Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

o o $1.00 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9,2023 Homer, Banks County, GA 30547 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. • 12 Pages, 1 Section Plus Supplements Vol. 57 No. 34 American Legion to hold open house Sat. American Legion Post 215 will hold an open house from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 12. “Come see all of the ren ovations that have been done,” leaders state. There will be BBQ sand wiches, hot dogs, desserts and drinks. The American Legion is located at 1350 Historic Ho mer Highway, Homer. The American Legion building was built in 1947. Chipotle opens at Banks Crossing Chipotle Mexican Grill has opened at Banks Cross ing. The restaurant opened to the public on Wednesday, Aug. 2. The restaurant will fea ture the brand’s signature Chipotlane, a drive-thru pickup lane that allows guests to pick up digital or ders without leaving their cars. Chipotle is located at 30881 Hwy. 441, Com merce. Hours are 10:45 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Homer Holiday Festival set The Homer Holiday Fes tival will be held Sept. 1-3. Friday night will be a pep rally for all Banks County athletes. The rally will be called “One Leopard Na tion.” The grand marshal will be Ann Hopkins, Banks County School System su perintendent. Planners table request for railway storage yard after hitting stalemate To be on agenda again Aug 15 By ANGELA GARY After one hour of dis cussion, the Banks County Planning Commission ta bled a request at its meeting last week from Towonna Wood to rezone a 15.35- acre lot located at the in tersection of Hwy. 441 and McCoy Bridge Road. Wood asked to change the zoning from ARR to C2 for the property to be used for a wholesale establishment with a special use for a stor age yard for railway compo nents. Planning commission member Taylor Griffin said that the comprehensive plan does call for commer cial at these intersections. However, he added that the plan also says development should serve the local resi dents. This was the issue that the planners could not agree on at the meeting. Chairman Jay O’Kelley first made a motion to ap prove the request. No one seconded his motion. Planning commission member Jason Hensley then made a motion to deny the request. No one seconded his motion. O’Kelly then made the motion to table the request until the Aug. 15 planning commission meeting. This motion passed unanimously. Hensley said, “We have to make the right decision for all parties and for all of Banks County. That is hard to do sometimes.” The site plan is available for review in the planning and zoning office for inter ested citizens, who can also drop off their comments on the request. A.J. Purcell spoke in sup port of the request and said the location is appropriate for a small business. “It is a great business— small family-owned busi ness,” Purcell said. “That is what Banks County has always been about.” Eight people spoke in op position to the request. “To add another junk yard to Banks County is a shame,” one woman said. Marsha Harris said, “I am pro small business, for sure. I’m just not sure this is right for our community.” Wayne Day said, “This is very heavy industrial. It will make a lot of noise. It will be a mess. I oppose this be cause of all the noise it will be making for our neighbor hood.” Jeremy Harris added, “It may not be in conflict with the plan but it is in conflict with everyone in that neigh borhood. Nobody wants it.... They should never got this far without a site plan.” Wood spoke after the comments, stating that there would be no fabrication on the property. POLICY DISCUSSION Also at the meeting, the planning commission dis cussed several policy issues, including the following: •O’Kelly questioned whether the format of the planning commission meet ing be consistent with the planning requests held by the board of commissioners. The difference is that the BOC opens and closes each public hearing request indi vidually. The planning com mission agreed to change the format to mirror the BOC hearings. •Griffin brought up the issue of the platting author ity of Banks County, which officials said is the planning commission. He said plat requests should come before the planning commission as a group and this needs to be followed. He said minor di visions could be approved by the planning official. •Griffin spoke on proce dures for meetings. He said recent amendments made concerning this issue should be consolidated into one document provided to all planning commission mem bers. •Meeting schedule, with O’Kelly stating that there may be two meetings per month instead of one. One reason is the platting re quests which could arise after the first meeting of the month has already been held. It was also pointed out that progress could also be halted on projects if they are held for one month until the next meeting. FOCUS ON PUBLIC SAFETY Public Safety was the topic of the recent Baldwin National Night Out. Displays from area law enforcement agencies, including the Baldwin Police Department, Banks County Sheriff’s Office and Georgia State Patrol, as well as activities for children. MOLLY WILLARD Molly’s Helping Hands Food Pantry serves county six months Molly’s Helping Hands Food Pantry has now served the citizens of Banks County for six months. The pantry is located at the Banks County Recreation Center and is always accessible for any who are in need, or want to donate food. Molly Willard and her mother work diligently to stock the pantry every week, oftentimes spending their own money to do so. For those who want to get involved, donations can be placed directly in the Molly’s Helping Hands Food Pan try, or entrusted to @Banks County Parks and Recreation staff. Both are located at 607 Thompson St, Homer. Popular items include pop-top canned food, peanut but ter & jelly, travel shampoos and soaps, diapers, and other toiletries. Monetary donations can also be made via Venmo to Pa- melaWillardl23. MAILING LABEL HOUSE FIRE CAUSED BY LIGHTNING The Banks County Fire & Emergency Services and the Jack- son County Correctional Institute Fire Department respond ed to 428 Otis Brown Road Aug. 7 on a reported structure fire. Firefighters found a single-family residence with heavy smoke and fire showing. Fire chief Steve Nichols states, “An initial aggressive fire attack allowed for a quick containment of the fire and the structure sustained moderate damage throughout. No one was home at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported. The cause of the fire was listed as ac cident/weather related from a lightning strike to a tree in the backyard. FIREFIGHTERS RESPOND TO CAR FIRE The Banks County Fire Department responded to a car fire at 2586 Hwy. 441 North, Homer, Monday afternoon. The fire was due to a mechanical condition and was accidental. No inju ries were reported. 14 14 3