Newspaper Page Text
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THE
ACKSON
H Wednesday, September 22, 2021
ERALD
VOL. 147 NO. 15
24 PACES 2 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS
Merged in 2017 with
The Commerce News
A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc.
JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 $1.00 COPY
Moratorium
BOC OKs one-year housing moratorium
By Mike Buffington
mike@mainstreetnews. com
Jackson County has
slammed the brakes on most
new residential develop
ments in unincorporated ar
eas for the next 12 months.
In a unanimous vote Sept.
20, the Jackson County
Board of Commissioners
agreed to extend a morato
rium on new map amend
ments and rezonings for po
tential residential projects
until September 2022. The
BOC had put a 45-day mor
atorium in place on Aug. 16.
While the move will halt
new projects, it will not af
fect existing construction
in ongoing projects where
rezonings and permits have
already been approved. Nor
will it affect residential con
struction inside the county's
nine municipalities which
have their own zoning rules
and regulations.
Another wrinkle in the
moratorium is that Land
Disturbance Permits (LDP)
will be allowed for recent-
ly-rezoned residential proj
ects if those LDR’s are filed
by Oct. 15, or within one
year of the rezoning.
During the moratorium,
county leaders plan to con
sider creating impact fees
on new housing in the coun
ty, a move that could help
fund some capital projects
for improved infrastructure
to accommodate the growth.
The county may also make
changes to its Unified De
velopment Code during the
year.
The move comes after
several months of public
pushback against a boom
in the county’s residential
development. Traffic and
crowded schools have been
the main complaints at a
number of local meetings.
In addition to the county's
moratorium. Commerce has
said it will “pause” further
residential development to
study its own infrastruc
ture needs and neighboring
Banks County has a resi
dential moratorium in place
through the middle of De
cember as it reviews its sub
division regulations.
During a Commerce City
Council meeting on Sept.
20. one citizen praised the
city’s moratorium and called
on the county and all cities
to do a joint moratorium on
new residential projects.
“I would just like to
suggest that Commerce,
See Moratorium, page 2A
Art in the Park
Photos by Wesleigh Sagon
Members of The Tumbling Waters Society recently hosted the Art in the Park
festival, along with the annual Duck Dash. There were 850 rubber ducks that
raced down the shoals to place in the competition. This year’s winners are:
first place, Honar Jordan; second place, Barbara Gooch; and third place,
Sandra Fite. The Tumbling Waters Society, along with Jackson County
Parks and Recreation, hosted its 30th anniversary Art in the Park festival
at Hurricane Shoals Park. The festival which was held Saturday, Sept. 18 -
Sunday, Sept. 19, drew in a crowd of 3,500 visitors over the course of the
two-day affair. The festival featured handmade crafts, homemade goodies,
food vendors, a 5K Mill Race, duck dash, kids’ zone, miniature golf, heritage
village activities, Civil War reenactments and encampment in the Heritage
Village and the annual Tony and Ann lanuario Blue Grass Festival.
Adam Garrison operated and told the history of the grist mill at Hurricane
Shoals Park during the annual Art in the Park festival. Bags of corn meal
were for sale outside the mill. See more on page 9A.
Jackson BOC
BOC looks to lower millage rate
Jefferson
Martin
withdraws
from
Jefferson
council race
Mike Martin has with
drawn from the Jefferson
City Council District 2 race,
Martin’s withdrawal
leaves two candidates in the
election: Incumbent Mal
colm Gramley and chal
lenger Dawn Maddox.
The election is set Nov. 2.
COVID-19
5 more
deaths
reported;
case totals
going down
Five more COVID-19
deaths were reported in
Jackson County over the
past week. The Georgia De
partment of Public Health
reports 164 county residents
have died during the pan
demic (along with 13 proba
ble COVID deaths).
It’s not clear if those
deaths occurred last week,
or if there’s a lag in the
state's reporting.
Meanwhile, the number
of cases being reported in
the county has gone down.
On Sept. 20. the moving
7-day average was 53 cases
per day in Jackson County,
down from 77 the week pri
or (Sept. 13).
Over the past two weeks,
there have been 915 new
COVID cases reported in
See COVID, page 2A
MAILING LABEL
4 8 7 9 1 4 1 4 0 2
By Morgan Ervin
The Jackson County
Board of Commissioners
plans to lower its millage
rate this year by around 1
mill.
