Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, March 25, 2021
Volume 133 Number 49
Jasper, Georgia
24 pages in two sections
Published Weekly
Zoning issues dominate county meeting
278-acre Big Ridge Road rezoning tabled; RVpark denied
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@piekensprogress.com
In a meeting dominated by rezoning issues,
Pickens County commissioners tabled their deci
sion for proposed residential development Talking
Rock Bluffs, which could bring over 80 new
homes to Big Ridge Road if approved.
In a public hearing on March 8, residents ex
pressed deep concerns that the development
would negatively impact Talking Rock Creek,
which flows through some of the lots. There were
also concerns about how to supply water to the
property. Water cannot be provided by the county
because there are no county lines in that area and
no plans to run them anytime soon. Water would
have to be supplied by wells, which developers
were aware of at the time of the application.
At the hearing, members of the Pickens
County Planning Commission made a motion and
a second to bring the issue to a vote, but the mo
tion failed because only one commission member
Photo/QPublic website
Commissioners tabled consideration of a re
zoning request for a 278-acre tract off Big
Ridge Road where developers want to put in 80
home sites.
voted to approve the request. According to Pick
ens Planning Department Director Justin Kilgore,
no other commission members cast a vote, which
means no recommendation was made to commis
sioners to either deny or approve the request.
At their Thursday, March 18 meeting, commis
sioners voted to postpone consideration of the re
quest until next month. The county “permitted
the applicant and land development office to sup
plement the record, and what I would like to do
is ask for additional time for the board to be able
to consider these filings,” said commission chair
Kris Stancil.
Stancil later explained that during the public
hearing the developer made several statements
about additional agreements they would be will
ing to make that went above what was in their ini
tial application, including a major change to the
water system from individual wells to a central
ized well system.
“By law the county has to take over water sys
tems if they fail,” Stancil said, adding that com
missioners want plenty of time to review
information since there was no recommendation
made by the planning commission. He said fortu
nately there is video of the public hearing they can
review.
Developers See Zonings on 10A
Pickens Teachers of the Year announced
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@piekensprogress.com
The Pickens County School
District has announced 2020-
2021 Teachers of the Year.
The best of the best are cho
sen for this honor from all six
campuses. Each of the six teach
ers will be recognized at a ban
quet on May 10th at
Chattahoochee Technical Col
lege, when the Teacher of the
Year for the entire district will be
announced.
"In an extremely difficult
year, our teachers have contin
ued to persevere,” said Superin
tendent Tony Young. “Their
contributions continue to impact
the lives of our students in Pick
ens County and it is exciting that
their peers have chosen them to
represent their respective
schools. These teachers repre
sent the best of Pickens County."
Property tax
prepayments
now
accepted
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Beginning in two weeks, Pick
ens County property owners will be
able to make pre-payments on their
ad valorem taxes.
“I think this is really going to be
a good thing for the county,” said
Tax Commissioner Daniel Reeves.
“I think that anytime you can give
more options it makes things easier
for everyone.”
Reeves said this option could be
attractive for people who like to
plan ahead and/or break up pay
ments into more manageable
chunks throughout the year, and
could help prevent delinquencies
down the road.
Pre-payments are a fairly new
thing in Georgia. Prior to passage
of Ga. Code 48.5-31.1 in 2019 they
weren’t allowed.
“Not many counties are doing it
just yet, but we have had people ask
in the past if they can pay before
it’s due and I think it will definitely
be helpful,” Reeves said.
The new option will allow prop
erty owners to make payments that
will be applied to their upcoming
tax bill, which would not he issued
until the normal date. Interested
parties would visit the tax commis
sioners’ office to set up a contract
to work out their pre-payment plan.
Reeves said payments will likely be
in monthly installments. There
would not be penalties on prepay
ments “since there isn’t actually a
bill yet.” The contract would be
based on the previous years’ prop
erty valuation. Property owners
could pay up to 75 percent of that
See Prepay on 10A
Hill City Elementary
Abby Tippens
1st Grade
9 years teaching
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Tate Elementary
Jessica Bryan
Kindergarten
9 years teaching
Harmony Elementary
Stephanie Grisham
Special Education K-4
22 years in Pickens County
Jasper Middle School
Eileen Steinhauer
5th and 6th grade Language Arts
9 years teaching
Pickens Jr. High School
Laurie Guelcher
Special Education
29 years teaching
Pickens High School
Carrie Stephens
Algebra 1
24 years teaching
School board recall efforts
gathering steam, raising tension
Recall of school board members
moves ahead
Applications turned in, but objection
lodged over county attorney involve
ment, as Landrum also works for
school system
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
Two members of Impact Pickens
turned in their official applications
to recall school board members
Steve Smith and Aaron Holland Fri
day morning, March 19 at the Pick
ens Elections office.
However, the recall effort ran
into an immediate snag. Regarding
a technical question, Elections Su
pervisor Julianne Roberts said she
would have to refer to county attor
ney Phil Landrum - who also repre
sents the county school system.
Impact Pickens has been critical of
Landrum’s role with the superinten
dent’s firing.
Impact Pickens President Steve
Lowe objected to Landrum’s in
volvement, saying since he repre
sents both groups, he must recuse
himself.
Lowe was accompanied to the
election’s office by Christopher
Pence, the Impact Pickens treasurer,
who unsuccessfully ran for board
member Sue Finley’s seat last year.
Roberts said her protocol is to
contact Landrum first to see how to
proceed, creating the stalemate Fri
day with Lowe saying he would get
the group’s attorney involved. Lowe
said on Tuesday of this week, that
commission chair Kris Stancil called
later to say that the county would
use an outside the area attorney for
any questions on the recall, so Lan
drum would not be handling it.
The application that was submit
ted was the first step in the recall ef
fort. Required in this stage is 100
sponsors (signatures) and the word
ing for the recall, see below.
Roberts said her office has five
days to verify that the signatures are
from registered voters who voted in
the most recent election.
Impact Pickens turned in 162 sig
natures. Lowe and Pence said they
See Recall on 10A
‘Big-hearted’ Max Caylor
wins Golden Deed Award
Max Caylor at the Rotary Peace Park, just one of the many projects
the retired minister puts his time into.
by Louise Fox their March meeting on Wednesday,
PCREA President March 1 Oth via Zoom, and the win-
The Pickens County Retired Ed- ner of the 36th Golden Deed Award
ucators Association (PCREA) held „ „ ,
See Caylor on 10A
Inside:
COVID
vaccinations
given at
Burnt Mountain
Center
Page 3A
«r-
Learn about
Trilliums in our
Plants of the
Southeast
Page 12A
Be-Paws helps
owners get pets
spayed/neutered
Page 3A
Editorial - 4A
Time to get
Happy in Jasper?
Obituaries - 9A
• Barbara Darby
• Vincent Handy
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