Midweek Edition - September 9-10, 2020 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
LOCAL
New Holland housing development
moves ahead with planning board OK
SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
White picket fencing has been added along Quarry Street Wednesday, Sept. 2, as
work continues on The Norton Agency’s Liberty Lakeview housing development. The
30-home community is on 14 acres off Lakeview Drive and Quarry Street, near the
New Holland community.
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
A New Holland housing
development marketed
to medical residents took
a step Tuesday, Sept.
8, toward enlarging its
presence in the historic
community.
The Gainesville Plan
ning and Appeals Board
gave its OK to an annexa
tion meant to bring five
properties into the devel
opment off Quarry Street
between Highland Street
and Lakeview Drive, the
northwestern edge of the
historic mill community.
The proposed changes
to Frank Norton Jr.’s
“Liberty Lakeview” proj
ect now go before the
Gainesville City Council
for a final vote.
“We want to clean up
(the development) so we
have a blanket (residen
tial zoning category) over
the entire development
and so we’ll have consis
tency in product, and con
sistency in appearance
and feel,” Norton said in
a previous interview.
Norton’s Ncredible
Properties, a residential
development and invest
ment arm of Gaines
ville-based The Norton
Agency, plans to build 30
cottages in the area and
restore several original
mill houses as part of the
project.
The 16.6-acre rental
community will feature
a gated entrance off
Quarry, opening onto a
new road running by the
cottages, which will fea
ture a farmhouse design,
complete with tin roofs.
A playground and fire pit
have been built in a stand
of tall trees next to an
old, abandoned road that
empties onto Highland.
Walking trails and a dog
park also are planned.
The development is
being targeted particu
larly to residents in North
east Georgia Medical
Center’s graduate medi
cal education program,
which began in 2019.
“These (homes) will
feel like old mill village
houses rather than some
thing that’s multi-colorful
or bungalows,” Norton
has said.
The project drew oppo
sition from Odis Sisk, a
Quarry Street resident,
who said, “This is not a
neighborhood. It’s a com
pound, and that’s how it’s
being marketed as. We
have a neighborhood.
People walk everywhere.
“To me, this looks like
greed, not need.”
If Norton succeeds, the
development will end up
with a mix of two- and
three-bedroom cottages,
duplexes and townhomes
for a total of 49 residential
units. Rents would range
from $1,200 to $1,400 for
duplexes to $1,800 for
three-bedroom cottages.
Leasing is already
underway, with the entire
project set for completion
in 2022, Norton said.
Braselton selling home
it bought for lift station
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
Braselton is getting into
the real estate business,
temporarily.
The town is looking to sell
a vacant home at 520 Reisling
Drive in Jackson County it had
bought for a sewer lift station
project and is accepting bids
until 3 p.m. Oct. 2.
“The property owner didn’t
want to sell us a portion of her
property but was interested
in selling it all,” Town Man
ager Jennifer Scott said. “So,
we purchased the home and
lot, built the lift station, have
replatted (the property), and
are now selling the home.”
The town, which only
needed a portion of the back
yard, had paid $149,500 for the
property, she said.
Braselton needed the lift sta
tion to handle rapid growth in
the town, which is also in Hall,
Gwinnett and Barrow counties,
Scott said.
The entire project cost
$753,000, funded through the
Georgia Environmental Finance
Authority. It was estimated to
cost $852,500, Scott said.
Making an offer
Minimum amount: $110,000,
with bidder providing proof
of funding source and a
$5,000 deposit in the form
of a cashier’s or certified
check made payable to
“Town of Braselton.” The
bid deposit will be returned
to non-successful bidders
or forfeited if the successful
bidder fails to close.
How to submit: By mail to
the Town of Braselton at
P.O. Box 306, Braselton
GA 30517 or in person at
Braselton Town Hall, 4982
Highway 53
Deadlline: 3 p.m. Oct. 2
Contact: Jennifer Scott at
jscott@braselton.net
The home, now with a smaller
lot because of the town’s project,
has been appraised at $130,000,
she said.
The minimum bid on the
property is $110,000, with the bid
opening set for 3:15 p.m. Oct. 2.
The Town Council “doesn’t
have to take any bid if they don’t
want to,” Scott said.
If the council accepts a bid,
property closing will take place
by Oct. 30.
JEFF GILL I The Times
Braselton is looking to sell a vacant home at 520 Reisling Drive in
Jackson County it had bought for a sewer lift station project.
BACKLOG
■ Continued from 1A
accused of killing Gainesville
businessman Jack Hough in
February 2019. The case was
then postponed.
Assistant Public Defender
Matt Leipold said he
remembered polling mem
bers of the jury pool about
their COVID-19 concerns,
as schools and professional
sports started to shut down.
Few raised their hands back
then, Leipold said.
Leipold said he expects
the Bennett case will likely
be one of the first to go.
“One of the issues that
we’re concerned about... is
we don’t want to start a trial
and then there’s some sort
of outbreak in the jury or
somebody in the courtroom,
and then you have to perhaps
declare a mistrial and start
over because of virus con
cerns,” he said.
Both sides are concerned
about cases languishing
before trial, as witnesses dis
appear and their recall fades
with time.
Leipold mentioned bond
conditions, such as electronic
monitoring, curfews or drug
screens, which normally last
for months before trial.
“If this drags on, those
could hang over people for a
very long time,” he said.
Superior Court Judge Clint
Bearden said there were
several significant cases that
he expected to close out this
year.
Some of these cases, even
before the COVID-19 circum
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stances, would take at least
one to two weeks to finish,
Bearden said.
Courts are venturing out
into “somewhat uncharted
territory,” Bearden said.
“I think it’s going to be
most likely that you’ll see the
first jury trials that resume
be cases that perhaps are
not those major cases, just
because there is going to be
some degree of necessity
to see what works well and
what may need to be changed
before we have some of the
most significant cases tried,”
Bearden said.
These more significant and
high-profile cases will likely
be in 2021, “hopefully sooner
than later, as I think every
one involved understands
the great importance of hav
ing these cases tried before a
jury as soon as it’s practicable
and safe to do so,” Bearden
said.
Other homicide cases and
serious crimes will be given
priority, Darragh said.
Leipold said the delays will
likely not violate the defen
dant’s constitutional Sixth
Amendment right to a speedy
trial because of the Georgia
Supreme Court’s emergency
judicial order, which allows
for normal case deadlines to
be suspended or tolled.
“In the case of the pan
demic, neither the pros
ecution nor the defense is
responsible,” Leipold said.
“It’s a health issue that’s out
side of our control.”
Typically, if a person files
a statutory right to a speedy
trial, that case becomes No.
1 on every judge’s calendar,
Leipold said.
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