Awhile back a post was made regarding the details of the Interstate 20 HOV Project spanning from Georgia Highway 5 to I-285. Some more information has been released about the new Fairburn Road bridge which will rebuilt. Efforts from the DOT can be seen on Fairburn Road with the destruction of the Burger King, Citgo gas station, and Island Flava’s restaurant.

Fairburn Road will be widened to accommodate six lanes of traffic to correspond with the Highway 92 Relocation Project. The information below is provided by the Georgia DOT Preliminary Project List for Lettings:

This project is the improvement of SR92/Fairburn Rd. interchange with I-20 in Douglas County. The proposed typical section will consist of six 12' lanes with a 20' raised median in addition two future lanes will be added and striped out. The improvements will include dual left turn lanes onto both eastbound and westbound I-20. The existing bridge over I-20 will be widened to accommodate 10 lanes of traffic; this will include the four through lanes, four left turn lanes and the two future lanes. In addition to the upgrades on SR 92, Westmorland Plaza Frontage Road will be closed at SR 92 and relocated northerly to Cherokee Boulevard.

Also to note that the Chapel Hill / West Chapel Hill intersection is slated to undergo some type of improvement in September. Currently there are no details available about that project.

Wildlife has always been a part of Douglas County, whether its squirrels and native birds in the backyard to deer trotting across the road. Nowadays wildlife in the backyard is becoming an increasing sight as many new subdivisions are being constructed in forested areas. Rapid growth of real estate development has shrunk the natural habitat where these animals reside, forcing wildlife to move elsewhere.

With the rise in population come more vehicles on the road, therefore animal fatalities on roadways are likely to increase. All animals are subject to this death, but for one New Jersey native and Carroll County resident, Laura Mostello is during her part to save the smallest of wildlife in Douglas County – the Eastern Box Turtle.

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In the 1820’s America was still defining itself as a nation, the government seized land from Native Americans while pioneers from the East Coast wandered further inland to establish homesteads. During this time Douglas County did not exist, instead Georgia created Carroll County in 1825. Many pioneer families were moving south and one of them was the Carnes family from North Carolina.

John Thomas Carnes arrived in Carroll County with his wife, Mary Magdalene Anne Carnes, and their sons. Together they built a sturdy log house under a canopy of oak and red cedar trees, nearby was a spring where water could be fetched. Resources were abundant, life was hard but the land was prime.

One hundred seventy eight years later the log house still stands as a reminder of how important it is to save history. Deep in the woods of the Clinton Nature Preserve resides the Carnes homestead, as well as many other homes, that are slipping away with age. Come and discover a part of Douglas County’s history before it disappears.

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The Losing Georgia: Interactive Tour has been updated with 7 new development with photos. You can download the kmz file or head over to the overview page if you are unfamiliar with the Interactive Tour. Below is a list of additions and updates to the tour which also reflects the database and Live View:

New Developments

1. Strickland Manor
2. Laurel Grove
3. Palmer Falls
4. Brightwater Estates
5. The Estates at Mill Glen
6. Bearden Landings
7. Unknown Subdivision - Highway 166

Added Photos

1. Strickland Manor
2. Laurel Grove
3. Palmer Falls
4. Brightwater Estates
5. The Estates at Mill Glen
6. Bearden Landings
7. Unknown Subdivision - Highway 166
8. The Gates at Chapel Hill
9. Highway 92 Widening
10. House Destoryed - adjacent Brighten Academy

Renames

1. Evans Park to Providence Walk

Last week’s post about Brookmont concentrated more on the backstory leading up to 2003. Today I would like to extend some of that material to catch up to current times. We all know by now that J.D. Brooks took ownership of lands formerly acquired by the Fowler Family. Mr. Brooks would later sell that land off to home builders.

