Criminal Defense Attorney in Garden City, GA.

On Tuesday, June 13, 2023, a District 8 Town Hall was held at Brock Elementary School for the purpose of sharing information on construction of the new K-12 facility in Garden City that will house Gould Elementary, Mercer Middle, and Groves High School on one campus. For those unable to attend the meeting, please find the presentation available in both English and Spanish below.

New K12 Multi School Campus.pdf

Nuevo Campus de Multiples Escuelas K-12.pdf

Questions from the June 13th District 8 Town Hall Meeting

Q1. Is there a separation between the elementary, middle, and high school students during lunch?

Yes, there will be a partition to separate the high school and elementary/middle school sides of the cafeteria. This partition is a permanent separation. There is a large window on the partition (pictured below) that will allow light to come through, however, students will not be able to see the other side of the cafeteria through the window. There are two controlled access doors on the partition as well, however, students will NOT be able to go through these doors.

Like many of our other sites, the multicampus will have perimeter fencing all the way around the building and controlled access exterior doors. Doors in areas that separate the high school from the elementary and middle school will also have controlled access to prevent students from crossing over.

Q3. How will the district handle transportation?

We cannot answer this question at this time. More details will be provided as we approach the completion of the building. Currently all students who live a mile and a half or more from their zoned school are offered school bus transportation.

Q4. When will the school be open?

We cannot answer this question at this time. More details will be provided as we approach the completion of the building.

Q5. Will the school uniform colors change?

School uniform colors are at the discretion of each individual school. At this time, there is not expected to be a change in uniform for Gould, Mercer, or Groves. Each school is expected to maintain their own identity.

Q6. What will the site be named?

At the July 2023 meeting of the Board of Education, Board members approved naming the site Gould/Mercer/Groves Multicampus, or G/M/G for short.

Q7. What spaces will be shared between grades?

Elementary and middle school students will share their side of the building and operate similarly to our K-8 schools. Elementary and middle school students will share a cafetorium, gym, and learning commons. High school students will be completely separated from elementary and middle school students as they will also have their own cafeteria, gym, and learning commons. The only space that will be shared by all three schools is the auditorium.

Q8. Has this K-12 model been tested in other districts?

Yes, our district looked at various schools across the nation that operate a K-12 model. A list of those we looked at includes:

We also currently have many schools with grades K-12 in close proximity to each other. Examples of this concept are Beach-DeRenne-Hodge, and Islands-Coastal-Marshpoint.

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - The layers to solving the homeless crisis in our community run deep but one critical piece to the puzzle is emergency housing and shelters where the homeless can have a safe place to rest their heads.

Mercy Ministries recently shut down and Garden City Rescue Mission is now in danger of closing their doors too.

The rescue mission rescues about 400 men from the streets every year. Right now, they house about 60 men.

If they can’t come up with half a million dollars soon, we’ll see all of those they help back on the street.

MORE | Salvation Army helps take people from homeless to housed

Some of the men have stayed with the rescue mission for months and others years.

“I kept coming back and forth down this road right here and I kept hearing the music,” said Chester Hope, who stays at the rescue mission.

“My life is entirely different all because I chose to come here,” said Mitchell Morris, who stays at the rescue mission.

“I don’t have a lot of everything now, but I have something and that’s the Garden City Rescue,” said Curtis Hunter, who stays at the rescue mission.

It’s a place open to many yet on the verge of having its doors shut forever.

MORE | Businesses see impact of more housing, growth in downtown Augusta

“The original owner went to heaven some years ago and now the family has decided to liquidate the property,” said Executive Director Patrick Feistel. “So our long-term lease has been shortened.”

There is a price tag of $500,000 attached to stay.

“If I had all the money in the world, I would pay for it,” said volunteer Jeanette Hernandez.

Any dollar or penny will help the rescue mission.

“We need to try to do our best to save our rescue. I don’t say ‘the rescue’ because it’s our rescue mission,” said Hernandez.

“We’re at the doorstep of eternity for a lot of people in their life,” said Feistel.

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Each life and story is just as different as each face.

“Eight years ago, I was a drug addict,” said Morris. “I was a needle junkie.”

“I was a full blown alcoholic,” said Hunter. “I haven’t had a drink in seven months, thanks to this place.”

“I thought I was just gonna come here and lay down, eat a meal but no, that didn’t happen,” said Hope. “It happened but I got a little more than that.”

It is more than one can imagine.

“There are some men right now that come through here and if they didn’t have this place and was out there on the streets, they wouldn’t be alive,” said Feistel.

MORE | Special day to include showers, other services for Augusta’s homeless

Now the rescue mission is fighting for its own life.

“The city doesn’t need less shelters and less places where people are being introduced off the streets,” said Feistel.

The rescue mission instead wants to bring folks in for a chance at life.