County manager Kevin
Poe is proposing to lower
the rate from 8.95 mills to
8.0 mills for unincorporat
ed areas and to 9.428 mills
from 10.447 mills for in
corporated areas.
“We are proposing a re
duction in the millage rate
from 8.95 mils to 8.0 mils.
The rollback rate would
have been 8.06 so I pro
pose that we knock off ad
ditional .06 mills and make
it an even 8 mills for unin
corporated,” said Poe.
Revenues from property
taxes are projected to total
$36.7 million, an increase
of roughly $3.2 million.
Even with a lower mill-
age rate, property tax rev
enues are still projected to
increase due to new growth
in the tax digest. The 2021
tax digest shows the coun
ty’s net digest values total
$1.8 billion in unincorpo
rated areas and $1.9 bil
lion in incorporated areas.
In total, the county digest
value reached over $3.7
billion, an increase of over
$1 billion since 2016.
BUDGET
Poe presented his budget
plan to the BOC on Sept.
15 during a called meeting.
The budget includes just
over $100 million in total
expenditures and other fi
nancing uses and roughly
$97.9 million in total rev
enue funds, leaving the
county with a nearly $3
million shortfall.
Despite an increase in
total revenues of roughly
$9.7 million from 2021.
those increases were
matched and sometimes
surpassed by increases in
expenditures. General fund
expenditures are projected
to grow by $6.8 million in
FY22. nearly doubling the
general fund's projected
revenue increases of $3.8
million, which brings the
general fund budget to an
excess of about $3 million
in expenditures over reve
nues.
To remedy the $3 million
See Budget, page 2A
Commerce
Townhomes get
nod; church request
withdrawn in Commerce
By Alex Buffington
alex@mainstreetnews. com
A request to put town-
homes on the site of a for
mer mobile home park got
the nod from Commerce
leaders this week.
At its Monday (Sept.
20) meeting, the Com
merce City Council vot
ed to approve a rezoning
request from Presidential
Oaks Properties for 8.62
acres at 155 Waterworks
Rd. with a handful of con
ditions. The group had re
quested a rezoning from
R-5 to R-6. Council mem
bers Mark Fitzpatrick and
Archie Chaney were op
posed to the vote.
Developers initially
proposed 64 townhomes
on the property, but later
reduced that number to 28
townhomes (and two sin
gle-family homes).
The Commerce Plan
ning and Zoning Commis
sion recommended denial
of the project after several
area residents voiced op
position, citing concerns
with traffic, infrastucture
and the impact on the
Commerce City School
System.
The Commerce City
Council ultimately vot
ed to approve the request
with a slew of conditions.
Up to 28 townhomes can
be constructed (in addi
tion to the two single-fam
ily homes) and the final
plat will go before the
planning commission.
Notable conditions in
clude limiting the number
of units that can be rented
at one time to 20% and al
lowing only one entrance
to the development (which
must be off Waterworks
Rd.). Additionally, on
street parking is prohibited
and the development must
be maintained by a home
owner’s association. Other
conditions put regulations
See Commerce, page 2A
Schools
Only one county
high school below
state SAT average
Three out of four high
schools in Jackson Coun
ty scored at least as high
as the state average on the
SAT.
The Georgia Depart
ment of Education re
leased 2021 SAT results
on Friday, Sept. 17.
Jefferson High School
had the highest average
in the county, with a total
score mean of 1123.
That's followed by
Jackson County Com
prehensive High School,
1081, and Commerce
High School, which tied
with the state average at
1077.
East Jackson Compre
hensive High School had
the lowest average in the
county and fell below the
state average with a 1029
total score mean.
See a breakdown of
reading/writing and math
scores:
•Commerce: 1077 total;
554. reading and writing;
and 523, math
•Jefferson: 1123 total;
566. reading and writing;
and 557, math
•East Jackson: 1029 to
tal; 520, reading and writ
ing; and 508. math
•Jackson County: 1081
total; 542, reading and
writing; and 539, math
•State: 1077 total; 546,
reading and writing; and
531. math
Public safety
Man shot in
Sept. 11 altercation
A Sept. 11 shooting on Pine St. in Jefferson left one
man seriously injured and a second man under arrest.
Desmond Rakestraw, 18, was charged with aggravat
ed assault in the incident. He reportedly shot Demontae
Starks, 18, twice in the upper body.
The Jefferson Police Department and the GBI are in
vestigating the incident.