Newspaper Page Text
4 8 7 9 1 4 1 4 0 2
O
O
20 PAGES 2 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS
The Commerce News
JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 $1.00 COPY
First day of school
School bells to ring again
Commerce andJefferson
schools resume July 28;
county schools on Aug. 3
Students will return to the hallways at schools across
Jackson County this week and next week.
School bells will ring again in the Commerce City
School System and Jefferson City School System this
Friday, July 28, the first day of the 2023-24 school year.
Jackson County School System students have a
few more days to savor the summer. The first day for
the Jackson County School System’s 2023-24 year is
Thursday, Aug. 3.
Storms
A'-Af, ;
,/v.
* ’
Ufa fe-E.,
. A
A large pine tree fell onto the Jefferson Clubhouse during last week’s storms, damaging the roof before
rolling off. The clubhouse is closed until the amount of damage can be determined.
Thursday storm results in
downed trees, power outages
Storms ripped through
the area on Thursday after
noon (July 20) resulting in
damage and power outages
across the county.
Jackson EMC reported
8,744 outages in Jackson
County on Thursday night.
Crews worked throughout
the night and Friday to re
store power to area resi
dents. The EMC also called
in additional contract con
struction and right-of-way
crews, along with linemen
from Satilla EMC, to assist.
Trees fell across the coun
ty, causing damage to both
public and private facilities.
The City of Jeffer
son again got hit hard by
the storm with numerous
downed trees, including one
on the Jefferson City Club
house. Another strong storm
caused extensive tree dam
age in Jefferson a couple
weeks ago.
MAILING LABEL
Jefferson
Jefferson to use software for water leak alerts
The City of Jefferson alerts to homeowners if which homeowners could
won’t be adopting water their usage suddenly spikes, buy insurance to cover the
leak insurance for residents indicating a possible leak. cost of a large water bill due
to purchase. Instead, the city The Jefferson City Coun- to a leak in their lines. But
will purchase a new soft- cil had previously discussed
ware system that will send the insurance program in .See Jefferson, page 2A
Commerce
Commerce council,
planners talk zoning
ordinance overhaul
By Alex Buffington
alex@mainstreetnews. com
Commerce is getting close to completing its
zoning ordinance overhaul after months of work
and discussion. The Commerce City Council and
the town’s planning and zoning commission held
a 3-hour and 35-minute meeting on Monday, July
24, to work through the details of the proposal.
City staff plan to revise the ordinance over the
next month and the city could hold its public hear
ing on the changes at the council’s September work
session. The new document could be adopted at the
council’s September voting meeting.
Much of the discussion on Monday centered
around house sizes, lot sizes and setbacks for new
developments.
The council previously discussed requiring set
backs of 35 feet for the front of residential proper
ties and 15 feet for the sides and back. That 35-foot
setback could help alleviate some street parking
issues that other neighborhoods across town have
experienced. The 35 feet should allow more vehi
cles to park in residential driveways outside of the
garage.
Planners Melinda Cochran-Davis and Erin
Moore noted that 35-foot front setback assumes all
houses will have a front-facing garage, but they’d
like to see more housing variety with side-entry
garages. The two groups ultimately decided they’d
consider giving exceptions for front setbacks de
pending on the orientation of the driveway/garage
to help accommodate variety.
The groups also discussed changing trends in
housing and lot sizes. While the previous trend
was to have large houses with large lots, that’s not
what current trends show. Mayor Clark Hill cited
state and national data that shows millennials ar
en’t looking for large lots like Baby Boomers did.
“They want to come home to a smaller yard,
a smaller footprint in a neighborhood with more
green space,” Hill said.
Hill and several other people on the two com
mittees noted they aren’t as concerned about the
size of lots anymore as they are about the quality
of what’s being built (building materials, limiting
clear-cutting, having more usable green space,
etc.).
As for house sizes, the council previously
See Commerce, page 2A
South Jackson
No application
yet for proposed
rock quarry
Vulcan Materials Company hasn’t yet formally
filed for a rezoning or special use with Jackson Coun
ty officials for a planned rock quarry in South Jack-
son.
The firm has been acquiring property-purchase
commitments from landowners between Hwy. 441
and Chandler Bridge Rd. for around 800-1,000 acres
for the project.
While no formal action has yet been taken, the ac
tivist group Citizens for Sustainable Jackson are op
posing the project. In an email to its members, CSJ
noted that the area of the proposed quarry is a vital
groundwater recharge location in the county.
“This area accounts for about 50% of the total
ground water recharge area in Jackson County,” said
CSJ.
See Quarry, page 2A
piggly wiggly
HOME OF THE SLUSHEES
n