Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 2023
THE JACKSON HERALD
PAGE 5A
Construction began in June 1973 on Benton Elementary School in Nicholson. Caswell and Elrod Con
struction Company of Norcross received the construction contract. The new structure, which was sched
uled for completion 250 consecutive days following the contract signing, replaced the school destroyed
by fire.
Looking back
A look back at the headlines from the past 50 years:
50 YEARS AGO
JUNE 13, 1973
•School property eyed in Commerce — The possi
ble purchase of additional property for the Commerce
school system was set to be a topic when the Com
merce Board of Education appeared before the Com
merce council in June 1973.
•JCHS field to get improvements; County school
system raises lunches to 35-cents — Massive im
provement of the athletic fields at Jackson County
High-Elementary School, concern over the shortage
of gasoline and the rising cost of school lunches high
lighted the Jackson County School Board meeting
in June 1973. (The board voted to raise the price of
school lunches from 30-cents to 35-cents).
40 YEARS AGO
JUNE 15, 1983
•Commerce trio linked to ‘major’ cocaine ring —
Three members of a Commerce family were arrested
in their homes in June 1983 in connection with a con
spiracy to import an estimated 660 pounds of cocaine
from South America.
30 YEARS AGO
JUNE 16, 1993
•Name to stop merger efforts? - The proposed new
high school still had no name as of June 1993. Failure
to agree on a name could break the merger negoti
ations between the Commerce Council and Jackson
County Board of Education, it was announced in a
1993 story. A couple suggestions were made for the
name, including Commerce-Jackson Comprehensive
High School, Jackson-Commerce Comprehensive
High School and Commerce Area High School.
•Employees appeal BOC decision — Two former
county workers whose positions were abolished in
June 1993 due to the consolidation of E-911 and
the Jackson County Emergency Medical Services
planned to make an appeal to the board of commis
sioners.
20 YEARS AGO
JUNE 17, 2003
•Chairman blasts editor — For the fifth time in
2003, Jackson County Board of Commissioners
Chairman Harold Fletcher berated newspaper edi
tor Mike Buffington at a public meeting. During the
BOC’s monthly meeting, Fletcher berated Buffington
on three occasions, although never by name. Buffing
ton had been critical of the Fletcher administration’s
handling of several controversial issues, including ef
forts to build a new courthouse, the 2001 takeover of
the former city-county planning commission, and the
2003 effort to take over the water authority.
10 YEARS AGO
JUNE 12, 2013
•10 furlough days set for JCSS — Cuts to the Jack-
son County School System calendar may not be as
deep as expected, it was announced in June 2013. The
system said it was opting to have five administrative
furlough days and 10 teacher furlough days (down
from the initial 13 furlough days the district thought
it needed).
•Actress charged with mailing Ricin-laced letters
formerly from Jefferson — Shannon Guess, an ac
tress who formerly lived in Jefferson, was arrested
in 2013 for mailing Ricin-laced letters to President
Barack Obama and New York City Mayor Michael
Bloomberg.
FIVE YEARS AGO
JUNE 13, 2018
•BOE race challenged — Incumbent Jackson
County Board of Education member Steve Bryant
challenged election results in June 2018 after being
defeated by challenger Don Clerici.
•Hands-free law goes into effect — Hold the phone.
Or better yet, don’t. Georgia’s new hands-free driving
law was set to go into effect July 1, 2018, and local
law enforcement officials were trying to get the pub
lic prepared for the new rules.
ONE YEAR AGO
JUNE 15, 2022
•Jefferson projects get packed public hearings —
Two controversial proposals got packed public hear
ings at the Jefferson City’s Council’s June 13, 2022,
work session. One request was for an active-adult
community on Old Pendergrass Rd., the other for a
warehouse facility on Hog Mountain Road.
•Commerce package store first to sell liquor —
Commerce Tobacco Outlet became the first establish
ment in the city to begin selling liquor in 2022, after
city residents voted in November 2021 to approve a
referendum to allow the sale of liquor by the package.
Major developments
get a second public
hearing in Hoschton
Two proposed developments will get rare a sec
ond round of public hearings.
