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4A Sunday, November 4, 2018
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
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TAD
■ Continued from 1A
Gainesville square.
Georgia adopted its tax
allocation district law in
1985 but did not issue its
first TAD bonds until 2001,
according to a Georgia State
University report. Most
states use similar programs,
although the practice is
often called tax increment
financing.
Developers have to apply
with the city to participate
in the TAD program. Their
projects are reviewed by
a TAD committee, which
sends a recommendation to
the Gainesville City Coun
cil. The City Council has
the final vote on whether a
development will receive
TAD funding.
Gainesville’s TAD commit
tee has two Hall County com
missioners, as well as Lackey
and Gainesville Mayor
Danny Dunagan. Gainesville
City Schools sends two repre
sentatives, and the Greater
Hall Chamber of Commerce
is represented by a staff
member. Two community
members complete the nine-
person board.
Although the midtown
TAD was established in
2006, Lackey said that for
about a decade, only a few
small projects signed on to
the program. But now that
the economy is improving,
larger developments are
receiving funding, which is
the goal of the program.
“The true intent of a TAD
is to have a big project, so we
incentivize redevelopment,
like we’ve done on the Car-
roll Daniel project and like
we’ve done on the Parkside
project,” Lackey said.
In February, the City
Council approved about
$500,000 in TAD financ
ing for Carroll Daniel
Construction’s $12 million
new headquarters at Jesse
Jewell Parkway and Main
Street. The four-story build
ing, which is expected to
be ready in June, will have
retail and restaurants on the
first floor.
The TAD has also been
used to fund an upcom
ing multi-use development
on the “fourth side of the
square,” which is currently
a parking lot. Parkside on the
Square will have 32 luxury
condominiums, bringing
residences to the square, as
well as 15,000 square feet on
the first floor for retail and
restaurants. That approxi
mately $21 million project
received about $2.5 million in
TAD funding, which will take
about a decade to recoup.
The Parkside project has
not broken ground yet, as
developer Tim Knight is
waiting to sell two more con
dominiums before starting
construction.
The city itself has also
participated in the TAD
program for the expansion
of the Main Street parking
deck, which is set to reopen
later this month and will
have 180 new spaces when
additions are done. Expan
sions are funded by $1.5 mil
lion in TAD funding that will
be used to pay a $4.695-mil-
lion bond with Regions Bank
approved by the City Council
in July.
multi-pronged approach
is to engage focus groups
with singular questions and
try to pare down a
potential project
list by the fall of
2019, Smith added.
Williams said he
anticipates orga
nizing focus groups
over the next six
to nine months to
discuss how adding
new schools might
work, what the
costs would be and what it
would mean for the larger
Gainesville community.
“That’s the next phase of
all of this,” he added. “We
don’t know the answers.
That’s down the road.”
Above: Construction
continues on the Main
Street parking deck
Monday, Sept. 24. Left: This
project has been funded by
Gainesville’s Midtown Tax
Allocation District.
Photos by SCOn ROGERS
The Times
Gainesville also has a tax
allocation district for the
Lakeshore Mall that has not
been used since the mall
changed ownership last
year.
YOGA STUDIO SHOOTING
Suspect posted
misogynistic,
racist videos
Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE. - A
brooding military vet
eran and former teacher
who railed at women and
blacks in a series of poorly
lit videos shot two women
to death and wounded five
others at a Florida yoga stu
dio before killing himself.
The Friday shooting at
a busy upscale shopping
plaza jolted the state capital
and police said they were
still searching for a motive
that led to the deaths of a
Florida State University
student and a well-known
doctor who was a member
of the school faculty.
But details about 40-year-
old Scott Paul Beierle
began to emerge in the
hours after, including that
he had once been banned
from FSU’s campus and
had been arrested twice
for grabbing women even
though the charges were
ultimately dropped.
Beierle, who had moved
to the central Florida town
of Deltona after getting
a graduate degree from
FSU, also appear to post
a series of videos on You
Tube in 2014 where he
called women “whores” if
they dated black men, said
many black women were
“disgusting” and described
himself as a misogynist. He
said promiscuous women
deserved to be crucified
and he suggested putting up
land mines to keep people
from crossing into the U.S.
from Mexico. The exis
tence of the videos was first
reported by BuzzFeed.
Tallahassee police say
Beierle shot six people and
pistol-whipped another
after walking into the yoga
studio that sits on the sec
ond floor of a shopping
center located near the
city’s fashionable midtown
neighborhoods. Tallahas
see Police Chief Michael
DeLeo said some in the
studio showed courage by
trying to stop him.
Witnesses described how
people who had been in the
studio ran, seeking shelter
in nearby bars and restau
rants as shots rang out.
Police responded within
a few minutes, but by then
Beirele had fatally shot
himself, leaving police to
search for a motive and a
community to wonder what
prompted the violence.
“It’s a place that brings
me joy and peace, and
I think it’s ruined,” said
Katie Bohnett, an instruc
tor at the yoga studio who
skipped her normal Friday
practice to meet a friend
for dinner. “This monster
ruined it.”
Police said Beierle acted
alone but they were still
looking into what prompted
the shooting. He was origi
nally from New York,
had served in the military
and once was a teacher in
Maryland. After his mili
tary service, he wound up
attending FSU.
Kristi Malone, who had a
graduate class with Beierle,
said in a Facebook mes
sage that she did not inter
act with him outside of the
classroom because of “his
odd leering, inappropri
ate comments and general
demeanor.”
Stewart
of about 2,150 students) has
many implications, some
good and some potentially
problematic.
For example,
adding one of each
could open more
opportunities for
students to partici
pate in sports and
school clubs that
are limited in size.
Then again, it
may mean that Smith
Gainesville has
middle and high schools
competing against one
another.
Of course, that may just
be an inevitability
of time.
And, for Stew
art, “It may be that
I need to put my
emotions aside for
the kids.”
“Then what does
that look like?” Wil
liams asked when
speaking with The
Times. “Are we as
a community comfortable
with that?”
A junior high may be a
compromise, but it may not
be the best solution long
term. All that remains to be
decided.
Board member Sammy
Smith said officials are a
long way from “proposing
a project list for the vot
ers to consider,” but that
he’s “very pleased that the
consensus-building exer
cise is understood and in
progress.”
The next phase in the
SCHOOLS
■ Continued from 1A
work at three schools
and emergency systems
upgrades.
Board of Education
member Andy Stewart, a
1991 graduate of GHS who
has two children in the
city’s school system, said
he’s hearing from commu
nity and school stakehold
ers that a desire for a new
middle school is priority
No. 1.
Gainesville Middle has
an enrollment
of about 1,850
students.
But a new middle
school presents
a dilemma for
Stewart and other
Gainesville school
officials.
“I think, ulti
mately, down the
road that would lead to a
next high school,” Stewart
said.
The “One Gainesville”
concept, where students
from six elementary
schools funnel into one mid
dle and one high school in
the Red Elephant universe,
is a point of pride and tradi
tion for the community.
“I struggle with that,”
Stewart said.
And the prospect of add
ing another middle or high
school (Gainesville High
has a current enrollment
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