When the transfer of ownership went from Brooks to the home builder, many problems arose that were not being handled properly. Some of these incidents were mentioned in parts 1 and 2 of the Kirk’s story. No one affliated with Brookmont wants bad press and the public to know about mishaps, but it is a matter of public record.

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Spent the whole day transferring documents from the County Minutes to PDF format. A total of 63 files have been added regarding particular developments. When I have some free time I will look through the City's Minutes, but their system is much more difficult to work around. I'll try to have a new post tomorrow afternoon.

The past two days I’ve been working on a way to provide even more information easier. First to be completed is phase one of the Filing Cabinet feature. This new feature links all documents in the database to a particular development. Whenever a user looks at the details of a development, if there are files or documents relating to the development it will show up underneath the Quick Info section.

So far there are 10 files available and more will be on the way. In the future I would like to include copies from the Board of Commissioner and Planning / Zoning commission meetings (minutes) by the County and City. Also any newspaper magazine articles would be nice, but that will be much more difficult.

The latest addition to the sidebar is the Subscribe section where any user who uses RSS feeds can choose a number of translated feeds. I’ve added some links to popular feed readers and more are available at Feedburner. Hopefully this will make accessing information faster and easier for everybody.

Last week’s Top Story was about the troubles leading up today’s problems that Jeff and Susie Kirk are undergoing from property damage caused by the well-known new Brookmont subdivision. Today’s post will concentrate on current conditions and possible failures in the future.

On July 29th I was invited out to the Kirk’s home to hear their story. They were very open about their situation, showing me pictures of the ongoing two year ordeal - the “Brookmont Dilemma”. The actions of Falling Water, Inc and Patrick Malloy Communities speak for themselves in the property damage alone.

A few remarks by Jeff and Susie that stuck out were: "When I run into friends around town they ask me what’s wrong with the pond and why it looks so bad. The main reason we bought this house was to entertain, but with the pond and the property surrounding it being in such horrible shape, we haven’t been able to. We have three sons and they like to fish, but the fish are dead now."

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Today I would like to introduce some new interactive features that can help all residents learn more about Douglas County. The new features are called Community Places and Community Live View, which is similar to the Interactive Tour by using Google Earth and Google Maps. As Douglas County grows larger by the day, new residents can use these tools to familiarize themselves around the area they live. Click here to see the new features.

Google Earth has a built-in feature called Community Services that does an adequate job, but it has not been updated for awhile. By creating the Community Places file, this will hopefully aid in the upgrades to Google’s system and produce more rich content. Currently the new interactive file includes the School System, Historical Places, and WSA Facilities. More locations will be added in the near future and eventually pictures will be added to each place.

One more note, navigating around the Resource pages has been difficult for some time and therefore the sidebar has been changed to include a navigational tree. Now when you are looking at any Resource affiliated page, you can easily access any other related page without going to the main Resource page.

The Losing Georgia: Interactive Tour has been updated with 9 new development with photos. You can download the kmz file or head over to the overview page if you are unfamiliar with the Interactive Tour. Below is a list of additions and updates to the tour which also reflects the database and Live View:

New Developments

1. Southwire Master Service Center
2. Swifty Save Gas Station
3. Ashley Highlands
4. Unknown Subdivision Highway 78
5. The Gates at Chapel Hill
6. Calvary Church of God's - New Worship Center
7. The Estates at Dorsett Bridge
8. Wetherford
9. Unknown Subdivision - West Strickland Street

Added Photos

1. Southwire Master Service Center
2. Swifty Save Gas Station
3. Ashley Highlands
4. The Reserve at Brandywine Lake
5. Unknown Subdivision Highway 78
6. Calvary Church of God's - New Worship Center
7. The Estates at Dorsett Bridge
8. Wetherford
9. Unknown Subdivision - West Strickland Street

Historical Places

1. Historic Chapel Hill Courthouse
2. Carnes Homestead
3. Post Road Courthouse
4. F-105 Thunderchief - 1st. Lt. Robert G. Hunter Memorial