Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 10A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. JULY 15. 2021
Continued From 1A
Jasper
City takes next steps on
park, downtown renova
tions
Council member John
Foust, who is on the city’s
parks and streets committee,
said he is excited to see
progress being made on proj
ects that have been in the
works for years.
Council approved up to
$18,000 in SPLOST funds to
design downtown restrooms
at the old Entegra drive-thru
on North Main Street. The
amount would include the
cost of a structural engineer.
The city purchased the
building for $100,000 several
years ago with the intention
to renovate them for rest
rooms. Since that time, new
parking spaces and curbing
have been installed at the lo
cation.
The city will use Clark,
Patterson, & Lee design firm
for the restroom project,
which is the first phase of a
larger enhancement project
for that area of North Main to
encompass the historical area
with the jail and Peace Park.
Speaking of the design
cost, Foust said if they were
going to do the project “they
needed to do it right.”
Council also voted to so
licit requests for qualified
bidders to design mountain
bike/multi-purpose trails at
Doris Wigington Park, which
has not been popular with the
public since it opened.
“We’ve identified that
we’d like to have some
mountain biking trails at this
60-acre park that we have
and we have an opportunity
to get a preliminary design
done to solicit people who
will come out and do this for
us,” said Mayor Steve
Lawrence, “but as a part of
that we want to make sure
they’re qualified. We don’t
need just anyone...we need
someone who has actually
done mountain biking trails
before.”
Council members Anne
Sneve and Foust, both of the
streets and parks committee,
agreed they needed to be sure
there are qualified individu
als who design the project. A
top criticism of Doris Wig
ington Park is that the trails
were installed haphazardly
by city crews and, among
other issues, are too steep in
places with gravel that’s too
large making it difficult to
walk.
Foust cited safety as one
reason for the request for
qualified bidders, “and we’re
also preserving the park be
cause it is still considered a
passive and we want to keep
it passive. This gives us an
opportunity to bring visi
tors...but this is not just
going to be for adults. This is
going to be geared towards
all ages.”
In other news
from council:
• Council approved pur
chase of six police vehicles
not to exceed $285,600. Two
of those are in immediate
need by the police depart
ment to replace aging Crown
Victorias. Council approved
purchase of four additional
vehicles at this time because
they need to be pre-ordered
by the end of July to receive
- hopefully - eight months
down the road. “We didn’t
want to be in a situation
where if we just sat on our
laurels until it’s time to buy
one we would not be in a fa
vorable position,” Douglas
said.
•Council approved a re
quest for Waldmet Cellars
meadery to relocate from 916
Old Philadelphia Road to 62
Ralph Hicks Circle.
•Council directed the city
manager/staff to research
cost to purchase barriers to
place along Main Street dur
ing parades. The barriers
would provide additional
safety measures for crowds
by keeping them separated
from vehicles in the parade.
It was noted that the barri
cades along Stegall Drive
were $100 a piece, and that
these barricades would be
similar.
•Jasper Fire responded to
126 calls for service in June,
including two structure fires
and one vehicle fire.
•Jasper Police responded
to 722 calls for service in
June, including 57 motor ve
hicle accidents and eight
DUIs. They issued 114 cita
tions.
•Council approved rezon
ing of two parcels at 1317
West Church Street from
Commercial to Residential
for a Planned Unit Develop
ment, with conditions.
•Council approved rezon
ing of a parcel at 197 Cham
bers Street from Commercial
to Residential. Council di
rected the development direc
tor to approach other
property owners along
Chambers Street (near the
Woodbridge Inn) to see if
they would be interested in
rezoning to Residential to be
more in line with current
usage. All of those properties
are currently zoned Commer
cial, but have Residential
homes on them.
•LC Taco Bar on 61 N.
Main Street was granted an
alcohol license.
Continued From 1A
Planning
while RLF seeks to sell the
88-acre piece as a large sin
gle parcel, a later buyer could
use the SR zoning and put in
numerous houses on 1.5 acre
lots.
At one point Matthews of
fered to make a minimum
three-acre lot standard for the
property but that didn’t sway
the commission.
In making a motion to
deny the rezoning, commis
sion member Pat Holmes
said even if county water
came in the future and with
the offer for three-acre mini
mum lots, she didn’t feel
comfortable approving the
change. The commission -
Harold Hensley, Maurice
Hendrix, Jim Fowler, Rhonda
Violet, Karen Benson and
Holmes, unanimously voted
to deny the rezoning. Chair
Clayton Preble only votes in
the event of a tie.
Storage buildings gain
approval - by slimmest of
margins
Preble was called to break
a tie later in the meeting. In
this case, Tony Nguyen, a
local businessman, sought to
rezone a piece of property
along Bent Tree Drive to
allow him to build climate
controlled storage units and
an RV parking area.
He was opposed by sev
eral Bent Tree residents who
said the winding mountain
road connecting the gated
community and Cove Road
sets a tone for Bent Tree and
didn’t want to see the pre-fab
metal buildings.
According to Kimberly
Holfels, who spoke on
Nguyen’s behalf, K & B Mini
Warehouses already has 135
storage spaces and all are full
with a waiting list (these
units are off Bent Tree Drive,
Charles Matthews with RLF Talking Rock shows a plat to planning commissioners
Monday (l-r) Chair Clayton Preble, Jim Fowler and Rhonda Violet The commission voted
against the rezoning that would have allowed the developer to combine and sell two large
tracts.
