HOMER — The Banks County Commission has shot down plans for an applicant to open an events center on property off Ga. 63.
Acting on the recommendation of the Banks County Sheriff’s Office and after expressing their own concerns, the county commission voted 5-0 Tuesday night to deny the conditional use application for the property at 5479 Highway 63, Toccoa.
The application states the property would have been used for horse racing, rodeos, possible concerts and other special events, with as many as 5,000 to 6,000 people paying to attend.
Speaking in favor of the application, Jimmy Brown Jr. addressed concerns about horse racing and possible gambling occurring on the property.
“It will be match races for entertainment purposes only,” Brown told commissioners. “I’m not giving anybody permission to bet.”
After showing about half of an eight-minute investigative news video into illegal horse racing operations in another state, Banks County Chief Deputy Shawn Wilson told commissioners the sheriff’s office is not adequately staffed to deal with the issues created by a facility with the estimated crowds.
“With just four deputies responding to 25 calls in a 12-hour shift, we do not have the resources to facilitate large functions,” Wilson said. “We are stating, as of right now, the Banks County Sheriff’s Office cannot provide adequate public safety services for a business of this caliber.”
Brown said he would limit alcohol coming onto the property to one 12-pack per vehicle, but commissioners pointed out that 12 beers consumed by two people could still place them over the legal alcohol limit.
“That’s a big concern of mine,” Commissioner Danny Maxwell said. “I don’t want alcohol out there.”
Maxwell said alcohol to him was a bigger concern than potential betting.
Wilson said even if the proposed facility contracts with a private security company to maintain order on the grounds, sheriff’s deputies still will have to respond there.
“While private security may be an option for the events center, it does not relieve the sheriff’s office of our duty to investigate criminal offenses,” Wilson told commissioners. “On July 15 of this year, the horse track held its inaugural event. That evening, an assault was reported in which a female victim with visible marks reportedly was told by the private security at the track to leave the event before calling 9-1-1 so as to prevent law enforcement from entering the area.”
Brown denied knowledge of the incident, saying no one made him aware.
Commissioners told him a sheriff’s office incident report is on file.
Wilson said should the new facility be approved, the sheriff’s office was requesting an immediate amendment to this year’s budget to allow the hiring to two additional sheriff’s deputies and all associated equipment.
The July event on the property was held prior to consideration of the required conditional use by the county.
Wilson said the sheriff’s office, fire/EMS and other county officials would need to sit down and develop a plan before the county could approve such a facility.
“We can have a coordinated effort to ensure a family fun event for businesses coming into Banks County,” Wilson said. “To do this, we must use the model that the Atlanta Dragway uses to ensure a safe time for all. Why should the Atlanta Dragway spend money on private security, medical staff and traffic coordinators if other large sporting event facilities are not required to do the same? We must do this for the security of our local citizens, travelers, and the public as a whole. We cannot afford to lose another child at a race track as we did just a few short years ago. Let us not selfishly have blood on our hands for the almighty dollar.”
Commissioners said there were a variety of concerns that influenced their decisions to deny the conditional use request.
“There were more than safety concerns,” Commission Chairman Jimmy Hooper told AccessWDUN after the meeting. “We had some sanitation concerns. We had some parking concerns. We had lack of lights – lots of things that were in question about the events center.”
Additionally, the video shown by Wilson discussed problems with gambling, safety of attendees and potential drugs at facilities where similar activities take place.
“I think the [chief deputy] brought forth a good point when he showed the film about what’s going on in other states,” Hooper said. “Some of this is not good for your communities. In Banks County, these five guys that sit up here, we have the responsibility to do what we think is best and improve the quality of life in Banks County for its citizens, and I didn’t see a plus and my four other friends here didn’t see a plus either, so maybe they need to rethink what they want to do with that farm.”
Similarly, Commissioner Charles Turk said infrastructure and other concerns led him to vote against the conditional use for the property.
“I thought one of the main concerns was that they hadn’t done any kind of soil analysis, so we don’t know if they’re going to be able to put a commercial septic system in there,” Turk told AccessWDUN. “If you’ve got several thousand people then you’ve got to have something besides porta-johns there.”
Turk said he also was concerned that the applicant hadn’t approached the Georgia Department of Transportation to address the needs for turn lanes at the property.
Turk also told AccessWDUN he was concerned about the farm being located in a floodplain.
“If you have a deluge of rain all of a sudden, then you’re going to have a bunch of trapped people,” Turk said. “The sheriff’s office had a big concern about security there, and them having to actually work traffic and so forth, and they don’t have enough manpower to be able to work big events like that.”
Turk said it appeared the applicant didn’t do enough work before submitting the application to the county.
“There were a lot of concerns that we had that didn’t seem like were addressed up front, and I don’t know that there was a whole lot of research done into it, so there were just so many things that we felt like were unanswered questions,” Turk said. “Before we could approve it, we needed to know all those answers.”
Turk said as a result of the denial for the conditional use the property cannot be used for any paying event.
“They will not be able to do those events there like they’d had before,” Turk said.
