The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current, December 12, 2018, Image 6

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The times., December 12, 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 12, 2018 HALL COUN^ BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Commission weighs subdivision, industrial park BY MEGAN REED mreed@gainesvilletimes.com On Thursday, the Hall County Board of Commissioners will make decisions on two large develop ments, a South Hall subdivision and an industrial park in East Hall. The board will also vote on an appoint ment to the Hall County Planning Commission, a group that hears and votes on zoning and proposed developments. Commissioners will also decide on whether to restruc ture how the county han dles open records requests. Subdivision on Ponderosa Farm Road A proposed 279-home subdivi sion in the Chestnut Mountain area that has drawn criticism from neighbors is scheduled to go before commissioners on Thursday. The 121-acre property at LJ Martin Drive and Ponderosa Farm Road would have a density of 2.3 homes per acre. The Hall County Planning Commission approved the development on Nov. 5. Building the subdivision would require rezoning of the land from agricultural residential to planned residential development, a move opposed by many nearby resi dents, who spoke out Nov. 5. Neighbors have said that they are worried about the high den sity of the proposed subdivision, as well as the traffic and more urban ized feel that could come with the development. Industrial park on Ga. 365 The more than 500-acre indus trial park off of Ga. 365 that was approved by the planning commis sion on Dec. 3 will go before com missioners Thursday. The property at 3240 Chiplan Drive is across the street from the Gateway Industrial Centre, which houses Kubota Manufacturing of America. In August 2019, construc tion will begin on an inland port for that site, which will use Norfolk Southern rail lines and will handle up to 150,000 containers a year. The proposed industrial park on Chiplan Drive would have up to 2.6 million square feet of space, which would mostly be used for industrial purposes but could also have com mercial and office space. The land would be rezoned from agricultural residential, planned residential development and planned commercial development to planned industrial development. Nearby residents told the plan ning commission Dec. 3 that they were worried about how the indus trial park could affect their quality of life and their home values. David Edwards, whose property is adjacent to the site, spoke in opposition Dec. 3. “It’s going to prevent me from really enjoying my home any more,” he said. “I won’t be able to sell it with a factory right across the line there.” Open records officers Commissioners will vote Thurs day on possible changes to how the county handles open records requests. Requests would be handled by a designated employee in each department. Each department’s open records officer would be cho sen by Dec. 28. Lisa Ritchie, the clerk for the Board of Commissioners, cur rently handles most of the county’s open records requests, although the Sheriff’s Office, the Court house, Hall County 911 and some other departments have their own records officers. Appointment to Planning Commission Commissioners will vote to approve a new member of the Hall County Planning Commission, following former Chairman Don Smallwood’s retirement earlier this month. Gina Pilcher, a South Hall resi dent and business owner, has been nominated for the role. She previ ously ran for a spot on the county school board and has been active in attending local government meet ings and speaking on development. The planning commission will later elect its new chair. SCOn ROGERS I The Times The closing of the Mayfield Dairy plant in Braselton this year prompted shortages and spoiled deliveries of milk to Hall County Schools, prompting officials this week to end their contract and now do business with Borden Dairy for all school milk supplies at a cost of $500,000. MILK ■ Continued from 1A require public schools to carry milk for students, including for students eligi ble for free or reduced-price meals and drinks. Hall County Schools has contracted with Mayfield for the last three years. Schofield said the delivery problems are not isolated to Hall County, and that he had received reports of similar issues arising in other school districts across Georgia that contract with Mayfield. Gainesville City Schools, as part of the Georgia Educa tional Cooperative, also con tracts with Mayfield. “However, we have only had a few minor issues with deliveries,” said Penny Fowler, director of school nutrition for GCSS, adding that there are no plans to change vendors at this time. Hall Schools has con tracted with Borden pre viously and Jones said the results were always satisfactory. She added that Mayfield had been a “great partner” until the recent problems. Mayfield’s problems may be a sign of its parent com pany’s struggles, as well as the changing dynamics of the industry. Dixie Truelove, vice presi dent of Truelove Dairy Inc. in Hall County, said “the dairy industry has a much bigger problem than just what goes on here locally.” Her company made a decision two years ago that reflects some of these problems. “We are no longer milking cows for production to sell the milk,” Truelove said. Meanwhile, Truelove said, retailers like Kroger, Walmart and Publix are investing more in their own processing plants to pasteur ize and bottle milk instead of purchasing from suppliers like Dean Foods, a Dallas- based company that owns Mayfield. For example, Publix announced a year ago that it planned to expand its pro cessing plant in Gwinnett County. Gas, drugs cited in death of Hall couple BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com An East Hall couple was killed by “carbon mon oxide poisoning with drug(s) involved,” according to a Hall County deputy coroner. The bodies of the couple, Norman Reece, 43, and Audrey Dahl, 35, were found Nov. 10 in their mobile home by Reece’s 18-year-old son, who also lives in the home on the 3500 block of Gaines Mill Road. Deputy coroner James Bell previously told The Times methamphetamine and fentanyl were found in the toxicology reports for the couple. “He had a high count of methamphetamines, but he also