The planning commission recognized outgoing record
ing secretary Stacey Godfrey (right) and welcomed new
secretary Nicole Howard at their July meeting. Godfrey will
become the elections supervisor for the county.
but on a different property
and not directly on the road).
Nguyen now seeks to put 40
climate controlled units and
15 RV parking lots under a
roof, “like a big carport,” on
the new property which is di
rectly on Bent Tree Drive.
Nguyen, a native of Viet
nam, spoke to say that he ap
preciates the freedom of this
country to address the com
mission and have the oppor
tunity to build his businesses.
“As a guy from a commu
nist country with no freedom,
I am proud of America and
being an American and I
want to make this country
and community better. I want
my children to grow up and
be proud of me and make the
community better for them.”
Among those speaking
against the change, several
complimented Nguyen and
noted that the property does
look better than it did in pre
vious years, but they still did
n’t want the entrance drive to
the gated mountain commu
nity to be so commercial.
The speakers reiterated
the opposition is based on
“the aesthetics of Bent Tree”
and setting a precedent for
more businesses on Bent
Tree Drive.
One opponent presented
some facts from a recent Wall
Street Journal, which re
ported a temporary boom in
storage unit demand because
of COVID, that is expected
to quickly slacken.
In a strange voting series,
the commission split with
Fowler and Holmes opposing
the rezoning and Violet and
Benson in favor of the
change to allow the storage
units. Preble cast his tie
breaker power in favor of the
change. Both Hendrix and
Hensley had left the meeting
prior to the vote.
In two smaller bits of
action:
The commission recom
mended rezoning to allow
work on an old homeplace
along Four Mile Church
Road. Cindy Petty explained
that she had acquired the
older home from her family
and wants to fix it up, but it
is part of a larger agricultural
tract and needed it rezoned to
Georgia environmental agency
gives OK to Spaceport Camden
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - The state of Georgia has
given the green light to plans to build a com
mercial spaceport in southeastern Georgia.
In a letter last week, the Georgia Depart
ment of Natural Resources (DNR) agreed
with officials from Camden County that no
insurmountable environmental concerns
stand in the way of the Federal Aviation Ad
ministration (FAA) issuing an operator li
cense for Spaceport Camden.
The go-ahead from the DNR marks a major
step toward making the project a reality.
"With DNR’s concurrence and the release
of the Final Environmental Impact Statement
by the FAA, regulators at all levels of gov
ernment have given Spaceport Camden a
thorough review and found it consistent with
state and federal environmental regulations,”
Camden County Commission Chairman
Gary Blount said Friday.
“For over 50 years, nature and space ac
tivities have coexisted at other spaceports.
We aim for that same type harmonious rela
tionship at Spaceport Camden! We look for
ward to a final decision from the FAA on our
application later this month.”
Supporters are counting on Spaceport
Camden to create up to 2,000 jobs and help
convince the next generation of aerospace en
gineers, many of whom graduate from Geor
gia Tech, to stay in Georgia. The project has
the backing of Gov. Brian Kemp and the
state’s congressional delegation.
The DNR letter cited a series of steps
a rural residential to allow it
as a separate parcel.
The commission com
mended Petty for undertak
ing the restoration of an older
homeplace.
Petty said, “hopefully
someone can restore it and
bring life back to it.” She said
it was like a “time machine.”
There are calendars still on
the wall from 1976.
In a second smaller action,
the commission recom
mended rezoning for a 3.76
acre tract on Tatum Road
from agricultural to estate
residential. This will allow
owners Harley James Hoag
and Monica Lopez-Wilcox to
build and maintain an agri
cultural operation on a larger
adjacent tract and sell off a
separate 3.76 parcel.
Commission Chair Preble
said the owners, like a lot of
other people, are moving up
to this area and buying larger
tracts, coming from the metro
area.
A neighboring property
owner asked several ques
tions, including whether any
thing would change under the
zoning if county water were
run into the area. It was ex
plained, it could change lot
density in certain cases and
zonings, but it wouldn’t
change a zoning in general.
As always it’s important
to note that the planning
commission makes recom
mendations to the board of
commissioners who will
make the final decision on all
rezonings at an upcoming
board of commissioners
meeting.
Camden County has agreed to take to mini
mize environmental damage associated with
commercial satellite launches. For one thing,
the state agency cited the county’s decision
to launch only small rockets from the site
rather than medium-to-large rockets, which
will reduce the “debris dispersion radius” and
decrease the area to be closed to the public
before and during launches.
The county also agreed to use “turtle-
friendly” lighting to avoid disturbing nesting
sea turtles, work with the DNR to limit
launches during bird-nesting season and limit
closings of public waterways during week
ends and holidays, and during organized fish
ing tournaments.
Such provisions don’t go nearly far
enough, said Dick Parker, one of a group of
property owners on nearby Little Cumber
land Island who oppose Spaceport Camden.
“Georgia DNR is giving Spaceport Cam
den permission to use more than 2,700 pris
tine acres of state-owned salt marsh, tidal
creeks, and the Satilla River for debris dis
persion, allowing exploding rockets and fuel
to fall into the marsh, creeks, and river,” he
said. “It’s hardly different from letting some
one back a dump truck up to the marsh and
empty their trash.”
Parker also pointed to the potential rocket-
failure rate of up to 20% Camden County of
ficials projected in their license application.
“With plans for 12 launches per year,
that’s more than two failures every year,” he
said. “Hundreds of gallons of fuel and hun
dreds of rocket parts will penetrate the soft
marsh mud and pollute the tidal creeks with
each failure.”
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