Verbal spars make up virtual
debate in race for Loeffler’s
U.S. Senate seat, inside, 6a
Tuesday, October 20,20201 GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com
These
insects
moving
around
Georgia
are “
appearance
but harmful
to the
touch.
LIFE, 7A
Honestly Local
Planners approve S. Hall development
Commission scaled back original proposal of nearly 400 housing units to just over 300
The Hall County Planning Com
mission voted Monday, Oct. 19, to
approve a 305-unit housing devel
opment off Spout Springs Road,
after the developer agreed to scale
back plans for the subdivision.
The Hall County Board of Com
missioners will have the final vote
Nov. 12.
Winder-based Ridgeline Land
Planning Inc. was initially was
seeking to build 274 apartments
and 124 townhomes, but the plan
ning commission voted Monday
to approve a development with a
maximum of 220 apartments and
85 townhomes. The development
would be located at 7285 Spout
Springs Road, near the Reunion
subdivision.
The proposal drew opposition
from some area residents Monday,
who said they were concerned
about traffic, erosion and the
development’s fit for the charac
ter of the area, which includes
several single-family home
developments.
Planning commissioners Johnny
Varner and Gina Pilcher voted in
opposition Monday, and all other
commissioners voted in favor.
Megan Reed
The Hall planning
commission voted
to approve a
development with
a maximum of 220
apartments and
85 townhomes
at 7285 Spout
Springs Road.
The Times
‘It takes all of us’
THOMAS HARTWELL I The Times
James Tipton, founder of Tipton Construction Co., stands outside his Gainesville business on Oct. 15. Tipton Construction was one
of two recipients of the Family Business of the Year awards for 2020 from the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce.
Family construction business founder reflects on company history
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
James Tipton had just wrapped up stud
ies at Gainesville Junior College (now
University of North Georgia) in Oakwood
when his father asked him a simple ques
tion, “What are you going to do next?”
“I blurted it out. I said, ‘I’m tired of
going to school,’” Tipton said.
And on that response, Tipton turned
from his plans of becoming a CPA, includ
ing further studies at Berry College near
Rome, and following in the family con
struction business.
Decades later, that decision would
serve him well, in the form of a successful
‘The Lord just smiled on
us. We were in this area
of North Georgia at the
(right) time.’
James Tipton
founder, Tipton Construction
business, which was recently recognized
by Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce
as 2019-20 Family Business of the Year.
Gainesville-based Tipton Construc
tion was one of two recipients — the
other being The Collegiate Grill at the
chamber’s 2020 gala.
“I tell everybody, ‘If we don’t have
somebody answering the phone, if we
don’t have somebody doing the books,
if we don’t have somebody digging the
ditch, we don’t build a building. It takes
all of us,” Tipton said in an interview last
week in his office at 604 Washington St.
NW.
Reflecting on his career and the com
pany’s history, he said, “The Lord just
smiled on us. We were in this area of
North Georgia at the (right) time. We
migrated from Jackson County over to
(Gainesville), and (Lake Lanier) just
boomed. We started by working for
■ Please see TIPTON, 4A
Downtown
parking deck
to close upper
floors Nov. 2
Several upper floors of Gainesville’s Main
Street parking deck will close for two weeks
beginning Monday, Nov. 2 to allow for initial
construction of the Gainesville Renaissance
development.
The third, fourth and fifth levels of the deck,
as well as the restroom area, will close. The
parking deck entrance facing the downtown
square will also be closed, but the Main Street
entrance will remain open.
Gainesville Renaissance will be a mixed-use,
three-story development on the Spring Street
side of Gainesville’s square that will include
restaurants and retail on the first floor, Brenau
University’s Lynn J. Darby School of Psychol
ogy and Adolescent Counseling on the second
floor and eight condominiums on the third
floor.
Developer Fred Roddy said Monday, Oct.
19, that prices for the condominiums were still
being determined and he was working with a
local marketing agency on the Renaissance
website. The development broke ground in
September.
A private pedestrian bridge will be built
between Renaissance and the third floor of
the parking deck, giving residents access to
parking. Sixteen spots on the fourth level will
be reserved for Renaissance residents, Gaines
ville City Manager Bryan Lackey said.
Megan Reed
The third,
fourth and
fifth levels of
Gainesville’s
Main Street
parking
deck, as
well as the
restroom
area, will
close Nov. 2
to allow for
construction.
Times file photo
Hall Schools to provide high-speed internet
BY KELSEY P0D0
kpodo@gainesvilletimes.com
Having 24/7 access to Wi-Fi will soon be eas
ier for Hall County students and parents this fall.
During the Hall County Schools Board of
Education meeting on Monday, Oct. 19, Aaron
Turpin, assistant superintendent of technology,
announced the district’s plans for setting up
additional Wi-Fi access points not only at each
school, but in Hall parks and other outdoor
locations in all seven clusters.
Turpin said all the funding for the project
came from the state who sent the equipment.
“One of the things we’re cognizant of is not all
parents and students have access to high speed
internet at home,” Turpin said before the board.
The internet will be filtered the same way
it is at each campus, so children won’t be able
to access inappropriate material. Turpin said
the Wi-Fi won’t be accessible to typical park
visitors, just students and teachers with the
guest password.
A new access point has already been tested
at Chicopee Woods Elementary’s outdoor
classrooms, which works 120 feet away from
the building. Turpin said the connectivity will
prove strong enough for Zoom calls as well as
livestr earning.
“We have Wi-Fi at the Hog Mountain Sports
Complex and the East Hall Community Cen
ter,” Turpin said after the meeting. “That’s the
first part. We hope to have them in all seven
access at parks
clusters by Thanksgiving.”
In other business
At the Monday meeting, Superintendent
Will Schofield said the district closed on the
property for its new Agribusiness Center.
The 51-acre plot was priced at $775,000. The
land will provide a cattle herd working farm
and agribusiness education for middle and
high school students.
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