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Page1 Dawson County Long Range Planning Committee Meeting County Admin. Building, 25 Justice Way, Dawsonville GA30534 Wednesday, January 28th 2026 @ 15:00hrs Approved Minutes (2 pages) (2/25/26) Attendance Committee Members: Emily Bagwell, Tiffany Georgia, Corey Gutherie, Jane Graves, Victoria Goodyear, Shannan Stanford. Absent: Steve Pawlick, Michael Turner County Officials/Staff: Richard Osborne (Community Development Director) Richard Batten (Planning Manager) Guests: Olivia Coughlin, Shawn Ireland, Julia Hansen, Mandy Power, Kevin Herritt, Tim Costley Welcomed Richard Batten and our two guests (Olivia and Shawn) from Chestatee HOA Approval of Minutes ● Shannan motioned to approve the minutes of the November 19th 2025 meeting and Tiffany seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Old Business ● Shannan made a motion that our updated bylaws should be put forward to the BOC for approval (in conjunction with the county’s legal counsel’s advice). Corey seconded and the motion passed unanimously. ● Richard explained the Chapters of the county code that were being updated and the timescale of these changes. Alcohol/Streets/Roads/In Home Businesses draft update will go to the Planning Commission Feb 17th and the BOC March 19th. Tree/Landscape/Buffer/floodplain updates - The goal is to present these to the two commissions late Summer to Fall 2026. Richard requested that comments and suggestions for these various upgrades to the current standards reach him by email well before the presentations to both commissions. ● Richard reaffirmed that the plan for upgrading the Tree/Landscape/Buffer regulations would be to use Chapter 109 as a base level and incorporate befitting elements of the 2024 Arborists Tree Ordinance report, to arrive at a product that is easily understandable as well as enforceable and to discourage the current practice of mass clearcutting. Discussions highlighted other jurisdictions that have recently adopted newer tree and landscape regulations - Sandy Springs, Alpharetta. Including the fact that more developed counties employ a county arborist to monitor and approve tree plans. New Business: ● BOC are planning to announce zoning district definitions for any proposed Data Center development requests - Industrial zones - Special use applications only. ---PAGE BREAK--- Page2 ● Discussion regarding the Outlet Mall lifespan - Mandy and Kevin said that the mall manager (Randall Jackson) has announced that $2M is to be invested for a facelift (painting, updated food court and courtyard facilities to fit the Entertainment District zoning). The occupancy level for stores is still high and sales strong. The question was asked if there were future plans in place or being prepared for a substitute revenue generator to the county if/when the mall did decline. (Answer - not yet). ● Discussion of the proposed trail system - Thompson Creek - Dawson Forest and 400. Apparently, Congressman Rick McCormick has touted that grant money (approx. $2M) for this project would be forthcoming - is the Development Authority/Chamber liaison for this project? ● The committee chair suggested updating the Countywide Parks and Recreation Masterplan (last one was done in 2005) rather than the piecemeal /planning/funding for individual park updates (such as War Hill where $125,000 was invested for a consultant's plan and apparently the USACE want $25000 to read the 30-page Environmental Assessment that was submitted nearly a year ago). ● There is an urgent need for a new active park close to GA 400 where the county's residential population density is greatest. Also mentioned - the old forested areas of the lake parks, leased by the county from the USACE, are not regenerating because of the overpopulation of deer. There seems to be considerable confusion over who is responsible for controlling these critters for their health as well as that of their habitat, and how this might be achieved as there are at least 3 governmental administrative bodies involved (USACE/DNR/County) Meeting adjourned at approx. 4:45PM SS & JBG 2/3/2026