To donate to Garden City Rescue Mission, visit their website.

On Sunday, Victory Baptist Church is hosting a silent auction starting at 1 p.m.

On September 2, Hernandez is hosting a 5k run starting at 8 a.m. at Mill Village Trailhead. To learn more and register, visit here.

On September 14, the rescue mission is hosting a telethon where you can call and help raise money. News 12 will update you on more details as we continue to follow.

Copyright 2023 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.

GARDEN CITY, Ga. (WTOC) - The largest project in the Savannah-Chatham County School System history is almost finished.

The new K-12 multi-school project in Garden City will be more than 400,000 square feet and will be the new home for about 2,400 students.

Construction work will wrap up in June and students will be inside for the school year in August and be home to Groves High, Mercer Middle and Gould Elementary students.

Construction started on this project in January of 2021. The project manager says it was not always easy getting supplies in the middle of the pandemic but despite challenges, they are still on time.

Right now, they are just putting on the finishing touches with paving, electrical and cabinetry inside and the project manager says he is proud of the team for tackling this massive project.

“I’ve been in the school business for 35 or so years and this is the largest project I’ve ever worked on, the team has lived this thing for 26 months before that in the planning and design and then even master planning before that so it has been a long initiative for the district,” said Project Executive Dr. Slade Helmly.

The total price tag for the project is just over $135 million fully paid for by ESPLOST funds. It stretches out over 42 acres in the area.

The actual building is just phase one. Phase two to build the stadium and fieldhouse will begin sometime this fall. The good news for drivers in this area is that Priscilla Thomas Way will be back open on April 1.

Not only is this the district’s largest project, it will be the district’s first school where students from kindergarten through 12th grade are all learning in the same building.

“We think big, we think logically for our education to be able to have all of the educators under one roof from K-12 think about how you are transferring that knowledge, you are looking at the end when you come in at the beginning,” said SCCPSS Deputy Superintendent Vanessa Kiagler.

The deputy superintendent says right now they are working internally on a timeline for parents, students and staff and will begin to release those plans for the transition sometime next month.

Copyright 2023 WTOC. All rights reserved.

An electric vehicle infrastructure company, Voltera, is petitioning to build the region’s first EV truck charging station in Garden City.

The development still has yet to be approved by the city's planning commission, members of which raised questions about the development during a recent public meeting. The interest is a sign of the state’s burgeoning EV market, as well as a broader shift toward electric vehicle fleets across the country.

More:Logistics Technology Corridor looks to state for future growth

Read: the general development application for Voltera's proposed EV truck station

Voltera's proposed station, to be built on a 7.91-acre swath of land at 2305 U.S. 80, will not be for public use or passenger vehicles but will instead provide charging facilities for commercial trucks driving to and from the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) and nearby businesses.

These truck fleets will be performing drayage transportation, or the movement of goods across short distances since electric freight trucks do not yet have the capabilities to travel long-haul distances.

“Drayage is an ideal application for battery-electric trucks because those routes are typically shorter and well-suited to the current range of battery-electric trucks. This also means the air quality benefits of the trucks using this facility will be focused locally, to the benefit of residents and the community,” said Voltera Senior Program Manager Peter Thomas.

The charging station is intended to support commercial companies “making a commitment to more sustainable operations to reduce emissions to deliver better air quality for the community,” said Thomas.

Medium and heavy trucks contribute about 23% of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. according to the Department of Energy.

Thousands of companies in the U.S. have sustainability goals that include transitioning to low- or zero-emission transportation options, including large freight and logistics operators. According to an industry-leading survey of fleets nationwide, orders for battery-electric vehicles rose 640% from 2021 to 2022.

Voltera has several charging infrastructure projects in development across the country, including one near the nation's largest port in Long Beach/Los Angeles.

What will the station look like?

The general development plan shows 127 truck-charging stalls and 127 vehicle-parking stalls; a 4,800-square-foot operations building; and a 4,500-square-foot maintenance building.

The station will service primarily class 8 electric trucks. No chassis or cargo will be attached to the trucks when they come in for charging, said a Voltera representative.

Plans also include 12 pumps for “private light-duty charging” for passenger vehicles that belong to employees. Since the electric trucks take between two to six hours to charge, drivers may have to drop off and come back for their vehicles.

About five workers will be employed on the site.

Voltera likened the charging station to a gas station but for private commercial truck fleets and their employees, rather than the general public. A map of publicly available EV charging stations can be found on plugshare.com.

What were the planning commission’s issues?

This would be the first electric freight truck charging station for private commercial companies in the region. During a special planning commission meeting held on May 23, Garden City Planning Commission members debated whether the station would fit the characteristics of the site.