had a very high count of fentanyl.... She had counts of fentanyl in hers, but nowhere near as high as what (Reece) had,” Bell previ ously told The Times. Fentanyl is an opioid drug considered roughly 100 times stronger than morphine. The Hall County Sheriff’s Office earlier reported there were space heaters in the home, which was without electricity, so Hall County Fire Services tested the air quality but did not find toxic carbon monoxide levels. The Sheriff’s Office did not respond to an inquiry Tuesday, Dec. 11, regarding the cause of death finding and the potential source of carbon monoxide. When authorities were called to the house, Dahl and Reece had “no obvious signs of trauma or foul play,” said Sgt. Stephen Wilbanks of the Hall County Sheriff’s Office in a release. Reece’s 18-year-old son found them both in a bedroom around 6 a.m. “after last having contact with them the previous evening,” Wilbanks said. “He discovered the deceased when he woke up ... after noticing that the house had become very cold,” Wilbanks said in an email. Athens Street duplex development gets go-ahead BY JEFF GILL jgill@gainesvilletimes.com A developer now has the governmen tal approvals needed to move forward on building five “Charleston-type” duplexes off Athens Street in Gainesville. KRM 2016 LLC got the Gainesville Planning and Appeals Board’s approval Tuesday night for a setback reduction so the duplexes can fit on two tracts off Mill Street, across from Burger King and next to the Harper-Smith Historic House. The board’s Dec. 11 vote followed Gainesville City Council’s action on Dec. 4 to rezone the .85-acre tract from residen tial and heavy industrial to residential. The property also is near Newell Recy cling Scrap Iron & Metal and Fockele Garden Co. and sits on the edge of the Newtown community. Each building will have two units. Eddie Martin Jr., who presented the proposal to city officials, said he hopes construction will start in early 2019. The project could be completed in 6-8 months, he said. He said he hopes to rent out each unit at under $1,000 per month. “Building costs are really expensive right now,” Martin said. “I’m hoping to put in a lot of sweat equity to get it down to (be more) affordable.” FIRE ■ Continued from 1A Underground, said the fire looked to have started in the front and then took off from there. “Once it went, it went. I was just hoping there weren’t any homeless people in there,” he said. Smith said the fire mar shal’s office will return to investigate Wednesday, Dec. 12. No one was hurt and the cause is still undetermined, Smith said. Photos by AUSTIN STEELE I The Times Left: People in the Tire Barn parking lot watch a structure fire at Bradford Street and Industrial Boulevard while Gainesville Fire and Hall County Fire put it out Above: A Gainesville firefighter gives a thumbs-up while working a structure fire at Bradford Street and Industrial Boulevard on Tuesday, Dec. 11. JUST ■ Continued from 1A perceive themselves. Most of those who come into “Just” People’s embrace have experienced their own success story. For Dowling, she will never forget the man who she found behind her thrift store. When she first discovered him, he was curled up in the back of a truck. Dowling said the man had been dropped off on Roswell Road after com ing out of foster care. She took him into “Just” People and he now is married and works full-time. Kevin Dowling, co-founder of “Just” People and Becky’s husband, said the nonprofit first began with 15 rented apartments in 1995. After the couple received negative remarks from those at the complex, they decided to build their own apartments. The two sold their home to finance a portion of the project, moved into a houseboat on Lake Lanier and built the nonprofit’s first 53 apart ments in Roswell. They later expanded the hous ing and bought 30 townhomes in Gwinnett County. Kevin Dowling said throughout his time with his wife, she has taught him two valuable lessons. “One is, they’re not broke, we don’t fix them,” he said. “Number 2 is just because they’re dis abled, doesn’t mean they don’t deserve nice things.” Ray Brennan came out to Tuesday’s grand opening to show his support for not only “Just” People, but his children who will soon move into the Flowery Branch Village. Brennan has held a close relationship with the Dowlings for more than 25 years. Having tried myriad programs for adults with developmen tal disabilities, he found that “Just” People truly treats its residents like family. “Whenever anybody asked me years ago what I think about it, I always say to drive up there unan nounced and what you’ll see is a bunch of people having a good time, enjoying life,” Brennan said. RIDE ■ Continued from 1A to comment. Cavedon, a Hall County assistant public defender, is now representing Smith pro bono on this civil case which he called “funda mentally unfair.” “I think that we have public safeguards and a political process in place to ensure that the public is a part of what kind of funding (law enforcement agencies) receive, rather than letting officers on the ground and the district attorney’s office make those calls for peo ple,” Cavedon said. During a hearing Mon day, Dec. 10, regarding the potential discovery in the case, Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Bagwell raised an objection to Cave don being involved in the case because he is a public defender. Addressing the issue, Cavedon said he would ensure the case would not be “using any county time or salaried time to do this.” “I think that it is unfair that he would be left with either trying to defend him self or finding somebody who would be cost-efficient, even over a $3,000 moped while he’s paying the costs of rehab. “I don’t think a man like Mr. Smith would otherwise have an attorney,” Cavedon said. The public defender’s office represented Smith on the underlying drug pos session charge, for which Smith was given three years of probation and 50 hours of community service. In the discovery for this case, Cavedon said he would seek the evidence the state has against Smith, the decision-making pro cess on forfeiture cases and what is purchased with the proceeds. He is also requesting a jury trial. “I think again that when rights like this are on the line, it should be ordinary people from the community that look and are the judges of this,” Cavedon said.