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About Jackson herald. (Jefferson, Jackson County, Ga.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (May 3, 2023)
PAGE 2A THE JACKSON HERALD WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2023 Kolter Homes welcomes new lifestyle director at Cresswind Kolter Homes has announced Chelsea Smith as the new lifestyle director at Cress- wind Georgia at Twin Lakes. According to a press release from Kolter, Smith has extensive background in event management. “Chelsea leads exceptional programming for the community’s active adult homeown ers, focusing on Cresswind's Set Yourself FREE pillars of Fitness, Relationships, Education and Entertainment,” said Mark LaClaire, Director of Lifestyle for Kolter Homes. “We have already experienced her creativity and passion for programming in the short time she has been with us.” As a part of the first service residential team. Smith develops social programs and events to enhance the Cresswind commu nity experience. Her recent projects include the three-day grand opening of Club Cress wind with a catered event, live music, a club showcase and a watch party. “I was attracted to Cresswind for its strong sense of community,” Smith said. “I have always bonded with people, and I like making them happy. This has been a fun transition because all the residents are eager to get involved.” Residents enjoy monthly events, includ ing big band parties featuring the Everly Brothers Tribute Band and trivia events that often sell out. Smith also works with neighbors and resident-led clubs that in clude the crafting club, cooking club, Rummikub club, painting club, pickleball and others. “These resident-led clubs are great ways to explore an interest and make new friends.” Smith said. “And I love that resi dents take the ball and run with it. Fm just here to answer their questions and facili tate.” Smith said her favorite part of the job is getting to know the people and organizing events. “Best of all, I always look forward to waking up and going to work,” she said . Before joining Cresswind Georgia at Twin Lakes, Smith worked as a cruise di rector for American Cruise Lines, over seeing entertainment and excursions. She holds a BA in History and American Studies from Rider University, a Master’s in Education from Drexel University and a TESL certification. Smith is a resident of Gainesville. Assessments continued from 1A ty. Recent property sales are compared to the property val ues in the county tax digest; if the sales prices are higher, property values are increased to reflect the higher market values. Overall, fair market prop erty values were up 45% over last year in Jackson County, but that includes the addition of new construction and not just higher assessments. (The final taxable increase will be lower than that amount, per haps around 30% depending on the outcome of appeals in the coming weeks.) The state runs a “test” of those set values in every county, comparing actual sales prices to what the coun ty had assessed on its books. The result of that test has to be within a specific range or the county is penalized by the state. Another aspect of assess ments is the uniformity from property to property. Similar properties are supposed to have similar values on the county tax digest. SETTING TAXES While local government agencies don’t control as sessment values, they do set millage rates which generate a final tax bill. Those rates won’t be set until the fall after the final tax digest is approved. (Millage rates are applied to 40% of the assessed value. Various tax exemptions are also factored into the tax formu la and vary from property owner to property owner depending on age, property use and other factors.) One area of confusion re garding the final tax bill is that the assessment notices sent out last week include a projected tax bill based on last year’s millage rates. But those rates are likely to change before final bill are sent out in the fall. Chick-fil-A continued from 1A Jefferson can place an order for pickup, dine-in or delivery on the Chick-hl-A App or online. Visit chick-fil-a.com/delivery to view de livery options in your area. The Jefferson restaurant joins more than 180 other Chick-fil-A restaurants serving the wider Atlanta market. In place of the traditional Chick-fil-A First 100® Grand Opening celebration, Chick-hl-A Jefferson will be surprising 100 local heroes making an impact in Jefferson with free Chick-hl-A for a year. Additional ly, in honor of the new restaurant opening, Chick-hl-A will donate $25,000 to Feeding America. The funds will be distributed to partners within the Jefferson area to aid in the hght against hunger. ABOUT FERGUSON As full-time, hands-on leaders in their restaurants and communities, Chick-hl-A owner/operators reside in the communities in which they serve. In Jefferson, Ferguson will be responsible for all day-to-day activities of the business, including employing approximately 125 full- and part-time team members, serving guests and cultivating relationships with lo cal organizations and businesses. Ferguson has been a part of Chick-hl-A since she was 15 years old, starting as a team member in high school. A Georgia native, she attended the University of Cen tral Florida and graduated with a degree in broadcast journalism. Ferguson also served at her local Chamber of Commerce and the Chick-hl-A Leadership Academy, where she mentored people on their way to be coming operators. Now, she looks forward to getting more involved in her own com munity of Jefferson, taking her experiences with the Chick-hl-A Leadership academy to the local level. “I can’t wait to offer the next generation of leaders a unique opportunity for person al and professional growth,” Ferguson said. “It will be an honor to serve the Jefferson community, side by side with my team members.” Her husband, Kevin, will serve as her ex ecutive director. When not at the restaurant, she enjoys spending time outside with her husband and her daughters, Beckett and Maddox. Planners continued from 1A trying to accomplish here,” planner