Garden City’s planning department – separate from the commission – had categorized the development as an auto service station (i.e. a gas station), which is a permitted use in C-2 zoning, according to Garden City’s zoning ordinance.

More:In neighboring towns, Georgia Ports Authority brings growth and jobs, but what is the cost?

However, commission members questioned the designation and pointed to the length of time the trucks would need to charge and the possible repairs performed on the vehicles.

Some members likened the area to a storage facility for trucks, which wouldn’t fall in line with an auto service station. And, if major repairs are needed, that could change the nature of the business to a truck terminal, a use allowed only in an industrial-zoned area.

“When you talk about mitigating emissions, I support that, but also at the same time. I'm concerned about the congestion as well as the wear and tear it’s having on our infrastructure,” said Planning Commission Member Gary Monroe .“There won’t be containers (cargo), but you are housing the trucks and it should be classified as I-1 (industrial-1) at best.

More:Which westside Chatham city is best positioning itself to handle growth? Garden City

A representative from Voltera argued that the development did not meet the standard definition of a truck terminal and that repairs would only be minor or incidental, which is typical of auto service stations.

“We are not conducting truck assembly, truck dispatching; we do not have loading or offloading of trucks; we do not have storage and handling of goods, materials; and we do not have major repair and service of trucks,” said Josh Yellin, an attorney with HunterMaclean, the law firm representing the applicant and property owner, B.G. Bazemore Holdings, LLC.

Commission Member Jeff Ashley questioned what would happen if one of the EV trucks caught fire and if the development would have a proper way to dispose of hazardous water runoff. He also pointed out that the development site is near the Palmetto State Armory, a firearms store.

Yellin clarified that while EV car battery fires do burn hotter, the charging station is a safe, regulated use, and that the company is happy to discuss water runoff issues with the fire chief and city staff as the development progresses.

“This isn't new in the sense that it's unregulated, it’s a new use for Garden City. But the federal and state oversight over this use is incredibly robust,” said Yellin.

Where to go from here?

The planning commission agreed to table the application for a future meeting. Some commission members expressed they still had questions about what services the development will end up providing and whether that would violate the C-2 zoning classification.

“It can be a very exciting time to be on the cusp of a brand new idea,” said Commission Member Jenecia Perry, “but as a functional board, sometimes we have to analyze everything and sometimes it takes us out of our element.”

More:Getting into the flow: VC firm launches program for Savannah Logistics Technology Corridor

A planning manager consultant working on the project, Denise R. Grabowski, acknowledged that Voltera will “probably go through a higher level of scrutiny” because of the novelty of the project.

“But it’ll give Garden City a blueprint on how to accommodate a growing industry in this region,” said Grabowski, “EV vehicles … is a high priority to the state of Georgia .. as the home to the Georgia Ports Authority, it’s something we’re certainly going to see more of.”

The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) has an Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment Plan that was derived from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. It was created in part to deploy a national network of EV charging stations throughout the state with $135 million federally funded dollars.

Nancy Guan is the general assignment reporter covering Chatham County municipalities. Reach her at nguan@gannett.com or on Twitter @nancyguann

Giveaway done in partnership with Georgia's Own Credit Union

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GARDEN CITY, Ga. —

Before you know it, Thanksgiving and the holiday season will be upon us, and the problem of hunger is spotlighted even more.

Monday, Savannah Feed the Hungry got a head start on that problem with a little help from their friends.

“This is kind of a kickoff event for our upcoming holiday dinners and all," said Karen Williams, a volunteer coordinator at Savannah Feed the Hungry.

And just judging by the cars waiting in line outside the Empowerment Center in Garden City, it was a much-needed event.

Savannah Feed the Hungry and Georgia’s Own Credit Union partnered for a drive-thru meal giveaway Monday, distributing over 600 meal kits to families in need.

“Today, they’re getting stuffing, canned chicken, macaroni and cheese, green beans, corn, fruit cups," said Williams. "So they’re getting things to make a whole meal.”

This giveaway is totally different from anything Savannah Feed the Hungry has done in the past because Georgia’s Own Credit Union paid for all of the food and they provided all of the volunteers to pack those meals.

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“It’s really special that we’re able to do this," said Jack Yarbrough, the president of the Southeast region for Georgia's Own Credit Union. "You never know when you may be on the other end of the need, so we’re just thrilled to be able to help.”

“It’s a great huge help and then not having to ask for donations from the community," said Williams. "But just for them to say don’t worry about it, we’re going to donate, we’re going to assemble, and we’re going to give.”

And Georgia’s Own Credit Union also gave of their time in a big way.

“We have almost 100 employees here just in the region and this part of the state for the event today, and it says everything about our employees," said Yarbrough.

Savannah Feed the Hungry will also hold its annual community dinners for Thanksgiving and Christmas at Enmarket Arena.

Those exact dates are still to be determined.