News Release
Contact: Terry Cullen
Phone: (770) 270-7207
Email:
Georgia Transmission, Jackson EMC Donate Land to Gwinnett Church
TUCKER, Ga. -- Georgia Transmission Corporation (GTC), working with Jackson Electric Membership Corporation (EMC), has donated a one-acre parcel of land that includes a popular local blueberry patch to Collins Hill Baptist Church in Gwinnett County.
Donation of the 1.01-acre tract, which screens GTC's Collins Hill substation near Collins Hill Baptist Church in Jackson EMC's service area, became effective Nov. 5. The tract is adjacent to the church's property.
The land transfer will enable residents in the neighborhood to continue picking blueberries, and the land and vegetation will continue to conceal the substation.
"The property has an abundance of giant blueberry bushes," explained Jeannine Rispin, GTC External Affairs. "In late summer, the site attracts large numbers of blueberry pickers. We thought it would be a good idea to give this land to the community."
GTC had promised residents that they could pick blueberries after the Collins Hill substation was complete, and Jackson EMC suggested that the land be given to the church, Rispin said. As part of the land transfer, the church has agreed to "provide reasonable access at reasonable times to members of the public" who want to pick blueberries, she said. The church also agreed to provide screening of the substation from the surrounding neighborhood if the property is developed in the future.
"We're very grateful to both Georgia Transmission Corporation and Jackson EMC," said Collins Hill Baptist Church Pastor Billy Driskell. "We look forward to sharing the wealth of this land with our congregants and neighbors."
About Georgia Transmission Corporation: GTC is a not-for-profit cooperative, providing electric transmission services to 39 electric membership cooperatives throughout Georgia, including Jackson EMC. It owns more than $1 billion in assets, including more than 2,600 miles of transmission lines and 570 substations.
About Jackson EMC: Jackson EMC is a member-owned electric cooperative providing electricity and related services to more than 180,000 meters in Banks, Barrow, Clarke, Franklin, Gwinnett, Hall, Jackson, Lumpkin, Madison and Oglethorpe Counties.
-30-