I2J OUR REGION
Shannon Casas | Editor in Chief
770-718-3417 | news@gainesvilletimes.com
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Man suffers carbon monoxide exposure during parade
BY LAYNE SALIBA
lsaliba@gainesvilletimes.com
A participant in the Christmas
on Green Street parade was hospi
talized Sunday after being exposed
to carbon monoxide during the
annual event.
David Perez, a Gainesville
Cricket Wireless employee,
was passing out bags behind the
Cricket Wireless truck during
most of the parade but at some
point got into the back of the Mer
cedes-Benz Sprinter, said David
Allen, director of operations with
Coast 2 Coast Mobile Media, which
provides marketing services to
Cricket.
A generator was running in
that vehicle, according to Gaines
ville Fire Department spokesman
Keith Smith.
Soon after that, the person who
had been walking with Perez
alerted Allen, who provided the
truck as part of Cricket Wireless’
marketing during the parade.
Allen was flying a drone about
40 feet behind the truck.
“I ran up there, and he’s just
standing there like a zombie,”
Allen said. “His eyes were open,
but he wasn’t responsive. So, I
pulled him out of there and sat him
on the back of the truck.”
Allen said he started splash
ing Perez with water and tried to
make him drink some.
That’s when Smith, who was at
the parade in case medical atten
tion was needed, showed up to
help.
“Myself and two off-duty
Gainesville Fire personnel treated
the patient,” Smith said.
Perez was taken to the hospital
by Hall County Fire Services and
discharged later that evening. The
Times has been unable to contact
Perez.
“We went there as well, just
until his family could get there
and just to get an understanding of
what happened,” Allen said.
PORT
■ Continued from 1A
rail service, “will provide crucial links
in the supply chains of local industries,
consumers, and the rest of the world,
and serve as a catalyst for new oppor
tunities for industrial development.”
Even though the port itself could
eventually employ up to 20 people, it
“will also act as an economic devel
opment tool, drawing new investment
from business and industry to Hall and
its surrounding counties,” Deal said.
The inland port already is drawing
economic interest.
Officials also announced Monday
that Auto Metal Direct, a worldwide
distributor of auto body panels and
trim for classic cars and trucks, plans
to build a 318,000 square-foot distribu
tion and fulfillment center at Gateway,
across the street from the port.
Construction will begin soon on the
$15 million project, expected to create
40 jobs.
“Hundreds of containers each year
are received by AMD, so the services
provided by the Georgia Ports Author
ity are essential for the maintenance
and growth of our business,” said the
company’s president, Mark Headrick,
in a press release.
“The proximity of the new inland
port will be a real plus in many areas,
and was an influencing factor in the
eventual location of our building.
Quicker service, lower cost and ease
of movement should all be realized in
our new location.”
The Appalachian Regional Port,
serving the Interstate 75 region of
Georgia, opened Aug. 22 on 42 acres in
Murray County.
W
Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
Gov. Nathan Deal holds a press conference at the Lanier Flight Center hangar
at Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport Monday Dec. 3, to make an announcement
about the coming inland port to be built at Gateway Industrial Centre off Ga.
365 in Hall County.
LIGHT SPORT
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1
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Visitors to Lanier Flight Center gather in the hangar Monday, Dec. 3, for an announcement about the coming inland port.
Post office, federal government, stock exchange
to shut down for funeral of President Bush
The U.S. Postal Service will not
make deliveries on Wednesday, the
day of President George H.W. Bush’s
funeral.
President Donald Trump has pro
claimed Wednesday a National Day
of Mourning. The postal service said
on its website Monday that deliveries
will suspended “out of respect for the
41st President of the United States and
to honor his vast contributions to our
country during his lifetime.”
Regular mail services will be sus
pended and post offices will be closed,
though there will be limited package
deliveries.
The post office said it doesn’t expect
the shutdown to impact holiday
deliveries.
In addition to the post office, fed
eral offices will be closed as will the
New York Stock Exchange, according
to CNN.com.
Tribune News Service
‘It’s going to prevent me from
really enjoying my home anymore.
...I won’t be able to sell it with a
factory right across the line there.’
David Edwards
Area resident
PARK
■ Continued from 1A
economic development for
the Greater Hall Cham
ber of Commerce, said the
development will make use
of the county’s investment
in sewer lines along Ga. 365
and will help attract new
businesses to the county,
which is seeing a shortage
of available industrial park
space.
“We are nearly out of
large sites throughout Hall
County.... We’re in need of
additional space for future
growth,” Evans said.
The property, which
could have up to 2.6 million
square feet of space, would
be mostly for industrial
uses but could also have
commercial uses and office
space.
Plans for the site have
been adapted. In 2014,
Gateway Village was
approved for 186 single
family homes, 310 apart
ments and townhomes and
about 600,000 square feet
of commercial and office
space.
If the Board of Commis
sioners approves the item
on Dec. 13, the land would
be rezoned from agricul
tural residential, planned
residential development
and planned commercial
development to planned
industrial development.
But some neighbors
spoke in opposition to the
development Monday eve
ning. David Edwards’ prop
erty is adjacent to the site,
and he said he was worried
about how the development
could affect both his qual
ity of life and his ability to
resell his home.
