FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16,2018 | $1.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com
Honestly Local
Sardis talk draws crowd
AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
Attendees gather around maps of the planned Sardis Connector in Northwest Hall during a public information
meeting at Chestatee High School on Thursday, Nov. 15.
Residents swarm meeting to find out more about connector
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
Chestatee Road residents Ben and
Alice Ash weren’t directly affected
by the planned Sardis Connector in
northwest Hall County.
But that didn’t stop them from
joining the thick crowds gathered
for a public information meeting
Thursday, Nov. 15, at Chestatee
High School.
“We’re just interested in the com
munity,” Alice Ash said. “I thought
my sister-in-law might be affected,
but she’s not.”
Directly impacted or not, resi
dents filled the school cafeteria to
study maps, talk to public officials
and submit written comments,
which are being accepted until Nov.
29.
Residents gathered en masse
around the maps, pointing out
homes and landmarks or tracing the
route with a finger.
A court reporter also was avail
able to allow the public to make
verbal comments about the project.
And some residents were particu
larly verbal, grilling officials with
questions.
One person asked County Engi
neer Kevin Mclnturff about road
studies.
“This road has been studied more
than any other road,” Mclnturff
said.
The planned 3.4-mile, four-lane
road, which has been discussed for
years, would run from Dawsonville
Highway/Ga. 53 in West Hall, start
ing at the intersection of Sardis
and Chestatee roads, to Thompson
Bridge Road/Ga. 60 in North Hall,
ending near Mount Vernon Road.
But officials believe the project is
getting closer to reality.
Right of way acquisition could
begin next summer and take two
years to complete, engineer Denise
Farr has said.
Construction could follow two
to three years “after everything is
acquired,” she said.
The project could displace 25
homes and three businesses, Farr
said.
That number could go up as the
county is surveying properties with
septic tanks. If the county ends up
needing land that might be used for
putting in a backup septic system,
“then we have to have the house,”
she said.
However, “we don’t think that’s
going to be much of a problem
because we have so much open
land,” Farr said.
As for the route itself, the project
“would consist of a combination of
widening and reconstruction on sev
eral existing local roads and road
way construction on new locations,”
the project’s legal ad states.
The new connector is targeted to
■ Please see SARDIS, 8A
Flowery Branch
approves closing
railroad crossing
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
The Flowery Branch City Council unanimously approved
the closing of a railroad crossing and a multimillion-dollar
investment in the tax allocation district plan. The discussion on
potential water and sewer rate changes, however, was tabled
until the next meeting.
The council previously postponed the vote Nov. 1 on poten
tially closing the Chattahoochee Street railroad crossing.
“Norfolk Southern has indicated it would take them about
four or five days to effect that closing. They are wanting to try
to employ the funds before the end of the calendar year,” City
Manager Bill Andrew said.
Norfolk Southern’s manager grade crossing safety Will
Miller said closing the crossing and installing a “lunar light”
will not cost the city money.
Norfolk Southern would pay to install the light at Spring
Street, which would reduce the need for trains to block the
crossings at Spring Street and Lights Ferry Road.
Tax allocation district
The council voted unanimously in favor of the recom
mended $7.5 million investment over 20 years in three projects
for the tax allocation district.
■ Please see CROSSING, 8A
Search underway
for next president of
Brenau University
BY JOSHUA SILAVENT
jsilavent@gainesvilletimes.com
The search has officially begun for Brenau University Presi
dent Ed Schrader’s successor, the Board of Trustees announced
this week.
A 16-member search committee of board
members, faculty, staff and a student repre
sentative will lead the search with Schrader as
an adviser.
Schrader, who has led the university since
2005, announced in August that he planned to
retire in 2019.
University officials plan to have a new presi
dent in place by July.
Schrader has said he plans to assist
in the transition through the end of 2019 and then take a
one-year sabbatical beginning in January 2020 — after
which he will remain as a consultant to the university for
five years.
In a memorandum to university students, alumni, faculty and
■ Please see BRENAU, 8A
Schrader
Gainesville Fire helps rescue injured man on top of Cargill silo
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@
gainesvilletimes.com
Roughly 125 feet up in the
air, a man was rescued from
the top of a Cargill silo after
the man’s harness got entan
gled in a piece of machinery,
according to authorities.
Gainesville Fire spokes
man Keith Smith said the
worker had shoulder, neck
and back injuries as well as
bleeding from the nose at the
West Ridge Road facility.
“The harness somehow
got entangled on a driveshaft
on a piece of machinery. His
harness wrapped up in it,
pretty much really squeezing
him,” Smith said.
Smith said fire department
personnel were on scene
after 4 p.m. Thursday, Nov.
15, with the first crews going
up in an elevator to assess the
situation.
Two members of the res
cue crew went up in a crane
that was onsite.
“Once they got up there,
(they) packaged him up,
treated what they could
from up there and brought
him back down in that same
crane,” Smith said.
Smith said the man was
transported emergency sta
tus to the Northeast Georgia
Medical Center. His condi
tion is unknown.
Safety personnel
work around a rescue
basket Thursday, Nov.
15, at Cargill’s West
Ridge Road facility.
A worker on a silo
was injured and had
to be rescued after
his safety harness
became entangled in
machinery.
Photo courtesy Gainesville
Fire Department
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