Please see the April 2021 District 4 Zoning Newsletter which includes other community updates. Please feel free to call (678-513-5884) or email me (cjmills@forsythco.com) with any comments or questions.
Observations from District 4 and the Chairwoman Seat:
While much of our country is still reeling from the aftereffects of the pandemic, we have been very blessed to live in a community that has continued to prosper, in spite of the storm. It appears the greatest danger we are seeing threatening our economy has to do with companies in dire need of workers and their inability to hire them no matter what pay they are offering. Our unemployment in Forsyth County has remained low and our sales tax high, as well as our auto sales. Our home sales have been hitting numbers comparable to sales before the crash of 2006. Developers tell me this is the lowest new home inventory they have ever seen in Forsyth County. My meeting schedule reflects this, and I expect we will soon see residential zonings coming in line with this as well. The good news is other type zonings are coming in for industrial and commercial growth, which is a great help in balancing the tax base. Our BOC has been strongly encouraging our Chamber of Commerce to push for more jobs to be brought into our county as almost 70% of our citizens travel to other counties for work each day, which contributes to our transportation woes. We will be talking about transportation a lot more in the coming months - our needs are not going away and we must have a plan to deal with those needs into the future.
Speaking of transportation, the Hwy. 369 interchange and widening is proceeding as many of you see daily. The grading continues for the interchange to be built, the road to be widened, as well as both of those intersections to be improved. It’s hard to imagine that a road project can take three years to be built but this one has been planned and anticipated for far longer than that. I know you agree with me, that we are all ready for it to be done. It will get worse before it gets better, so be patient. The good is coming.
In the way of development, Quick Trip was approved to go in across from Walmart and the plans were approved for Starbucks to go in the center with Quick Trip. I was told Laredo’s is nearing approval at Matt Town Center; so finally, we are getting another restaurant on that side of town. Additional businesses have applied for permitting there as well. The Town Center at Matt is hopeful to attract one fast-food type restaurant, but with COVID those have been hard to find. Hopefully, things are beginning to change.
Lastly, April is child abuse prevention month. With COVID, the reports of child abuse have been down and all of us know that the cases of abuse have not been less. The people who typically notice and care for these kids, the eyes, have been fewer due to COVID and the number of kids slipping through the cracks are rising. The courts have been another tragedy affected by COVID. Many courts have not been meeting on their regular schedule, so custody and child welfare cases have been sliding as well as DFCS checks, and visitations have been lacking. The most vulnerable have likely been the most effected. I hope that the powers that be, in much higher places than county government, have gotten vaccinations to all the people who care for these children and that at the top of the list will be the welfare of them. While I feel that mask and social distancing were very important, I think a lot was forgotten about mental health along the way and when all of this is over, we will wonder if we forgot about the welfare of our children and our elderly as well. Let’s remember both in our prayers. I think there is a lot all of us can and should be doing about child abuse prevention. Forsyth county has been having its own campaign trying to get more people trained on this very important topic. You can become trained (I did it and it only takes a couple of hours and it is well worth it) by taking the Stewards of Children - Darkness to Light course. To find out more about it contact Sarah Pedarre at Sarah@forsythconnection.org or Beth Ready at JBReady@forsythco.com. You can Google it to learn more. Here is also a link to Children’s Healthcare to learn more about the signs to watch for in child abuse: https://www.choa.org/blog/2018/april/the-health-epidemic-in-our-neighborhoods-schools-and-homes . 1 out of 10 kids are sexually abused and we all need to know the signs to watch for because it could be our kids or grandkids who are being abused right under our own noses. We need to be educated and aware so we can prevent it and we can protect our most beloved asset, our precious children.
Thank you for allowing me to serve!
Cindy
Cindy Jones Mills | Chairwoman
Forsyth County Board of Commissioners, District 4
110 East Main Street, Suite 210 | Cumming, Georgia 30040
(678) 513-5884 office | (678) 230-3864 cell | (770) 781-2199 fax
forsythco.com | Your Community. Your Future.