The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current, December 05, 2018, Image 6

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The times., December 05, 2018, Image 6

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Newspaper Page TextI2J OUR REGION Shannon Casas | Editor in Chief 770-718-3417 | news@gainesvilletimes.com The Times, Gainesville, Georgia Wednesday, December 5, 2018 fj RUNOFF 2018 I SECRETARY OF STATE Republican wins runoff for Ga. elections chief Photos by MICHAEL HOLAHAN I Associated Press Republican Secretary of State candidate Brad Raffensperger greets supporters during a campaign stop in Augusta, Thursday, Nov. 29. Raffensperger defeated Democrat John Barrow to become Georgia’s new secretary of state. Raffensperger claims post vacated by Gov.-elect Kemp BY RUSS BYNUM Associated Press Democrat Georgia Secretary of State candidate John Barrow speaks during a campaign stop Monday, Nov. 3, at Daniel Field in Augusta. Barrow lost to Raffensperger in the runoff for Georgia secretary of state. SAVANNAH - Republican Brad Raffensperger won a runoff election Tuesday to become Geor gia’s next secretary of state, taking over the office at the center of a debate over voter access and elec tion security in the Southern state. Raffensperger, a state law maker from suburban Atlanta, defeated former Democratic con gressman John Barrow to become Georgia’s top elections official, the office vacated by Gov.-elect Brian Kemp. At his victory party late Tues day, Raffensperger told supporters he would faithfully carry out elec tions in Georgia. “I’m going to make sure that elections are clean, fair and accu rate,” he said. “And that’s the No. 1 priority as your next secretary of state.” The runoff campaign played out against the backdrop of Demo cratic accusations that Kemp used his position as secretary of state to suppress minority turnout and increase his own odds of victory. Kemp insists that’s false, pointing to large increases in voter registra tion on his watch and record turn out in the Nov. 6 midterms. Raffensperger finished the three-way general election race ahead of Barrow, but just shy of the 50 percent of the vote needed to avoid a runoff. Issues that dogged Kemp in the general election — Georgia’s strict “exact match” policy for confirming voters’ iden tities and reports that the state’s aging electronic voting system was vulnerable to hackers — became the focus of the race to succeed him. Both Raffensperger and Bar- row promised to replace Georgia’s voting machines with a system that produces paper records that could be used to audit elections if needed. Meanwhile, Raffensperger pledged to continue Kemp’s prac tices of strictly enforcing voter ID laws and pruning registration rolls of inactive voters to prevent voting fraud. Barrow said Georgia needed to make it less difficult to cast ballots. Casting their ballots for Raffens perger in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood, Julia Chabannes and her husband Jimmy Cook, both 69, said they were skeptical about Democratic assertions that voters were disenfranchised by Kemp’s policies. “If there was a million people disenfranchised, they’ve been dis enfranchised a long time because they’ve been in a graveyard,” said Cook. President Donald Trump endorsed Raffensperger with a tweet calling the Republican “tough on Crime and Borders.” The secretary of state oversees elections, professional licens ing and business incorporation in Georgia. The office has no law enforcement role. Kemp’s Democratic rival for governor, Stacey Abrams, urged voters to support Barrow dur ing the same speech in which she acknowledged defeat and announced she would sue to chal lenge the way Georgia runs elec tions. That suit was filed in federal court last week. Barrow also won an endorse ment from Smythe DuVal, the Lib ertarian candidate whose distant third-place finish in November forced the race into overtime. Raffensperger served four years in the Georgia House before run ning for statewide office. He will take over as secretary of state in January from Robyn Crittenden, who was appointed to the office when Kemp stepped aside last month. Barrow sought a political come back after losing his U.S. House seat in 2014. He served a decade in Congress representing a large swath of eastern Georgia that included Athens, Augusta and Savannah. Eaton re-elected to PSC Republican Chuck Eaton has been re-elected to a third term on Georgia’s utility regulating Public Service Commission. Eaton of Atlanta defeated Dem ocrat Lindy Miller of Decatur in a runoff election Tuesday for the commission’s District 3 seat. The district covers four counties in metro Atlanta. Eaton was first elected to the PSC in 2006 and has served two six-year terms. Eaton struggled to keep his seat amid criticism for the commission’s continued support for adding two nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle. The proj ect near Augusta is years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget. The PSC regulates electrical and gas utilities in Georgia as well as other service providers. Although its commissioners run for assigned districts, they are elected by voters statewide. Primary redo in Habersham district too close to call A court-ordered repeat of a primary election for a northeast Georgia legislative seat is too close to declare a winner. Republican state Rep. Dan Gas- away faced GOP challenger Chris Erwin in a rematch Tuesday, more than six months after the original election was tainted by voters cast ing ballots in the wrong race. Unofficial election returns Tues day showed Erwin leading by just a handful of votes out of more than 7,000 total. Election officials said several provisional ballots were outstanding. A Superior Court judge ordered the election redone after Haber sham County officials acknowl edged mapping mistakes assigned some voters to the wrong House district. The 28th District House seat includes about half of Habersham County as well as Banks and Ste phens counties in Georgia’s north east corner. 