Saturday, September 24, 2011

Funding for Agriculture Research Center in Oconee County More Precarious After Senate Committee Vote

Future Bleak

Funding for the J. Phil Campbell Sr. Natural Resource Conservation Center on Government Station Road outside Watkinsville officially comes to an end on Sept. 30, and long-term prospects for the facility are bleak at best.

Congress has not agreed on an agricultural appropriations bill for fiscal year 2012, which starts on Oct. 1.

Monday, September 19, 2011

McKillip Said He Intervened to Lessen Negative Impact of Redistricting on Oconee County

Now Happy With Outcome.

Oconee County residents unhappy with the partition of the county in house redistricting last month should appreciate that it could have been a lot worse, Rep. Doug McKillip and Rep. Chuck Williams said Thursday night.

The “guys in the map office” wanted to split the county in half, McKillip told those who gathered at the Oconee County Republican meeting at the Civic Center in Watkinsville, but McKillip said he advised against it.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Oconee County Planning Commission to Look at Downzone Request for Subdivison Along Apalachee River

Part of River Walk.

The Oconee County Planning Commission tomorrow night is scheduled to take up a request from the owner of a 422-acre tract along the Apalachee River south of Farmington who wants to downzone the property from a category that allows for development of five-acre housing plots to simple agriculture.

This is the third such downzone request in the county since the crash in the local housing market in 2008. Both of the other two also involved the conversion of land rezoned for residential development back to agriculture use.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Watkinsville Mayoral Race Has Impact Outside Boundaries of City

Small Circle.

People outside Oconee County--and maybe even some of those inside--might be forgiven for thinking Watkinsville is a bigger place than the circle with a one-mile radius that sits slightly off center in the county and is home to 2,832 residents.

The Athens Banner-Herald yesterday had a story from Oconee Veterans Park, which is three plus miles outside the city border of Watkinsville on Hog Mountain Road. As is typical for the paper, it used a dateline of Watkinsville for the story.

Dominicks, Taqueria La Parrilla and Your Pie restaurants in Market Center shopping center west of Butler’s Crossing, more than a mile from the city border, all list Watkinsville as their address. The same is true for the many shops in Butler’s Crossing itself, which is outside Watkinsville.

And St. Philothea Greek Orthodox at 3761 Mars Hill Road, almost at U.S. 78 and more than six miles from the Watkinsville city border, also has a Watkinsville address.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Oconee County Citizen Committee To Discuss Its List of Transportation Concerns Tuesday

Ranking 23

The Oconee County Citizen Advisory Committee on Land Use and Transportation Planning is scheduled to review its ranked list of 23 Roadway, Intersection and Transportation Concerns on Tuesday night before sending the list to county officials for possible action.

The Committee generated the list back in May, discussed it again in July, and is set to give it a final review, starting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at the Oconee County Community Center at Oconee Veterans Park.

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Oconee County Weekly Papers In Dispute Over Liquor Advertisements

Mixology Guide Taboo

The Oconee Enterprise, though a serious paper, thinks some of it's stories might appeal to children.

So the paper has a policy against running "liquor ads” in its pages.

And if the Enterprise could have its way, the unnamed other paper in town would adopt the same policy.

Sunday, September 04, 2011

Thursday Meeting at Civic Center Offers Citizens Chance to Review T-SPLOST Project Plans

Some Still in Concept Stage

The Northeast Georgia Regional Transportation Roundtable will give Oconee County and other citizens a chance on Thursday night to preview the list of projects likely to be before voters next August as part of the Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax referendum.

Included are improvements to five different Oconee County roads: Mars Hill Road/Experiment Station Road, the Oconee Connector, Daniells Bridge Road, Simonton Bridge Road and Jimmy Daniell Road.