Speaking during the Public Comments portion of Thursday’s Dawson County Board of Commission meeting, a long-time resident Hugh Stowers offered a number of recommendation for commissioners to consider.

Commissioner Julie Hughes-Nix felt many of the recommendations were sound and she thanked Stowers. She also suggested the Board take his recommendations under consideration then meet back in one month to review.

Stowers recommended the Board:

• Work with the City of Dawsonville to equip and operate the new fire station on Sweetwater Juno Road which would respond to Atlanta Motorsports Park and a proposed airport, both of which belong to the city limits;
• Request the Department of Transportation (DOT) Add right turn arrows on Hwy. 53 approach to Hwy. 9 in front of Burger King;
• Discuss with DOT a way to make the entrance onto Hwy. 53 from the Ingles Parking lot safer;
• Consider a way to make the intersection of Grizzle Road and Lumpkin Campground Road safer;
• Launch a Facebook page similar to the City of Blue Ridge Facebook page to promote the county and demonstrate to citizens the amount of sales tax brings to the county;
• Identify unsafe roads in the county and place them in a databank and showing the projected cost to make them safer;
• Appoint individuals in each district to be the commissioners’ “eyes and ears” and keep them abreast of what is going on in their community.

Stowers expressed disappointment with the new housing development approved by the city on Hwy. 9.

“I’m disappointed when I drive up Hwy. 9 and look at what I call the kudzu field and see all the new piping there to serve the new multi-housing development approved by the city,” he said. “I feel sure the Etowah Water Authority will raise the cost to all its customers to cover the cost of construction to serve this development. The city can approve this housing for people living like sardines in a can, but can’t supply water, can’t supply sewer, education or law enforcement.”

h Your News is a hyper local news outlet that covers Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. FYN attracts 300,000+ page views per month, 3.5 million impressions per month and approximately 15,000 viewers per week on FYNTV.com and up to 60,000 Facebook page reach. If you would like to follow up-to-date local events in any of those counties, please visit us at FetchYourNews.com