“It’s going to prevent me
from really enjoying my
home anymore,” he said. “I
won’t be able to sell it with a
factory right across the line
there.”
Kathy Wiley said she and
her late husband had hoped
to pass their home on to
their children and grand
children, and the develop
ment contrasts with the
character of the area.
“All the big trucks, the
lights, everything.... I love
my home place, and it’s
paid off, and I don’t want
anything to come on it,”
Wiley said.
Vickie Kanady, Wiley’s
niece, said she hoped offi
cials were responsive to
residents’ concerns about
losing their homes and
quality of life.
“What I want the people
of Hall County to know is
elected officials need to lis
ten to the retired individu
als who have worked hard
for their land,” she said.
“We don’t have a problem
with progress or industries
coming in, but there needs
to be buffers.”
H ELECTION 2018
Two runoffs yet
to be decided
Voting for Secratary of State,
Public Service Commissioner today
Voters can decide Tuesday on two statewide races: Geor
gia’s Secretary of State and a position on the Public Service
Commission.
None of the candidates in those races received at least 50
percent of the vote in the Nov. 6 general election, forcing the
runoffs.
Republican Brad Raffensperger and Democrat John Bar-
row are running for the position of Secretary of State. Robyn
Crittenden is serving in that role since Brian Kemp, Geor
gia’s governor-elect, stepped down in November.
For a position on the state’s Public Service Commission,
Republican incumbent Chuck Eaton is running against Dem
ocrat Lindy Miller. The commission regulates Georgia’s pub
lic utilities firms.
Voters can find their polling place on the Secretary of State
website. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Megan Reed
TAX
■ Continued from 1A
keep up.
Lackey said city officials are focused on projects that ren
ovate dilapidated shopping centers rather than residential
areas.
“Everything has been shoe-horned into Dawsonville High
way,” Lackey said of development in the city.
Opportunity abounds on the west side, though.
For example, a mostly vacant shopping center off Shallow-
ford Road is primed for redevelopment, Lackey said.
The Westside TAD includes 170 parcels, or about 3 per
cent of the city’s tax digest, such as Lakeshore Mall, stretches
along Browns Bridge Road, Atlanta Highway and Pearl Nix
Parkway.
The TAD funding is seen as a way to incentivize local busi
ness and industry to help redevelop aging shopping centers
and multi-family complexes.
Proponents say the project will have a “halo effect” by
raising property values in an area.
Lackey acknowledged that an economic recession could
scuttle a TAD’s intentions.
The city has one other TAD covering the midtown area
and including the Gainesville square.
After establishing a baseline of property taxes owed,
any increments resulting from an increase in property
value is pumped into the TAD account and reinvested in
improvements.
According to the city’s website, “In simple terms, the
increased property taxes that would be generated by a devel
opment’s improvements are temporarily used to fund those
improvements. Once the improvements are paid for, a devel
opment’s taxes are then distributed traditionally.”
That city has helped fund several projects this way, includ
ing the expansion of the Main Street parking deck, Carroll
Daniel Construction’s new headquarters and the upcoming
Parkside on the Square development.
The establishment of the Westside TAD dissolved the city’s
previous Lakeshore Mall TAD, although the mall is included
in the new district.
The TAD base value will have to be certified by the Hall
County Tax Assessor’s Office and the Georgia Department
of Revenue.
The TAD committee is made up of city management,
the mayor, city planners, school officials, Hall County
commissioners and administrators, a representative from
the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce and two at-large
members.
But the city pays the Bleakly Advisory Group, based in
Atlanta, to provide an independent analysis of projects seek
ing tax subsidies to ensure the requests meet established
guidelines.
Board member Andy Stewart asked Lackey if this meant
that the TAD committee was “beholden” to the firm’s recom
mendations and advice.
“None at all, actually,” Lackey said. “I don’t want to say it’s
lip-service... what they do.”
The Bleakly Advisory Group, for example, was hired to
prepare and submit the proposal for Parkside on the Square,
which received public investment to offset the $20 million
construction cost of the five-story retail and condominium
development downtown.
TV 18, the government
channel, going away Jan. 1
Hall County and Gainesville announced Monday, Dec.
3, that its joint video production team will phase out cable
broadcasts and move toward a more “online-driven video
content model.”
“Over the past six months, we have been conducting
surveys with residents to find out how they are consuming
videos and what their preferences are when it comes to
receiving information from their local government,” Hall
spokeswoman Katie Crumley said.
“What we’ve learned is that typical cable service is
evolving, and citizens have a desire for more online video
content.”
As result, the local government access channel, currently
only available on Charter, Comcast and AT&T U-Verse, will
stop carrying the TV 18 signal at midnight Dec. 31.
“We are seeing stronger citizen engagement and viewer-
ship online, and this is an effort to meet more citizens where
they are in order to keep them updated on the latest hap
penings within their local government,” Gainesville spokes
woman Nikki Perry said.
Crumley said all Hall County Board of Commissioners
and Gainesville City Council meetings will continue to be
recorded and be available for viewing on the respective gov
ernment’s website, www.hallcounty.org and www.gaines-
ville.org, as well as on both government’s social media pages.
Compiled from a Hall County-Gainesville press release.
Stay tuned for more details.
