The Commerce news. (Commerce, Ga.) 1???-current, January 06, 2016, Image 1

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The Commerce news., January 06, 2016, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextVol. 139 No. 48 20 Pages 2 Sections The Commerce New Wednesday JANUARY 6, 2016 www.CommerceNewsTODAY.com 50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875 Red Cross blood drive set Tuesday The American Red Cross will hold a blood drive Tuesday, Jan. 12, from noon to 6 p.m. in the family fellowship center of the First Baptist Church of Commerce. The church is located at 1345 South Broad Street, Commerce. The Red Cross pro vides blood services to local hospitals, includ ing Northridge Medical Center and the Athens, Gainesville and Atlanta area hospitals. A unit of blood can help treat up to three people. Blood donations are processed into three primary components, red blood cells to treat trauma, platelets for can cer patients and plasma for burn victims. Whole blood is also used in surgery. Red blood cells have a 42-day shelf life. Participants on Tuesday will receive a coupon for a free Chick fil-A sandwich at the Banks Crossing restau rant. To schedule an appointment, go to www.redcrossblood .org and use the sponsor code coco. Walk-ins are welcome. Donors should drink plenty of non-caffeinat- ed fluids and eat iron- rich foods. Chamber sets banquet for Jan. 21 The Jackson County Area Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual awards ban quet at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 21, at the Jefferson Civic Center. For ticket information, call the chamber office at 706- 387-0300. INDEX Church News ....10A Classified Ads 5B Crime News 6-7A Obituaries 4B Opinion 4A School 8A Sports 1-3B Social News 9A MAILING LABEL BELOW Thinking BIG The Commerce Downtown Development Authority has decid- by two University of Georgia graduate students for the long-va ed that finding a developer to build a “boutique hotel” designed cant Oxford building site will be a top priority for 2016. 2016 DDA priority: Hotel, condos on old Oxford site BY MARK BEARDSLEY Imagine a hotel in downtown Commerce. The Commerce Downtown Development Authority is making the transformation of the former Oxford building on State Street into a “bou tique hotel” complex one of its top priorities for 2016. The DDA has a conceptual plan drafted by University of Georgia graduate students, and the city is apparently willing to give the property (for $1) to a developer who would put a hotel/restau- rant complex right across from the Commerce Civic Center. The issue came up in a joint meeting of the DDA and the Commerce Civic Center & Tourism Author ity last Tuesday by John Whitten of Chapman Hall Realtors, who chairs the civic center authority. Whitten is in the process of renovating the former tattoo parlor on Cherry Street. “If we could take on the project of finding a buyer for that (Oxford) building to do that, that would be an amazing accomplishment,” Whitten said. Whitten said he had contacted “a couple of hotel owners on Interstate 85” and offered the building at $1, suggesting that business from the civic center would help make the project success ful. He has also shown the building to potential developers three times. “We just want somebody who’s going to take that vision and make it a reality” Whitten told the group. The hotel scenario includes some “high-end condos and a restaurant in front,” Whitten said, adding that city incentives could aid the process. “I think we can do it guys... The civic center is what’s making it happen with all the business we have there,” Whitten said. “Never give up, you guys, because it will happen.” The DDA agreed to make the hotel the 2016 focus of its Economic Revitalization Committee. The concept, created by UGA design students Arwen Chen and Bryan Hardman for a class proj ect, envisions 14 hotel rooms, two 1,350-square-foot galleries, six 1,350-square-foot condominiums, one retail terrace, outdoor dining and a new parking area. Also on Tuesday the DDA board decided on areas of focus for its other committees during 2016. The Design Committee will focus on solidifying its faqade grant pregram and installing “gateway” entrance markers similar but smaller in scale than the marker at the intersection of Homer Road and the U.S. 441 bypass. Interim director Natalie Thomas reported that the DDA has $4,300 in its faqade grant account, but that Pinnacle Bank has already agreed to contribute funding in 2016. Local financial institutions are the source of funding for the program, though the DDA has expressed inter est in supplementing that with other donations or fundraisers. The major effort of the Promotions Committee will be to “rebrand” Commerce, part of which will be done with a new DDA/city logo. The Operations Committee will be tasked with running or coordinating the DDA’s events, ranging from the Folk to Fine Arts Festival & Expo, to the Independence Day celebration, Commerce Crui sin’, the annual beautification day Easter parade and Christmas events. New mayor, council installed in Nicholson Town hall meetings set to discuss SPLOST New mayor sworn in New Nicholson Mayor Jan Webster takes the oath of office administered by Magistrate Judge Billy Chandler. A large crowd gathered at Nicholson City Hall on Monday night to meet and greet their newest local leaders. Mayor Jan Webster and council members Lamar Watkins and Mike Barfield were sworn into their elected positions prior to Nicholson’s first regular City Council meeting of 2016. Webster’s first meeting as mayor was brief, but the freshly-sworn-in offi cial made efforts to be up-close-and-personal with her constituents. Webster invited all in attendance for refreshments and a meet- and-greet following the con clusion of Monday’s busi ness. Webster said she was excited to see “so many members of the commu nity” in attendance, and hopes to see that trend con tinue. “We are humbled that you all came out on a cold night,” said Webster. “I hope this is the beginning of a whole lot of meetings you are going to attend.” Webster also urged Nicholson residents to attend an “open retreat See “Nicholson” on 5A The Jackson County Board of Commissioners will hold two “town hall meetings” to provide information on the March 1 vote on the one-cent special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST). The meetings will be held at 5 p.m. on Monday Jan. 11, and at 9 a.m. on Saturday Jan. 16, in the Jury Assembly Room of the Jackson County Courthouse. If approved by voters, the BOC will get 70 percent of the SPLOST, estimated to total $55.5 million over six years. The county’s nine cities will divide the remaining 30 percent. Of the $38.8 million the BOC will receive, $21 million will be used to pay off county debt. A little over $9 million will be used for county water projects, $3 million for county road projects, $2.5 million for public safety equipment including 30 new patrol vehicles, and $2.5 million for parks and recreation. The bulk of the parks and rec funds will go toward building a recreation park at Gum Springs. In addition to the March 1 SPLOST referen dum, citizens will also vote on extending the education local option sales tax (ELOST) for the county’s three school districts, which divide the revenue according to an enrollment based formula. The presidential preference primaries will also be on the March 1 ballot.