About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (March 2, 2023)
Georgia star Jalen Carter charged with racing in fatal wreck. INSIDE, 3A Thursday, March 2, 20231 GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com Georgia bill dies that sought to curb gender talk in schools, inside, 4A Honestly Local GDOT holds public hearing over Inland Port impact BY BRIAN WELLMEIER bwellmeier @gainesvilletimes.com The Northeast Georgia Inland Port, a regional cargo terminal planned at Gateway Industrial Cen tre off Ga. 365 and White Sulphur Road, will fundamentally trans form the dynamic of transportation and traffic throughout the region. With the port expected to be fully operational by late 2024 or early 2025, that was the prevailing message conveyed by residents and engineers during a public hearing held at the Department of Transportation’s District 1 office Wednesday. More than two dozen people from Hall and surrounding counties in attendance pored over renderings of State Route 365 and discussed various aspects of the port with representatives of engineering con sultant Arcadis and officials from GDOT, which has begun a traffic study to assess the potential impact of the project on roads throughout the region. “We want to hear anything and everything from the community about what are problem areas, what would like to see done differ ently,” Deputy Project Manager for Arcadis and Modern Mobility Part ners Kirsten Mote said. “... .we’ve collected data of existing conditions to kind of show the level of conges tion, crashes that are occuring in the area, planned developments that’s supposed to be coming, (and) starting to model what the future might look like based on data.” Mote said that a Norfolk Southern railway running parallel to Ga. 365 will be active with “a lot of transfers from rail to truck” once the port becomes operational, raising the question of whether Norfolk plans to finance needed improvements to that railway infrastructure. Norfolk has so far been absent from discus sions with municipalities regarding the Inland Port’s potential impact. “The Georgia Port Authority indicated that they’re going to make some improvements on a side-track, (where) they pull cars off, and try not to impede traffic,” Mote said. Engineering consultants are “in the process of estimating future truck traffic” that could be gener ated by the port, according to Mote. “Trucks cannot be restricted on state routes,” she said. "... local routes can have truck restrictions. There are several truck restrictions already out there for signage - that is a decision at the local county level, so Hall County will be the one to enforce that.” ■ Please see PORT, 3A ‘We’ve done a very good job’ Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times Construction crews hold loudspeakers Wednesday, March 1, inside the theater portion of the new West Hall High School performing arts center. Work underway on S15.2M performing arts center at West Hall High The 31,000-square-foot theater will be able to seat 440 people, and it will also host plays and events for other schools in the area including West Hall Middle School. It will include a drama classroom and suites for band and chorus. BY BEN ANDERSON banderson@gainesvilletimes.com After hundreds of teacher layoffs and deep budget cuts in the midst of the Great Recession, Hall County school officials said there was one thing they refused to cut: the arts. Fast forward some 15 years and Johnson High School now has a $10.1 million performing arts center, and construction is well underway on a per forming arts center at West Hall High, planned to open in August. “I think we’ve done a very good job as far as supporting the arts,” said school board chairman Craig Herrington. The $15.2 million price tag also includes campus-wide restroom and locker room renovations, and a new concessions area at the gym. The old theater is being converted into a video workspace and five additional classrooms. The 31,000-square-foot theater will be able to seat 440 people, and it will also host plays and events for other schools in the area including West Hall Middle School. It will include a drama classroom and suites for band and chorus. “During the Great Recession, we refused to reduce our fine arts pro grams,” Superintendent Will Scho field wrote in a letter to the editor in response to a reader who claimed that the arts are disappearing while the school board plans to spend $8 mil lion on a meat processing center. “Our board of education has the option to spend fine arts allotments in other areas, but we don’t do this, because we believe in the transformational impact of fine arts.” Schofield wrote that they have spent over $43 million on four performing arts centers, including centers at East Hall High and North Hall High. He wrote that they employ 100 arts teach ers across its 37 schools and spend $8 to $9 million each year to pay their salaries. They have also allocated $2.82 million to expand the museum at DaVinci Academy, a program of choice at the Academies of Discovery at South Hall. School board member Mark Pettitt also wrote a response letter. The West Hall High performing arts center is located in his district. “Nearly 1,200 art courses are taught each day in 95% of your Hall County schools,” Pettitt wrote. “More than 16,000 students take art classes. Every middle and high school offers both band and chorus.” '!• IWjiTTjj; Self-storage proposed at North Hall site BY JEFF GILL jglll@galnesvllletlmes.com A former North Hall health care site may become the home of a 77,050-square-foot self storage development. Gainesville resident John S. Hemphill, who owns and operates a storage business in Logan- ville, is seeking to rezone the 7-acre site at 4916 Cleveland Highway for the development, which also would include parking for boats and recre ational vehicles. The gated development would be across from the longtime Dari Spot restaurant and south of Brookton-Lula Road/Ga. 52. Featuring six buildings and 10 boat and RV parking spaces, the project could take two to five years to complete, according to Hall County plan ning documents. “Self-storage is a low-intensity use, generat ing low traffic volumes and minimal demand on community resources,” Hemphill says in docu ments about the project. “It is a service-related operation providing storage solutions to area residents.” Gainesville-based Northeast Georgia Health System owns the property, which is valued at $148,400, according to Hall County property records. The site “was previously used as a health care facility,” Hemphill said, adding that buildings were torn down about 2012 and the property was ■ Please see STORAGE, 3A Hall County Planning Commission What: Rezoning for proposed self-storage development in North Hall When: 5:15 p.m. Monday, March 6 Where: Hall County Government Center, 2875 Browns Bridge Road, Gainesville JEFF GILL I The Times A77,050-square-foot self-storage development is proposed on a former health care site on Cleveland Highway in North Hall. Blackstock resigns as Ga. Mountain Food Bank director BY BRIAN WELLMEIER bwellmeier@gainesvilletimes.com Georgia Mountain Food Bank, a regional non profit organization that distributes meals across a five-county service area, is looking for a new executive director after the departure of Kay Blackstock. Blackstock led the organization for 15 years before submitting her resignation Feb. 2. She didn’t provide a reason for her decision to resign, according to Interim Executive Direc tor Rebecca Thurman. “...(Blackstock’s) focus was always to make sure that people who needed it most had food,” Thurman said. “We will continue that work that Kay and so many of the Food Bank’s biggest founding supporters felt was so important to the health and life of this community—that all people should be able to live their lives free of ■ Please see BLACKSTOCK, 3A