The Hoschton Council will hold the additional
hearings Thursday, June 15 (6 p.m.) at Hoschton’s
new city hall community center (65 City Square)
for annexations and rezoning requests for two pro
posed large-scale developments. Providence Group
of Georgia and Rocklyn Homes seek the annexation
and zoning changes for the respective projects,
which would bring a combined 1,400 homes and a
shopping center to the city if approved.
The council took no action on the requests dining
its May voting session due to insufficient notice pro
vided to allow Jackson County leaders time to ob
ject to the annexation requests. Due to that issue, the
council is offering the additional public hearings be
fore a potential vote on June 19 (6 p.m.). The coun
cil also opted for a second round of public hearings
due to space constraints at the old city hall building,
which residents filled to capacity for the May public
hearings. The new community center space holds
200 people, allowing more residents to attend.
As for the proposals, Providence Group calls for
a planned unit development (PUD) of 399 residen
tial units on nearly 110 acres fronting Pendegrass
and E.G. Barnett roads, East Jefferson St. and West
Jackson Rd.
As part of this plan, it seeks to annex and rezone
a combined 33 acres fronting Pendergrass and E.G.
Barnett roads to PUD (planned unit development).
Shannon Sell owns 25.6 acres of that land, and Paul
and Brenda Cheek own 7.4 acres.
The property currently holds an agricultural-rural
farm district (A-2) zoning in Jackson County.
Additionally, Providence Group asks to rezone
84.46 acres contiguous to the proposed annexation
tract from agricultural district to PUD. Of that acre
age, 58.86 acres are owned by Sell and front East
Jefferson St., while 17.86 acres are owned by West
Jackson, LLC, and front both East Jefferson St. and
West Jackson Rd.
Development plans for the proposed PUD call for
291 detached single-family units and 108 townho-
mes.
On Hoschton’s southern border, Rocklyn Homes
requests annexation and rezoning of 287.14 acres
owned by Mary Ann Kenerly and New Hope AME
Church along Hwy. 53 from an agricultural-rural
farm district to a planned unit development (PUD)
for a major mixed-use development of 651 sin
gle-family lots, 404 townhome units and 200,000
square feet of commercial space with 6.6 acres of
outparcels.
The project calls for 3.6 acres of civic space and
5.5 acres of church expansion.
OTHER PUBLIC HEARINGS
The Hoschton City Council will also hold a June
15 (6 p.m.) public hearing for proposed variance re
quests to increase the units allowed and decrease the
minimum square footage for a 24-home townhome
development on 2.4 acres on Henry St.
George Flanigan of G.P’s Enterprises, and Aaron
Frampton, applicant and property owner, seek to in
crease the maximum number of dwelling units in a
townhome building from six to eight and reduce the
minimum lot size from 2,400 to 2,000 square feet.
The applicant also requests to reduce the mini
mum lot frontage on a public street from 24 to 20
feet.
Additionally, the Hoschton City Council will hold
a June 15 (6 p.m.) public hearing over proposed
modifications to conditions of an approved zon
ing to authorize a convenience store with gasoline
pumps on 2.4 acres at Hwy. 53 and Crystal Lakes
Pkwy. at Twin Lakes. The property is zoned PUD.
The applicant and property owner is KLP Twin
Lakes, LLC.
JCWSA looks to
acquire property near
wastewater plant
By Taylor Hearn
taylor@mainstreetnews. com
The Jackson County Water and Sewage Authority
is looking to acquire a piece of property located at
380 Adella Dr. adjacent to the wastewater plant. The
authority is looking to expand the existing site.
The JCWSA would like to move their sewer op
erations office from the temporary trailer over to the
home located on the property. The site is approxi
mately 1.6 acres. The purchase price for the prop
erty is expected to be $390,000 with some special
stipulations where the authority will allow the sell
er to stay as a renter until Oct. 1. Authority general
manager Joey Leslie also noted that the seller does
want to disclose that they are a licensed real estate
agent.
The authority approved the execution contract at
the June 8 meeting.
DOG PARK IN
COMMERCE
The City of Com
merce Dog Park at
Willoughby Park
is nearing comple
tion. While the park
is already open to
the public, the city
is still waiting on
some equipment
before the “official”
opening. The park is
open on Clayton St.
Aset of rules for the
park is posted at the
entrance.
