About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 29, 2018)
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2018 | $1.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com Christmas on Green Street to be bigger than ever, get out, sa Honestly Local HALL COUN^ PANNING COMMISSION Industrial park, homes on planners’ list BY MEGAN REED mreed@gainesvilletimes.com Three developments — an over 500-acre industrial park, a 72-home subdivision and a 380,000-square- foot distribution center — will go before the Hall County Planning Commission for a public hearing and a vote on Dec. 3. North Hall industrial park A 522-acre industrial park could be coming to North Hall off of Cor nelia Highway on Chiplan Drive, if the project is approved by officials. The development could include up to 2.6 million square feet of floor space, with most of that being set aside for manufactur ing. According to plans submitted to the county, the development could also have offices, indoor and outdoor testing spaces, retail and warehouses. A future public safety facility and wastewater treatment plant are also being considered for the site. The property is near Healan’s Head’s Mill and is across from the Gateway Industrial Center, which houses Kubota Manufacturing of America. Planning staff is recommending approval. The land is zoned agricultural Hall County Planning Commission When: 5:15 p.m. Monday, Dec. 3 Where: Hall County Government Center, 2875 Browns Bridge Road, Gainesville residential, planned residential development and planned com mercial development, but it would be rezoned to planned industrial development if the request is approved by the Hall County Board of Commissioners on Dec. 13. Plans for the site have been adapted from a previously approved 476-acre mixed use development. Gateway Village was first proposed in 2014 and would have had 186 single-family homes, 310 apartments and townhomes and about 600,000 square feet of commercial and office space. The Georgia Mountains Regional Commission has also seen plans for the site because it is a “development of regional impact.” The GMRC found no neg ative inter-jurisdictional impacts, or no potential conflicts between municipalities. The planning commission’s rec ommendation will then go to the Hall County Board of Commission ers for a final vote on Dec. 13. Subdivision on Price Road The planning commission will also consider a 72-home subdivi sion on Price Road at the intersec tion with Thomas Road. The 99-acre subdivision would require rezoning of the land from agricultural residential to resi dential. According to the planning staff’s report for the request, the neighborhood would have a den sity of 0.8 units per acre, which is consistent with the county’s com prehensive plan that is used to ■ Please see AGENDA, 10A Golden Corral opening delayed Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times The long awaited Golden Corral restaurant under construction at the intersection of Pearl Nix Parkway and Browns Bridge Road now plans on opening in mid-January, instead of before Christmas, as had been reported. New Gainesville location to start serving in January BY JEFF GILL jgill@gainesvilletimes.com Golden Corral won’t be open for Christmas, afterall. The long-awaited restau rant off Browns Bridge Road and Pearl Nix Parkway in Gainesville now should be open by mid-January, Flor ida-based franchisee Eric Holm said Wednesday, Nov. 28. “I just don’t want to push it for December,” he said. “There’s a lot of moving parts to it. We want to make sure we’re all good and ready there.” Holm said in a July inter view he had hoped to open the buffet-style eatery by Christmas. “That would would be a great time to open,” he said at the time. “Everybody is out shopping ... and having family time together, so that would be awesome.” “Normal stuff pops up,” he said Wednesday, speak ing of delays. “(Mid-Jan uary) should be for sure. There shouldn’t be any ifs, ands or buts on that.” The restaurant — Holm’s ■ Please see OPENING, 10A Construction of Golden Corral continues. Gainesville Sears store on auction block BY JEFF GILL jgill@gainesvilletimes.com The Sears store at 150 Pearl Nix Parkway in Gaines ville is one of nearly 500 stores nationwide that could be sold as part of the retail chain’s bankruptcy filing. Sears, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Octo ber, will announce by Dec. 15 whether it has an inter ested buyer in the stores, according to a notice filed earlier this month in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Southern District of New York. A potential owner can “submit a bid for all or some” of the stores, including “on a liquidation basis,” the docu ment states. Gainesville’s store is the only Sears location in Geor gia on the list. Chicago-based Sears Holdings has said it is moving for ward with “a series of actions to position the company to establish a sustainable capital structure, continue streamlining its operating model and grow profitably for the longterm.” ■ Please see SEARS, 10A Two Buford women sentenced in huge sweepstakes scam BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com Two women from Buford were sentenced last week after pleading guilty to their part in a sweepstakes scam that took more than $3.5 million from elderly victims, according to court documents. Silvia Sanchez Valverde, 47, pleaded guilty to con spiracy to commit mail fraud and was sentenced to five years in prison. Priscilla Sibaja, 21, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and received a three-year prison sentence. Two co-defendants — Rodolfo Orozco Aguilar, 44, of Costa Rica, and Daniel Sibaja, 28, of Buford — pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and were sen tenced earlier this month to four years in prison. ■ Please see SCAM, 10A INSIDE WEATHER 2A DEATHS 11A 0 40901 06835 Advice 5B Bridge 5B Business 4B Calendar 2A Classified 7B Comics 6B Get Out 8A Lottery 2A Opinion 6A Our Region 10A Sports 1B TV/puzzles 5B |§53 45 Lake Lanier level: 1,070.44 feet Full pool 1,071. Down 0.07 feet in 24 hours Mary Barksdale, 85 Claudine Burns, 91 Muriel Cannon, 96 Joan Siler Canup, 79 Carlos Cobb, 32 Christopher Corless, 39 Timothy Feathers, 57 Werner Goeckel Dennis Grant, 71 Donald Heber, 83 Maria lonescu, 82 Pilan Jones, 42 Mitchell Morton, 55 Eugenia A. Parker, 92 Tyler Parsons, 25 Marion Roberts, 76 Richard Shumake, 54 Benjamin Sims, 54 Monica Thomas, 38 Guy Vanpool Sr., 65 complete orthopedic <Sc sports medicine (for better drives) Northeast Georgia Medical Center Find your orthopedic expert today at nghs.com/complete-ortho 770-637-1030
