Hedgewood hoping to hop Main Street
By Erika Neldner
erikaneldner@ledgernews.com
Hedgewood Properties LLC is buying about 30 acres on the west side of Main Street for a large mixed-use development in downtown Woodstock, across the street from its existing 32-acre, $75 million Woodstock Downtown project. Some of the land is on Noonday, Elm and Oak streets, documents show.
The project also includes the creation of a grid street network on downtown streets to be designed before development begins, if the project is approved.
“We’re proposing small community urban developments,” said David Smith, service president for Hedgewood Properties. “We’ve asked in the zoning to take it to 20 units an acre overall. That doesn’t mean the entire property is going to be residential—it is going to be a mixed use of residential and commercial.”
(Right: Hedgewood Properties purchased 30.75 acres for a large mixed-use development across Main Street from the developer’s existing Woodstock Downtown project. The yellow areas on the map indicate the property under consideration for the rezoning. Ledger-News)
The Cumming-based developer is requesting to rezone the acreage to the Central Business District zoning category under the city’s downtown master plan from the master
plan’s zoning categories DT-CBD and DT-MRA (medium residential) with zoning conditions that include adding 20 residential units per acre including single-family detached homes, town homes, “multi-family units above and adjacent to commercial and independent retirement living,” documents show.
The new development has already been named Woodstock West, and Smith said the project is expected to include another Building B-type (the largest building in the Woodstock Downtown development) structure for multi-family residential, as well as town homes and possibly a few single-family detached homes.
The company doesn’t have a specific site plan yet, Smith said.
The zoning conditions of the application filed with the city also request a grocery store and general merchandise stores, with a maximum of 4,500 square feet, plus one at 22,000 square feet.
The development, if approved, will expand the CBD west, turning the downtown district into more than just a linear shopping area. Smith said he hopes to incorporate the new properties with the older businesses.
“Hopefully we’ll blend it in,” Smith said, adding the focal point of Woodstock West will be the intersection of Main and Noonday streets. “We don’t plan to try to buy them all up. We hope they all stay. The Bank of Woodstock will stay.”
The developer purchased properties as far south as Steven Campbell’s law office, just two parcels north of Dupree Road. Smith said the company is negotiating another property, which fronts Main Street near Noonday Street.
A Development of Regional Impact (DRI) application was filed Oct. 10 for the 30.75-acre project. A DRI is a large-scale development, which would likely impact more areas than just the jurisdiction in which it is located and is reviewed by the Atlanta Regional Commission and the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority.
“We’re working on a grid street network to relieve traffic at the intersection of Main Street and Towne Lake Parkway/Arnold Mill Road,” Smith said. “Our intention is to…pick up and rebuild Noonday Street so it creates a grid system.”
Smith said the street design is the company’s first order of business for the project.
“The most important thing for us to do right now is to get the grid system designed because, unless we can relieve traffic, we’re not going to be very successful,” Smith said.
The grid network will allow more traffic to travel through the downtown area, as well as create other choices, said Richard McLeod, director of planning and economic development for the city.
“Mathematically you can prove that a grid network will allow more traffic than just widening a road will,” McLeod said. “It’s not just about volume, it’s about choice of routing.”
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Pro-SPLOST campaign mobilizes for ‘yes’ vote
By Carolyn Mathews
carolynmathews@ledgernews.com
A 28-member coalition of community leaders has geared up its campaign to ensure that Cherokee County citizens vote “yes” Nov. 7 to continue the county’s one-penny sales tax for education. Collections from the tax will be used by the Cherokee County School District to fund the construction of up to seven new schools, along with classroom additions and renovations and technology improvements.
The group, which calls itself Cherokee Citizens for Children’s Classrooms, held a press conference at Canton City Hall Oct. 11.
“This is a grassroots effort to make sure voters know that the one-penny tax is the only way to fund new schools.
This is not a new tax,” said the group’s co-chair, JoEllen Wilson (Right), who
is a Canton city council member and Reinhardt faculty member. “The state legislature does not allow impact fees for education.”
Co-chairperson Don Stevens said the school system expects to serve 57,000 students by 2012. The system currently has 35,000 students.
“This is a tremendous increase, and we’ve got to have a way to pay for it. We can’t raise property taxes high enough,” Stevens said. “This way, everyone pays, even the tourist who buys gas in Cherokee on his way to Florida.”
The new Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) is expected to raise $210 million.
In the same question, the school district requests a proposed $430 million bond issue that would help pay off the school district’s past construction debts.
Stevens cited a Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce member survey just completed that showed 78.9 percent of those responding felt that the current penny sales tax should be continued.
“I see this as a great vote of confidence,” he said, referring to the survey results.
At $210 million dollars, the amount SPLOST is allowed to generate, spread over five years and across 70,000 homes in the county (2004 census figures), works out to about $600 per household per year. (The actual amount would be less per household, depending on how much money is raised from shopers outside the county.) Those who shop in Cherokee have been paying the one-penny tax since the county began its first educational SPLOST collection in 1997 and then voted to renew it in 2000. The current SPLOST expires in December 2007.
