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There's a lot going
on in the Towne Lake area, although you might not guess that by looking
around. Sure, restaurants come and go and we now see the occasional poorly-drawn
graffiti, but basically the face of Towne Lake remains the same.
However, underneath the façade of tennis
skirts, golf shoes, clay-stained baseball pants and sequined dance costumes
there's a rumbling. It's been all over the news . Cherokee County is one
of the victims of the newly-drawn State Senate lines. Although the new
district map hasn't passed yet, it looks as though we'll all be getting
new State Senators. If the re-districting passes we'll be voting at new
polling locations for new Senators by the July 2002 Primaries.
Of course, this still leaves us voting at
our usual polling locations for the September 18 Special Purpose Local
Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) referendum.
Yes, SPLOST. Again.
But this time it's to reinstate the School
1% sales tax that's already in effect, but will expire if we don't reinstate
it. Now, I try to remain impartial as often as I can, but c'mon, folks.
Given the state of overcrowding in our schools, I really have to urge
you to take the 10 minutes out of your day on Tuesday, September 18 and
stop by your polling location and drop a ballot. You know the lines won't
be long.
The new State Senate districts and the SPLOST
aren't the only opportunity to change the face of Towne Lake in the next
month. At a September 25 meeting, the Woodstock City Council will take
under consideration the annexation of another chunk of Towne Lake. which,
for the most part, is in unincorporated Cherokee County.
Several years ago, the City of Woodstock
annexed the Deer Run neighborhood and everything around it. The result
was that the restaurants in that area can serve liquor under the City
of Woodstock pouring laws, which permit liquor by the drink and pouring
on Sunday, both prohibited by the county for unincorporated areas, like
the rest of Towne Lake. Other results of the annexation of the Deer Run
community were that the residents and businesses now have service by city
police and fire. (Oh, and they are required to pay city taxes. However,
some of this may be offset by tax equity arrangements with the County.
See Emily Lemcke' article on page 12.)
This time the annexation is at the request
of business owners along Towne Lake Parkway and Eagle Drive and so far,
won't affect any residential areas. If the Annexation is successful, the
City will incorporate the land from the Wachovia Bank all the way up to
Putnam Ford.
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