Ahead of TSPLOST Joint Meeting Council Votes on Distribution and Project
Business, Community September 7, 2022
DAHLONEGA, Ga.- Before the Joint Meeting with Lumpkin County on Monday, Sept. 12 the City Council has approved the TSPLOST distribution and the Joint project that both the city and county will undertake.
The council also approved change orders and a supplemental agreement with GDOT for the Morrison Moore Pedestrian Bridge project. They accepted a bid for the asphalt patching and leveling project at the meeting as well.
On Aug. 1 the Dahlonega City Council and the Lumpkin County Commissioners held the first meeting to begin discussions on the TSPLOST before it is voted onto the ballot on Nov. To read what happened at that meeting visit https://lumpkin.fetchyournews.com/2022/08/02/county-and-city-begin-tsplost-discussions/.
Before a vote can be taken the distribution, and a joint project needs to be agreed on. There will also need to be an intergovernmental agreement. The distribution that the council approved is an 81/19 divide.
81% will go to the county and 19% will go to the City. This was decided on by using 75% of the population and 25% of road miles.
The project the council voted on was Auraria Road and Hwy 52/9 west intersection and Torrington Road. Once both governments have agreed to the project they will work with the DOT on what can be done to improve this intersection.
The meeting with the county will take place at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 12 in the County Commissioners’ executive board room. The commissioners and council will be holding special call meetings afterward to vote to add the TSPLOST to the budget and enter into an IGA.
City Engineer Mark Buchanan brought the council two change orders and a supplemental agreement with GDOT for the Morrison Moore Pedestrian bridge. The change orders are for a bridge foundation investigation and sidewalk modification near the bridge. The supplemental agreement is to allow GDOT to cover 80% of the cost of the change orders.
The change order for the bridge is $49,577.49. This was not originally budgeted because there was an investigation done when the bridge was built and Buchanan thought they could use that again and GDOT said no.
The change order for the sidewalk modification will be $32,704.24 with a projected $127,000.00 that will be saved during construction. The change here is from the originally planned urban style to a more rural style concrete trail near the bridge.
Heard in the clip above is Councilmember Ross Shirley commenting on the investment. Buchanan can also be heard explaining why the changes came about. To view the specific change order request go to https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/dahlonega-pubu/MEET-Packet-39991ca72e2e4d00b62932c8a9711a47.pdf, they begin on page 52.
The council approved Raines Grading, Hauling, & Paving for the annual asphalt patching and leveling projects. The cost for this contract is $261 per ton from Oct. 1, 2022, till Sept. 30, 2023. Raines was the only bidder for this project.
“$261 seem high but we are talking about you know you roll out all your equipment to fix a hole the size of this podium and then you pack your stuff up and move to the other side of town and do it again, it’s incredibly labor intensive,” explained Buchanan.
Mayor JoAnne Taylor while signing the proclamation.
Lastly, the Mayor and the City Council proclaimed the month of Oct. to be National Long-Term Care Resident’s Month. The entire proclamation can be viewed using the link above and going to page 19. This is to honor the residents of nursing homes.
Council Approves Rezoning Ordinance 2022-03
Business, Community February 8, 2022
DAHLONEGA, Ga. – The City Council approved the Rezoning Ordinance 2022-03 at the meeting on Feb. 7 after hearing from the public at a Public Hearing on Jan. 18.
The council also approved the bids for the two asphalt leveling and resurfacing projects. They ratified the newly appointed Board of Ethics members and sworn in those who were present. Lastly, Mayor JoAnne Taylor made an Arbor Day proclamation.
Chris and Don Head came before the City Council at a public hearing on Jan. 18 to explain why they were applying for a rezoning from R-1 Residential to a B-1 Business zone. The council listened both to the Heads and to the public that came out, for more information on that meeting visit https://lumpkin.fetchyournews.com/2022/01/19/council-hears-public-concerns-on-rezoning/.
The Council voted to approve the rezoning with conditions. Councilmember Roman Gadis had previously been contacted by parties directly interested in the matter and he recused himself from the matter. There are six in all but the two that the residents of Skyline Drive were most concerned with are numbers one and two.
Number one states any site plan shall reflect no vehicular access or driveway provided through Skyline Drive and shall also comply with all relevant zoning and development regulations. Number two states the only approved vehicular access to the property shall be from North Grove Street under permitting by the Georiga Department of Transportation and the City of Dahlonega. To view the remaining conditions visit https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/dahlonega-pubu/MEET-Packet-652a531e766d4743b1598361783df0b4.pdf, they begin on page 28.
The next item the council approved was the two asphalt leveling and resurfacing projects. These projects will take place in the entire North Hall Road area. The bid came from Colditz Trucking.