Cherokee County School Superintendent Frank Petruzielo has warned that a school system study shows that if growth continues at the present rapid rate, the high school might have to go to double sessions and kindergarten might be made a half-day to avoid critical overcrowding situations. Currently, several large residential developments that could add as many as 15,000 new students to the system are seeking county approval .
(Right: Members of the pro-SPLOST committee mobilize with signs and flyers Oct. 11. Organizers say the
one-penny tax is the best way to raise money for schools.)
Since the one-penny tax was initiated, it has helped fund the construction of 12 new schools, as well as additions and renovations at seven schools. A new transportation facility was built with SPLOST revenues and technology labs and land purchases for new school construction have been partially funded.
At the press conference, other members of the political action committee spoke up on why they want to see the SPLOST renewed.
- Cherokee County Commissioner Harry Johnston: “The SPLOST is realistically the only way. There’s no other legally available program to fund school construction. We’ve got good schools; now we want to keep good schools.”
- Trina Hutchison, community representative: “I have two children at Hasty Elementary. It opened last year and it’s already overcrowded. Where are we going to put all these students? On the roof? There’s not enough room for more portables at many schools. They’ll have to start serving lunch at 9 a.m.”
- Valerie Johnson, community representative: “I’ll hold Cherokee Schools up to any in the nation. We purposely moved back here for the schools.”
- Dennis Jane, community representative: “I live in Bradshaw Farm and I have eight grandchildren, five of whom live in Cherokee County. Senior citizens need to realize that good education is the core of a good community.”
- Tommy McFarland, chairman, Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce and owner of McFarland IGA: “We have so many apartments now, and those who live in them don’t pay property tax. The SPLOST is a fair tax, because it’s paid by everybody.”
The pro-SPLOST committee will be placing “Vote Yes to Keep SPLOST” signs and has more than 35,000 brochures to pass out. It is planning an e-mail campaign and has established a Web site with information on the one-penny tax: www.cherokeecountyclassrooms4kids.com.
“We’re blitzing the county in the next three weeks,” Stevens said.
Other members of the committee are state Rep. Calvin Hill, County Commission Chairman Mike Byrd, Waleska Mayor Marguerite Cline, Holly Springs Mayor Tim Downing, Woodstock Mayor Donnie Henriques, Georgia Parent Teacher Association (PTA) 13th District Director Melody Richitelli, Cherokee County Council PTA President Bruce Coleman, and community representatives Vinny Amatulli, Dan Carmichael, Beth Choppa, Gene Cornelison, Dr. Bill Early, Laura Mikszan, Kim Overy, Kevin Williams, Delmara Grant, Jim Maher and committee co-treasurers Mark Outler and Scott Cagle.
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Cashin campaigns for hemp, horse racing
By Tom Brooks
tombrooks@ledgernews.com
A southeastern Cherokee County resident is running on decidedly controversial positions as the Libertarian Party candidate for Georgia commissioner of agriculture.
Union Hill resident Jack Cashin (Right), who is making his third campaign for statewide office, is the Libertarian candidate in the Nov. 7 general election.
Cashin said he wants laws changed to allow for the government to “re-legalize industrial hemp,” use pari-mutuel horseracing to fund music and arts programs in Georgia schools, reduce property tax levels for Georgia farmers and creation of a workers program to “assimilate” illegal immigrants as legal Georgians.
Incumbent Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin is the Democratic nominee for the job he has held since 1969 and Gary Black, president of the Georgia Agribusiness Council, is the Republican nominee.
Cashin said he hopes to garner 10 percent to 12 percent of the vote, but would be happy with four percent. His total campaign budget is about $2,500, Cashin said. Both Black and Irvin have million-dollar campaigns, records show.
If no agriculture commissioner candidate receives 50 percent in the general election, a runoff between the two top vote-getters would be held Dec. 5. The same scenario would play out in the other statewide races with three candidates on general election ballots, including the gubernatorial contest between Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, Democratic challenger Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor and Libertarian Garrett Hayes
Irvin, who has announced this is his last campaign, is seeking a final electoral victory in his more than half-century in public life. Black, in his first run for elective office, is pursuing an upset victory that would also signal – if the GOP recaptures the Governor’s office and other key offices – a continuing major shift in party loyalty among Georgians.
The three candidates are scheduled for a live 30-minute debate hosted by the Atlanta Press Club that is to be shown Oct. 22 on Georgia Public Broadcasting stations. The Sunday debate is slated to start at 4 p.m.
Cashin said Black and Irvin are siding with the interests of large corporations instead of families, independent farmers and consumers. According to Cashin, there is little difference in the major party candidates for commissioner.
“I call them Tweedle-D and Tweedle-R,” he said.
