has
rescheduled its annual “fly-in”
to coincide with that event.
“When he starts that race
schedule, we’re going to see
a tremendous amount of traf
fic,” Buchanan said, noting that
many of the race teams will fly
in for the three-day event.
“They expect 140 race teams
and over 5,000 people each
day,” he added.
The IDA and Jackson County
allocated some of the coun
ty’s road bonds for the airport
project, which was not on the
original priority list for bond
financing. Buchanan said the
airport authority has acquired a
third of the property it needs for
commercial hangar construc
tion, and it expects to get reim
bursed by the Federal Aviation
Administration and the Georgia
Department of Transportation
for 95 percent of that money
later this year.
In recognition of the runway
extension project’s potential
for economic impact, the IDA
agreed to hold its Aug. 21 meet
ing at the airport.
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