Newspaper Page Text
o
o
J * the TT TT Wednesda y' ° ct ° ber 2s - 201;
ACKSONF& XlERALD
VOL. 143 NO. 21 Meraed in 2017 with A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newsnaners. Tnc.
VOL. 143 NO. 21
40 PACES 3 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS
Merged in 2017 with
The Commerce News
A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc.
JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75« COPY
Elections
office gives
update on
early voting
Over 170 votes have
been cast in the first six
days of early voting in
Jackson County.
Jennifer Logan, with the
Jackson County Elections
and Voter Registration
Office, said four votes
have been cast in Bra-
selton, 13 for the House
117 special election, eight
in Commerce and 151 in
Jefferson. The department
has also mailed out sev
eral ballots and received
three back for the Jeffer
son and Commerce elec
tions and two back in the
Braselton election.
Early voting began on
Oct. 16 at the Ponchie
Beck Vote Center (Gordon
Street Center, Jefferson)
for all Elections (City of
Commerce, City of Jef
ferson, Town of Braselton
and the special election
for House 117) and will
continue until Saturday,
Oct. 28. Hours are 8 a.m.
to 5 p.m. on Monday-Fri-
day and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
on Saturday, Oct. 28.
After Oct. 28, Braselton
voters can only vote at the
Braselton satellite,
DETAILS
The last week of early
voting includes:
•Oct. 30-Nov. 3 — The
Ponchie Beck Vote Cen
ter (Gordon Street Center)
441 Gordon Street in Jef
ferson: All City of Com
merce, City of Jefferson
and Special Election for
House 117 voters can vote
at this location.
•Oct. 30-Nov. 3 —
Commerce Park and Rec
Center, 204 Carson Street,
Commerce: All City of
Commerce, City of Jeffer
son and Special Election
for House 117 voters can
vote at this location.
•Oct. 30-Nov. 3 — Bra
selton Police and Munic
ipal Building, 5040 Hwy
53: Only the Town of
Braselton can vote at this
location.
Absentee by mail appli
cations are available by
calling the office 706-
367-6377. An applica
tion is also located on the
Jackson County website
and Secretary of State
website.
2
Aggressive timeline set for ag center
AG FACILITY COMMITTEE
Members of the Jackson County ag center facility planning committee are (front
L-R): Commissioners Jim Hix, Tom Crow and Marty Seagraves; (back, L-R) Phil
Page, Andy Byers, Marty Clark, Josh Whitworth, Charlie Howington and Mark
Shirley.
Bids could be let as soon as next spring
for the construction of a multi-million-dollar
agricultural event center in Jackson County.
Planning for the event center got under way
this week with the formation of a citizens'
planning committee. The group is expected
to have a full committee report to the Jackson
County Board of Commissioners by Jan. 31,
2018.
Marty Clark was named chairman of the
group with Phil Page serving as vice-chair
man. Josh Whitworth was named chairman
of the facility design sub-committee; Mark
Shirley chairman of the location sub-com
mittee; Andy Byers chairman of the fund
ing sub-committee; and Charlie Howington
chairman of the public relations sub-com
mittee.
The group plans to meet again in early
December.
TOP AGENDA ITEM
The event center was the top agenda item
to come out of the BOC's yearly planning
meeting over the summer. The center would
be used to host livestock events for local FFA
and 4-H programs and for other agricultur
al-related meetings and events.
The center is being loosely based on the
one in Union County, which county officials
recently visited. The cost of the center is
expected to be anywhere from $2.8 million
to $4 million. The Union County facility can
handle 115 cows and 220 pigs and has seating
for 280 people.
The BOC set aside $1 million in the
FY2018 budget to go toward the center and
allocated $100,000 to be used for planning
and design.
The $1 million came from this year’s sale
continued on page 2A
PLAYS IN CORN AT FALL FESTIVAL
Masson Grant, 3, played in a swimming pool full of com during Camp Hooray’s annual fall festival. Grant came to the festival
with his mother, DeShun Billups, who is a volunteer from Publix in Watkinsville. Billups does not have any family members
who participate in camp but decided to volunteer. “I love being around children,” she said. See more photos on page 1C.
Photo by Wesleigh Sagon
City of Jefferson proposes
changes to parking regs
New industry in
Commerce waits
OK from company
By Ben Munro
Jefferson leaders have pro
posed changes to the city's
parking regulations and fines
in hopes of remedying on-street
parking problems in Bryan Mill
subdivision.
The code amendments were
actually put up for a vote at
Monday night's city council
meeting, but councilman Mark
Mobley asked that action be
postponed to allow the public to
weigh in on the changes at the
council’s Nov. 13 work session.
“It looks good to me and our
folks have done good work and
I appreciate that,” Mobley said.
“But I'd like for our public to be
able to look at this amendment
and give us some input on how
it would play out in their lives.”
The changes include removing
all “no parking” signs from the
neighborhood. With those signs
in place, any vehicle parked
along the street — regardless of
the reason — would warrant a
citation, according to state law.
But the changes also include
doubling fines for parking viola
tions and the clarifying setbacks
for fire hydrants and driveways.
It’s illegal for any vehicle to be
parked within 10 feet of a fire
hydrant or driveway on the same
side of the street as a vehicle is
already parked.
The changes will also reduce
the time a parked vehicle can
remain in one location without
a citation, from 48 hours to 12
hours.
The council did. however,
approve one amendment on
Monday, increasing the city’s
minimum pavement width for
a local street from 24 feet to 26
feet to improve the ability to
pass vehicles parked on one or
both sides of the street.
In other business, the council:
•discussed the possible clean
up of a retention pond in Jef
ferson Walk-Jefferson Place
neglected by the developer. The
city has already filed a lawsuit
against the developer on behalf
of the homeowners, but Mob
ley suggested the city go ahead
and arrange for the cleanup and
bill the developer. The council
agreed to proceed with seeking
bids and attaining permission
of the property owners should it
ultimately decide to move forth
with the cleanup plan.
•voted to switch from a
tree-density to a tree-can
opy approach under the
continued on page 2A
By Ron Bridgeman
Jackson County continues to
pursue an industry for Com
merce. but an announcement
waits for specific conditions to
be negotiated.
The industry is expected to
be a distribution center that
would be about 1 million
square feet and is considering
a 97-acre site in the Commerce
85 Logistics Park. It is expect
ed to be near the Ollie's distri
bution center that is on Steve
Reynolds Industrial Boulevard.
The land is owned by Rook-
er. a real estate company in
Atlanta that developed the busi
ness park. The Commerce park
is adjacent to Interstate 85 and
along Steve Reynolds Boule
vard.
The Jackson County Industri
al Development Authority has
been dealing with the potential
industry for more than three
months. The IDA has met twice
in closed session for about 50
minutes each time,
Jim Shaw, director of eco
nomic development for the
county, said in August he sent
the prospect an offer for incen
tives and local assistance.
“We’re still expecting two
announcements,” Shaw said at
the chamber’s board meeting
Friday. “We’ve talked about
them a lot.” He indicated he did
not know when, or if, the com
panies might agree on terms.
The Oconee River Soil and
Water Conservation District
approved the second revision
of plans for “Project Pine” at its
September meeting. Commerce
City Manager James Wascher
said Monday that is the distri
bution center project.
David Zellner. director of
planning for Commerce, said
a land disturbance permit has
been requested for a 79-acre
site in the business park.
He said he “hopes” to have
that permit issued by the end
of next week. He said the plans
have been approved at the state
level.
Shaw said Monday afternoon
the project has been different
than most because the interest
first came from the developer,
Rooker.