For the first project, which the state will cover 70% and the city will be responsible for the other 30%, the bid came in at $145,102.71. The second project is bid at $146,105.31. The council approved both of these bids from Colditz.
The newly appointed Board of Ethics members while being sworn in by Mayor JoAnne Taylor.
The Council also ratified their choices for the Board of Ethics members. The board of ethics is called in if there is a concern with how a council member has handled a matter.
Each council member selected two candidates for the board. They will serve for two years, and those that were present at the meeting were sworn in the rest will be sworn in at a later date.
“A very important part of our mission as public servants is to be ethical in our dealings and we have been a certified City of Ethics for quite some time now but when there is a change in your mayor or council members we usually go through and reappoint our ethics representatives,” explained Taylor.
Taylor also took the opportunity to proclaim Feb. 24 Arbor Day in the City of Dahlonega. There will be the planting of a tree ceremony on that day at a location to be determined.
The council also announced that they will be selecting a member to fill post 5 for the remainder of the term which lasts till December of 2023. The requirements for the position are the same as if the position was being elected by the voters.
The city will be taking applications until Feb. 21 and will fill the post on Mar. 7. The application is available online at https://dahlonega.gov/applications-and-forms/ and can be turned into Mary Csukas the City Clerk.
Council Hears Public Concerns on Rezoning
Business, Community January 19, 2022
DAHLONEGA, Ga.- The City Council heard the concerns of residents over the rezoning application for 60 Skyline Drive at a public hearing on Jan. 18.
The council also heard the proposed budgets for the asphalt leveling and resurfacing of the city streets project and the local maintenance and improvement grant resurfacing project. They also approved a Mayor Pro Tem in a Special Call Meeting that took place after the work session.
Chris Head while explaining the application to the Council.
Don and Chris Head have asked the council to consider a rezoning change for their property at 60 Skyline Drive. The zoning for the property is currently an R1 single-family residential zone. The Heads would like the property to be rezoned to a B1 neighborhood business zone.
The Heads are currently selling the property to a local lawyer for the use of law offices. Some of the citizens that live off of Skyline Drive attended the meeting to voice their concerns with the rezoning of the property.
Chief among those concerns is the possible increase in traffic on Skyline Drive. The solution that they offered was to close off the driveway into Skyline and only use the entrance on North Grove Street. Another concern that was expressed was what would be allowed to move into the space once the law offices were no longer there and the possible noise impact that future business would have on the surrounding areas.
The site plan of the property at 60 Skyline Drive.
The council addressed the concerns and talked over the possibility of closing the entrance into Skyline Drive however they were uncomfortable moving forward with that course with DOT approval. They also explained to the citizens that in order for another business to come in that future business would have to go through a process of approval from the council.
Staff at this time has recommended that the council approve the application for the rezoning of 60 Skyline Drive. To view the application along with the site plans for the project visit https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/dahlonega-pubu/MEET-Packet-80aa5b0863524c56b0d23653b3320d98.pdf. The council will vote on this matter at their next regular meeting on Feb. 7 at 6:00 p.m.
The next item that the council heard was the budget for the asphalt leveling and resurfacing project. The streets involved in the project include Welch Drive, Housely Road, Dogwood Drive, Woodland Hills, Hill Crest Drive, Self Drive, Trahlyta Trail, and Laurel Lane.
The budget for this project is $150,000 based on the required quantity of asphalt needed for the project. This will go out for bid on Feb. 7 and then will come before the council for a vote.
Vince Hunsinger Capital Projects Manager also brought the local maintenance and improvement grant (LMIG) project before the council. This is a project for resurfacing as well and will include North Hall Road and Dalton Drive.
The proposed budget for the project is $110,000.00, 30% of that comes from the City’s general fund and the other 70% comes from the GDOT Local Maintenance & Improvement Grant Program. This will also go out to bid on Feb. 7 and once there is a bid come back to the council for approval.
Council also approved councilmember Ron Larson as the Mayor Pro Tem. This means if Mayor Taylor is not able to attend a meeting Larson takes on the responsibilities of Mayor at the meeting.
The Council and Mayor also made comments regarding the work that the City staff did during Winter Storm Izzy this past weekend. Taylor also gave an update on Dahlonega’s COVID numbers.
Currently, the numbers are up 42% in the last 2 weeks, and in total there have been 446 hospitalizations and 94 deaths since COVID began. To stay up to date on the current COVID numbers and CDC guidelines visit https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home.
“We had a large number of employees and staff who spent literally 24 hours in some cases working on that storm with very little opportunity to get food and drink since all the restaurants were closed, it was definitely a team effort and we are so thankful for them,” praised Taylor.