72-lot subdivision on Price Road OK’d by planners BY MEGAN REED mreed@gainesvilletimes.com A 72-lot subdivision on Price Road was approved by the Hall County Planning Commission on Monday, after commission ers adjusted the buffers on the property after hearing from con cerned neighbors. The 99-acre subdivision near the intersection with Thomas Road would require rezoning of the land from agricultural residential to residential, and the neighborhood would have a den sity of about 0.8 homes per acre. After nearby residents said they wanted a wider buffer to separate other properties from the new neighborhood, the com mission decided that the prop erty should have 30-foot buffers around the perimeter, rather than the originally proposed 20 feet. The vote was 4-1, with commis sioner Johnny Varner opposing. The Hall County Board of Com missioners will cast a final vote on Jan. 10. Howell Thomas’ family has lived in the area for genera tions, and the land where the subdivision would go is owned by other members of his family. He encouraged commissioners to consider how the subdivision would change the character of the area. Hall County Board of Commissioners When: 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 10 Where: Flail County Government Center, 2875 Browns Bridge Road, Gainesville “This development will change my life, my family’s life.... It will also change the lives of all of the animals that we have enjoyed for the last 100 years,” Thomas said. Doug Ryan said he has lived just north of the property for more than 30 years and has seen several developments move in to the area, with some of them hav ing empty homes waiting to be sold. “Here’s another subdivision being proposed. Will it ever be complete?” he said. Ryan said the subdivision would also bring traffic that would make it more difficult for drivers to use the route to travel into Dawson County. The Riverbrook Village sub division, which would have 136 homes on Price Road near Thompson Bridge Road, was approved by the planning com mission in July. When county commissioners were set to con sider the neighborhood in Sep tember, homebuilder DR Horton withdrew the application. Planning commission head Don Smallwood steps down BY MEGAN REED mreed@gainesvilletimes.com Don Smallwood, chairman of the Hall County Planning Com mission, presided over his last meeting Monday. He is retiring from his role on the commission, but he said he plans to stay busy with his busi ness D-Jay Petroleum. Smallwood has been on the commission since 1997. The role put Smallwood at the center of debates over growth and change in Hall County dur ing a time when the county’s population has grown by almost 50 percent. “Sometimes it’s fun, and sometimes it’s not. You just have to try to be fair and try to listen to everybody’s concerns and hope you can help everybody you can,” Smallwood said after the meeting. “You have to be fair to the applicant, you have to be fair to the neighbors, and you have to be fair to the county.” Speaking to planning staff and fellow commissioners at the end of Monday’s three-hour meeting, Smallwood thanked colleagues. “It has been a pleasure and a privilege for me to serve with you guys, and the staff does a good job for us and makes our job easier,” he said. Planning Commissioner Chris Braswell praised Smallwood’s leadership when announcing his retirement Monday. “You’ve been an inspiration. You bring a lot of experience to us, wisdom, and many of you don’t know, but he really is a referee in real life,” Braswell said. “He will throw the flag at us every now and then.” The Hall County Board of Commissioners will soon appoint a new planning com missioner, and then the Plan ning Commission will vote on a new chairperson, according to Srikanth Yamala, the county’s planning director. Planners approve distribution center on Athens Highway A 380,000-square-foot distribu tion center on Athens Highway near Roy Parks Road in Gaines ville was approved by the Hall County Planning Commission on Monday. The approximately 35-acre property near Eskimo Cold Stor age would be rezoned from agri cultural residential to light indus trial if the Hall County Board of Commissioners approves the request. County commissioners will vote on the rezoning on Jan. 10. The facility would handle dry Hall County Board of Commissioners When: 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 10 Where: Flail County Government Center, 2875 Browns Bridge Road, Gainesville goods and possibly food, but not frozen or refrigerated products. No one spoke in opposition to the rezoning request at a public hearing Monday. Megan Reed Portion of Broad Street will close downtown today for crane setup Broad Street between E.E. Butler Parkway and Henry Ward Way in downtown Gainesville will be closed today. The road will be shut down between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. The Hall County Parking Deck will be accessible from Broad Street. Troy Grizzle, Gainesville’s superintendent of public lands and buildings, said in an email that the city’s administration building on Henry Ward Way is getting a new generator, which will require a crane to be set up in the area of Broad Street and Henry Ward Way. Megan Reed FLOWERY ■ Continued from 1A demolition and construc tion costs on the project. Under Georgia law, cities are allowed to des ignate certain “blighted” areas as TADs, using property tax incre ments resulting from new growth on public projects to help attract growth and increase the increments. By law, the money can be used for public utili ties improvements, such as stormwater systems. The downtown area is part of a TAD in the South Hall city. The apartment com plex, Crest Flowery Branch, would be built off Phil Niekro Boule vard at Thurmon Tan ner Parkway, just west of Interstate 985. The complex would feature a clubhouse and swimming pool. The Residential Group is seeking to rezone the site from highway busi ness to multifamily residential. The front portion of the property would remain as highway busi ness, a move that would “create a mixed-use environment,” according to a document from the developer. “This will be in line with the comprehen sive plan by creating an urban, pedestrian- friendly environment,” the document states. “By providing a Class A market-rate project, this new project will raise the property value of the sur rounding parcels to the benefit of all property owners in the area. ” The Residential Group has developed fashion able apartment com plexes in other cities, including One Metrocen- ter in Nashville, Tenn. Also, “the additional residential density will act as a catalyst for the future commercial devel opment to the benefit of the community.” GAME ■ Continued from 1A “spooked” when speaking with an undercover investigator at the first meeting location set up by investigators. Investigators then took Man- cini into custody at a second meetup location on Golden Park way off of Lanier Islands Park way in Buford. He was charged with criminal attempt to commit child molesta tion and obscene Internet contact with a child and booked Nov. 3 in to the Hall County Jail. Cathedral Preparatory School Director of Athletics Bill Flana gan said Mancini was no longer employed with the school. He had worked there for about five years and was an assistant bas ketball coach. Mancini was released on a $16,900 bond Nov. 8. His attorney Arturo Corso declined to comment. Mancini’s father answered the phone when The Times called for comment, and he directed all questions to Corso. The case is still under investigation.