| Braselton News... |
June 29, 2005 |
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New citizens group set to promote quality growth The ‘Red Shirts’ organize efforts, take active role in government Their mission may have started with a fight against a proposed industrial project, but for a new group of concerned homeowners, the battle for quality growth in Braselton and Hoschton is just beginning. Rick Matthews is president of the newly-established Hoschton Braselton Community Association (HBCA). And like so many of his neighbors in the Savannah Oaks subdivision, Matthews is taking an unusually active role in encouraging quality growth. “We’re active, we’re really an advisory group for development,” said Matthews, a general contractor with almost 25 years of experience. The HBCA isn’t just another group of suburbanites upset over a nearby rezoning proposal. Instead, it represents a conglomeration of three Barrow County subdivision residents seeking to help mold the development of Braselton and Hoschton. Residents of the Ga. 124 subdivisions — Savannah Oaks, Chateau Forest and Berringer Pointe — mostly hail from Gwinnett County, Matthews said. And they don’t want to see their new hometown fall to the ills of poor planning. Matthews moved to Savannah Oaks after living in Suwanee. “You can walk out of your house and see the stars,” he said of his Hoschton residence. “We lost that a long time ago in Suwanee.” It was the potential loss of that new-found pleasure that motivated Matthews and his neighbors to oppose a proposed industrial project that threatened to alter their home place. Last year, plans were submitted with Barrow County officials for a proposed 1.5 million square-foot industrial complex on 92 acres on Ga. 124 — adjacent to Savannah Oaks. Matthews said he learned about the project shortly before the Barrow County Planning Commission was set to hear the proposal. The planners later recommended approval of the project, but the group of subdivision residents had already begun their mission to learn more about the proposal and how they could sway the Barrow County Board of Commissioners to deny the industrial complex. Neighbors went door-to-door to spread the word about the project, they distributed fliers in the subdivisions, and they even held a neighborhood rally in the parking lot of a retail store in Hamilton Mill. That gathering was held on the back of a pick-up truck with two attorneys speaking to the residents. The group hired a Roswell-based attorney to research the facts of the proposed industrial complex and to date have spent more than $11,000 fighting the project, Matthews said. “(We were) finding out how county and state government works,” he said. “And we were amazed at how many errors that we found in the different departments looking (at the proposal).” For example, the Georgia Department of Transportation had favored the project, although it didn’t recommend any improvements for the state highway, Matthews said. More than 2,000 trips a day by tractor-trailers were estimated for the project. And when Barrow County commissioners were set to make a decision on the project in January 2005, the unified group of homeowners donned red T-shirts for the hearing. Since then, they have been referred to as the “Red Shirts.” The commissioners denied the proposed industrial park, but the project’s applicant, Dewey White, has since filed a lawsuit in opposition to the zoning decision. Matthews said the group isn’t involved in White’s lawsuit, but if the proposal was approved by commissioners, they would have filed their own litigation. White’s industrial complex may become an asset to Barrow County, but it’s proposed location next to subdivisions wasn’t a good fit, he said. The property is located is near I-85. “And we have one chance to do it right — that was our whole contention on this warehouse/distribution center,” Matthews added. Future industrial projects in Barrow County are better-suited with existing industries along Ga. 316; not the I-85 corridor, where subdivisions are located, he said. PROMOTING QUALITY DEVELOPMENT Matthews contends that the group isn’t against development — it just wants the right kind of development for Hoschton and Braselton, which extends into Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall counties. “The whole idea of our group is pro-development,” Matthews said. “We want high-end, quality development for Barrow County.” That’s why the group is favoring the Century Center at Braselton, an office and retail complex under construction on Ga. 211 and Beaver Dam Road. Projects, such as Century Center at Braselton, bring more retail businesses and restaurants to the area, Matthew said. The $10 million project is also located in Braselton’s Hwy. 211 overlay district, which includes more standards than traditional zoning regulations. “The development is going to be upscale,” Matthews said. “And upscale bring more upscale.” The HBCA is encouraging Barrow County officials to adopt an overlay district along the unincorporated area of Hwy. 211, Matthews said. The group is also hoping county officials will bring sewer lines to the area to entice better developments, he added. “We’re saying, Braselton has already done this, why don’t we just extend it? So that we don’t have to continuously fight this same battle year, after year, after year,” Matthews said. And the HBCA is raising funds — and hopefully its membership rooster — to fight the challenges of growth in the coming years. The non-profit organization has launched a website (www.hbcahome.org), named a six-member board of directors and is seeking more members from the four-county area of Braselton and Hoschton. Matthews said the organization is expanding its coverage area beyond the founding three subdivisions. Annual dues are $52, which cover the cost for an operating budget. The HBCA plans to work with governments in Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall counties, Matthews said. Tax-deductible donations may be made to the HBCA, and mailed to the HBCA, P.O. Box 754, Braselton, Ga. 30517. |
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