The campaign Web site for Cashin, www.votecashin.com, is the only one of the three featuring a spinning marijuana leaf. The Web site shows the candidate saying he “got fired several times” from past jobs.
Cashin said hemp isn’t the same as marijuana becase it isn’t smoked as a drug but, rather, has thousands of uses for making products, such as fiber, rope, clothing and as a source of biodiesel.
He said hemp, which was last legal until a few years after World War II, could be turned into a $1-billion industry for Georgia agriculture.
Black opposes hemp and pari-mutuel horse racing, a spokesperson for his campaign said. Irvin said hemp is a federal issue and pari-mutuel horse racing, which he hasn’t opposed, is an issue that would need support from the Georgia government and voters to make it legal in the state.
Black and Irvin are battling over who is best suited to run the department. Both, like Cashin, are North Georgia residents.
Irvin, a Habersham County resident, says he has “the record” to continue as Georgia’s top agriculture official. Black, a Jackson County resident, says he is ready to lead the department as a 21st-century agency.
Irvin said Georgians like his leadership as commissioner. “We’ve got a great department,” he said.
Irvin said his campaign was slated to roll out commercials touting his “major theme” of promoting food safety in Georgia.
Black, who emerged from a field of four candidates, winning the Aug. 8 general primary runoff over State Sen. Brian Kemp, R-Athens, said voters like him.
“My message of protecting Georgia’s food supply, creating an alternative fuel industry and promoting Georgia’s products was proven to resonate with Georgia voters in the primary,” Black said. “My progress across the state shows that it will do so in the general election as well.”
The Web sites for the major party candidates are
tommyirvincampaign.com and votegaryblack.com.
In addition to Cashin and Hayes, the other 2006 Libertarian candidates for statewide races include lieutenant governor candidate Allen Buckley, secretary of state candidate Kevin Madsen and state school superintendent candidate David Chastain.
Cashin was widely credited with influencing the final result of the 1996 U.S. Senate race won by incumbent Democratic Sen. Max Cleland over Republican Atlanta businessman Guy Millner that was decided in a runoff.
Cashin received 3.6 percent of the general election vote. Two years later, he received 3.4 percent of the vote in the gubernatorial contest won by Democrat Roy Barnes over Millner.
Dr. Merle Black, an Emory University political science professor who is widely quoted on political campaigns, said Libertarians typically receive around 2 percent to 3 percent of the vote. Cashin’s candidacy probably will receive the same level of votes, he said.
Few voters will likely be aware of Cashin’s candidacy until they view ballots, said Dr. Black, who is not related to Gary Black.
The contest between Black and Irvin “looks competitive,” said Dr. Black. “I think this is Irvin’s toughest opponent.”
Even if Black loses this time, he would be better positioned for a future campaign, Dr. Black said.
“At the minimum, he’s advertising himself,” he said of the Republican candidate.
Cashin said he enjoys campaigning, but he doesn’t plan to travel throughout Georgia for votes.
“I like the process, it’s fun,” Cashin said.
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Officer injured in interstate wreck
By Erika Neldner
erikaneldner@ledgernews.com
An early morning accident on Interstate 575 left a Holly Springs police officer and the other motorist injured.
Ofc. Will Rownd was monitoring speeds on I-575 Oct. 14 and was attempting to stop a vehicle at about 6:45 a.m., said Senior Trooper Larry Schnall, public information officer for the Georgia State Patrol.
“We believe he was prepared to stop a violator,” Schnall said.
(Right: Holly Springs police officer Will Rownd’s cruiser was totaled after another motorist crashed into him just before 7 a.m. Oct. 14 on Interstate 575. Both Rownd and the other driver were taken by air ambulance to area hospitals. Special)
As Rownd was traveling southbound just south of the Rabbit Hill Road bridge, a Buick LeSabre traveling northbound lost control, crossed the median and hit Rownd’s patrol car head-on, Schnall said.
The impact pushed Rownd’s vehicle off the road and into an embankment, Schnall said.
Police believe the driver of the Buick had a seizure causing him to lose control of his vehicle, Schnall said.
Rownd was taken by air ambulance to Atlanta Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries, and the other driver, whose name was not released, was flown to Grady Memorial Hospital.
Rownd was expected to undergo surgery for fractures in his right leg and his left kneecap, said Holly Springs Police Chief Ken Ball.
Ball said despite the accident, Rownd is doing well.
One of the witnesses, who was driving right behind Rownd, said he feared he would have been hit and possibly killed, if the officer had not been there, Ball said. Rownd told Ball if he saved someone, it was worth it, Ball said.
Ball said, despite the accident, he won’t change his mind about having his officers run speed patrols on I-575.
“Absolutely not,” Ball said, adding it was a freak accident. “We’re often in harm’s way. It would be almost like saying we’re not going to respond to domestic violence calls because someone was hurt answering a domestic violence call.”
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