GAINESVILLE – Nearly a decade ago the “plan” dominated local media headlines; Thursday night what’s left of the “plan” was so benign that it was easily lost among the 33 other consent agenda items passed in a single vote by the Hall County Commission.
Many people new to the area might not be aware that Hall County was once ardently pursuing a “plan” to build an 850-acre reservoir in the northern portion of the county. The property purchased by the county roughly 12-miles northeast of Gainesville would become the namesake of the lake that would slowly accumulate behind an earthen dam planned for Flat Creek: Glades Farm Reservoir.
The reason for the mega-million dollar project was water. County leaders began preparing as far back as 2008 for the worst case scenario: that water withdrawal from Lake Lanier would be severely restricted.
Those concerns are now distant following rulings by various administrative judges, a Supreme Court-appointed Special Master assigned to determine the “Water Wars” outcome, the EPA and others. Earlier today a decision was handed down by Special Master Judge Paul J. Kelly that further reduces the urgent need for Hall County to find a new source for drinking water.
So Thursday’s passage of the Ninth Extension of the Glades Land Management Agreement by the county commission may have “slipped under the radar” to many, but not to those who remember the struggles and challenges and worries that dominated an earlier time.
County Manager Jock Connell said after the meeting, “This ninth extension does keep the reservoir project potentially alive somewhere in the future. As of right now we have no immediate plans to pursue the permit or building of the reservoir.”
Connell added, “We took action two or three years ago to put that on the back burner, but what this extension does do, it does keep the project alive, it does keep the potential for a reservoir somewhere out there in the future.”
The Letter of Intent first became effective January 15, 2010, and has since been amended and extended numerous times. Initially the agreement was between Hall County and Glade Farm, LLC. Later that year the Gainesville and Hall County Development Authority was added to the arrangement.
Connell said, “We’ve kind of put this on the back burner for now. The permitting process, at some point, will probably come back to the front burner again, but in the interim we’re extending the agreement.”
COMMISSION APPROVES REZONING, SPECIAL USE FOR LANDFILL
In a pair of 3-2 votes Clyde Davis Broadway, Jr. received permission to use a 12.75-acre site along Calvary Church Road for recycling dirt removed from construction trenches.
Although the official application process with Hall County categorizes Broadway’s use of the property as fitting the definition of a landfill, Broadway’s attorney said because the dirt taken to the site was later removed and used elsewhere, the term “Recovered Material Processing Facility” was more apt a description.
Josh Scroggins argued for his client, “It is not a permanent depository.” Scroggins said other jurisdictions and the EPD do not classify what Broadway does as landfill activity.
Seldom are the final details of an agreement between an applicant, his opponents and county commissioners worked out aloud, and in front of an audience; but that is what appeared to happen as Broadway’s attorney, the attorney for a neighboring business that opposed the special use application, and Hall County Commissioners and county staff seemed to find a place of agreement in a very public fashion.
As part of the agreement Broadway said he would withdraw two other similar (and adjoining) rezoning and special use applications coming before the commission in January, repair the improperly used property to original condition, and abide by a strict set of conditions attached to Thursday night’s application, meeting the demands of all parties concerned.
Chairman Richard Higgins and Commissioner Shelley Echols were the two dissenting votes.