Phil Page said about the request. “Just a blanket special use venue in some body’s backyard — I think that’s a Pandora’s Box to a degree on a small cookie cutter-type piece of proper ty” Planners also noted that it would be a “substantial amount of time” for im provements to Curk Roberts Rd.. which would involve not only adhering to county standards but also coordi nating with the Georgia De partment of Transportation on Hwy. 53 improvements. The Jackson County Board of Commissioners will have the final say at its May 15 meeting. OTHER BUSINESS In other business April 27, the planning commission: • accepted the withdraw al of a special use permit request that would have al lowed for an inert landfill at an organic waste disposal site located at 273 Elliott Smith Rd., Jefferson. The applicant pulled the request prior to the meeting due to community response. • recommended approv al of a map amendment for 3.07 acres at 6602 Jack- son Trail Rd.. Hoschton. to change the character area map from suburban to rural. The applicant wants to sub divide the property into two tracts for an additional man ufactured home, with one manufactured home already on the property. • recommended approv al of a map amendment for 8 acres at 2277 Brock Rd., Athens, to change the char acter area map from agri cultural to suburban and to change the future land use map from intensive agri cultural to commercial. The applicant wants to continue commercial development on the property. • recommended approv al of a map amendment for 26.74 acres at 610 Galilee Church Rd., Jefferson, to change the character area map from rural to urban and to change the future land use map from residential and commercial to indus trial. The applicant wants to build a shop and office space for an existing truck parking business. • recommended approval of text amendments to the unified development code to enforce new rules and regulations implemented by Georgia House Bill 1405. Under the amendments, cas es to be heard by the Board of Adjustment (BOA) must be advertised via the legal organ and posted signage on the property for a mini mum of 30 days in advance, a change from the current 15 days. The change essen tially puts the BOA on the same timeline as the plan ning commission. The text amendments also clarify that administrative varianc es denied by the public de velopment director can be heard by the BOA via an appeal of an administrative decision application. Commerce council mulls gas pump request for proposed convenience store By Alex Buffington alex@mainstreetnews. com Commerce council members heard a propos al this week for a conve nience store and fast food restaurant near Quality Foods. Applicant Seery Realty is requesting a variance to allow the convenience store/gas station — spe cifically the gas pumps themselves — in such close proximity to residen tial property. The proper ty, which is located at the comer of B. Wilson and Maysville roads, backs up to an apartment/townhome complex. Developers plan to ren ovate the existing automo tive repair garage into a fast food and convenience store. Eight gas pumps are planned under two cano pies. A drive-thru is also planned. Several council mem bers seemed cool to the idea of granting the vari ance when discussing the matter on Monday (May 1). The requested variance doesn’t meet a set of crite ria the city requires when considering variances. The council also cited a similar request that was proposed previously on Homer Road. That request was withdrawn by the ap plicant in January. The ap plicant planned to revise the project before moving forward and possibly elim inate the gas pumps from that proposal. Council member Bobby Redmon noted the council may get similar requests in the future as the city con tinues to grow. The council may look at its rules for gas pumps during its ongoing discussions about the city’s ordinance update. The council is slated to vote on the gas pump vari ance request on May 15. If the request is denied, the developers could still open the convenience store and fast food restaurant, but wouldn’t be able to have gas pumps. ORDINANCE UPDATE Also at its May 1 meet ing, the council continued discussions on the city’s ordinance update. Following an outcry from the public regarding the proposed backyard chicken rales, City Manag er James Wascher stressed that nothing has been ap proved yet and the council can make changes to the current draft. City staff have divided the proposed update into different sections, which are being discussed at the council’s monthly work sessions. Once that process is over, the council will re visit the topics they’d like to revise or discuss further, including the backyard chickens/chicken coop regulations. The council also plans to meet with the city’s planning and zoning commission for discussion. Much of the ordinance changes discussed on Monday deal with rules for developments. Eight chapters were discussed, including: Overlay district; environmental overlay; ac cess streets, parking and loading; development per mitting; soil, erosion and sedimentation; buffers, tree protection and land scaping; stormwater man agement; and flood dam age prevention. (See next week’s pa per for the full story from Monday’s ordinance dis cussion.) OTHER VOTING ITEMS In addition to the conve nience store request, other items up for a vote on May 15 include: •a bid award for Tado Construction, LLC, for $844,000 for raw water pump improvements. The project will be funded us ing American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding. •an agreement with Comcast Cable to allow the company to attach lines to city utility poles. •street slow-downs for the Hope Pregnancy Cen ter’s HOPE 5K on Nov. 4. The race will begin at Spencer Park. •street closures for Sum mer in the City Music and Fireworks, set for June 30 from 3-11 p.m. Road clo sures are planned on Little, Oak and Pine streets. Also at its meeting, the council learned a variance request for setbacks at Bat tery Park Townhomes on Old Harden Orchard Road was withdrawn. 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