Friday, December 21, 2012

Oconee County Reports Surplus For 2004 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax and Spending From 2009 Tax

BOE Reports Tax Spending Too

Oconee County has $4.7 million in unspent revenue from the 2004 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax of 2004, which expired at the end of 2009, according to the required annual report on SPLOST spending published in yesterday’s edition of The Oconee Enterprise.

The report also shows that the county has spent about a third of the projected revenue from the 2009 SPLOST, which started in calendar year 2010 and will run for six years, ending in December of 2016.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Hard Labor Creek Loan Put Forward For January Vote at Oconee County Board of Commissioners Meeting

Repayment Plans Not Specified

The Oconee County Board of Commissions took the first step last night toward acceptance of $5.8 million in new debt for construction of the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir in Walton County.

The action followed approval earlier in the day by the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir Management Board of loan documents from the state of Georgia that will allow Oconee County and Walton County to receive a $20 million loan from the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) for construction of the reservoir dam.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Oconee County Board Of Commissioners To Consider New Debt for Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir

Loan Documents To Be Reviewed

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to review Georgia Environmental Finance Authority loan documents on Tuesday night as the first step toward approval of an additional $20 million of indebtedness for the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir in Walton County.

It will be the first opportunity for citizens of the county to comment on the loan, and the first real chance for them to review the decision of the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir Management Board to seek state funding to continue work on the project.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Caterpillar Decided To Send Sewage to Athens-Clarke, Not Oconee County, For Treatment

Oconee Building New Line

Caterpillar has decided to send its sewage from its plant under construction near Bogart to Athens-Clarke County for treatment, rather than to Oconee County, as had been planned.

Oconee County Utility Department Director Chris Thomas told me on Monday that Caterpillar made the decision after looking at the limits that would be imposed on it in Oconee County, where the amount of metals that can be handled is quite low because of the size of the county’s treatment plants.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Presbyterian Homes of Georgia Could Be Required To Build New Sewage Line Along Barber Creek As Condition Of Rezone

Other Options Rejected

The Oconee County Planning Department is recommending that Presbyterian Homes of Georgia be required to build a gravity sewer line along Barber Creek as a condition for rezone of 96 acres on Rocky Branch Road for a proposed continuing care retirement community.

That sewer line would cost an estimated $1.2 million and would require PHG to get easements from 31 property owners, some of whom have been vocal opponents of the rezone request.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Oconee County Planning Commission Grants Presbyterian Homes of Georgia Request for Delay

Come Back In June

The Oconee County Planning Commission voted tonight to accept the request of Presbyterian Homes of Georgia for a postponement of consideration of its request for a rezone of 96 acres on Rocky Branch Road for a continuing care retirement community.

Smith Planning Group, 1022 Twelve Oaks Place, just east of Butler’s Crossing, sent a fax to the Oconee County Planning Department seven minutes before official closing time today asking for the delay on behalf of his client Frank McElroy, president and CEO of PHG.

Sunday, December 09, 2012

Oconee County Planning Staff Recommends Against Presbyterian Homes of Georgia Rezone Request

Proponents And Opponents Are Many

The Oconee County planning staff has recommended against approval of the requested rezone by Presbyterian Homes of Georgia for 96 acres on Rocky Branch Road and against the special use request to construct a continuing care retirement community on the site.

The staff report, completed on Nov. 30, states that the request to rezone the Autumn Glen subdivision across from Old Waverly for the PHG facility “appears to conflict with the development goals and strategies” the county has established for the area.

Sunday, December 02, 2012

County Submitted Application For Federal Funds To Extend Oconee Veterans Park Trail

End Dead End

Hardly a day goes by when someone doesn’t ask him when the walking trail at Veterans Park will be completed, Oconee County Parks and Recreation Department Director John Gentry told the Board of Commissioners at its meeting on Nov. 6.

That trail now dead ends abruptly behind the soccer fields on the eastern side of the popular park on Hog Mountain Road west of Butler’s Crossing.