Sunday, May 26, 2013

Georgia Theatre Company Asking Oconee County Commissioners To Expand Definition Of Restaurant

Developer Bishop Involved

If the Oconee County Board of Commissioners grants a beer and wine license for the University 16 Cinemas on Tuesday night, it will be expanding the meaning of restaurant from what currently is listed in the alcoholic beverages ordinance passed by the county in 2008.

The Board also will be going against, at least to some extent, the recommendation of County Attorney Daniel Haygood.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Oconee County Issued Building Permits For Central Complex At Epps Bridge Centre

No New Tenants Listed

Oconee County Code Enforcement issued a shell permit last week for building 700, part of the central, four-building cluster at Epps Bridge Centre.

The county had issued a shell permit for building 500 on May 8 and a foundation permit for building 400 on May 3.

Code Enforcement issued a permit for building 600, the fourth building in the cluster, in January of this year.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

New Complex on SR 316 in Oconee County To Include Hotel, Medical Offices And Assisted Living Facility

Proposal Not Yet Reviewed

Land planning firm Williams and Associates filed documents with the Oconee County Planning Department on Monday proposing a $57 million project, including an assisted living facility, medical offices and a hotel, for the northeast corner of SR 316 and the Oconee Connector.

The project, being referred to as Resurgence Park, will require the county to change zoning for the 30-acre parcel to allow for the assisted living facility.

Wednesday, May 08, 2013

Oconee County Commissioners Turned Down Garrett Request For Recycling Facility–Slowly

160 Plus Attended

Forty-three second elapsed between the time Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis called for a motion last night and when Commissioner Jim Luke offered one.

And 11 seconds elapsed between the time when Luke made his motion and Commissioner John Daniell seconded it.

Presbyterian Homes Of Georgia Abandoning Plans For Rocky Branch Road Facility

County Not Yet Notified

Presbyterian Homes of Georgia has decided to abandon its plans to put a continuing care retirement community in the dormant Autumn Glen subdivision on Rocky Branch Road.

In a letter dated yesterday sent to those who expressed an interest in living in the facility, Frank H. McElroy Jr., president and CEO of the south Georgia company, said that the requirement by the county that PHG install a gravity-fed sewer line to connect to the county sewage system killed the project.

Monday, May 06, 2013

Theater at Epps Bridge Centre Seeking Beer and Wine License At Busy Oconee County Commission Meeting Tomorrow Night

Agenda Also Contains Appointments

Near the end of a very busy agenda tomorrow night, the Oconee County Board of Commissioners is set to take up an application for a beer and wine license at University 16 Cinemas now under construction inside of Epps Bridge Centre off Epps Bridge Parkway.

The application is to allow the sale and consumption of beer and wine in what is labeled on the application as the food service area, a banquet room and one of the theater’s 16 auditoriums.

Sunday, May 05, 2013

Conflict Of Interest In Zoning Cases Defined Narrowly, Oconee County Attorney Says

Garrett Request Case In Point

One of the votes cast on the controversial request to put a materials recovery facility on Dials Mill Road on Tuesday night likely will come from Commissioner Jim Luke, whose wife's family has property about a mile from the site.

The family connection is not enough to require Luke to recuse himself, according to County Attorney Daniel Haygood.

Saturday, May 04, 2013

Hearing Before Oconee County Board of Commissioners On Tuesday For Dials Mill Road Recycling Facility Only First Step

EPD Permit Required Too

If the Bernard Garrett family gets a favorable vote from the Board of Commissioners after Tuesday night’s public hearing on its request for a permit for a materials recovery facility on Dials Mill Road, it will have passed a first hurdle in getting a state of Georgia permit for the facility.

Before the state would issue its permit, it would hold another hearing where the public could once again state its support or voice its opposition to the proposed plan.

Friday, May 03, 2013

Oconee County Commissioners Scheduled To Revise Sewer Policy for Assisted Living Facility

Identity Still Mystery

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday is scheduled to approve a change in sewer policy requested by Chairman Melvin Davis to facilitate construction of an assisted living facility at the corner of SR 316 and the Oconee Connector Extension.

The new policy repeats the existing requirement that no more than 50 percent of the capacity of either of the county’s two sewage treatment facilities can be allocated to residential use, and it excludes from the calculation of residential use facilities operated as an “assisted living community.”

Thursday, May 02, 2013

Dials Mill Road Special Use Permit Decision Could Have Wider Effects in Oconee County

Two Other Rezones Linked

While residents in subdivisions near the proposed materials recovery facility on Dials Mill Road have been most outspoken about the project, the decision the Board of Commissioners makes about the facility has the potential to impact indirectly residents of two other areas of the county.

One of the areas is south of Watkinsville, where the Board of Commissioners in 2005 turned down a request for a waste transfer station. That request is likely to come back if the BOC approves the Dials Mill Road project.

Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Milton Officials Told Oconee County Leaders And Citizens Why Milton Adopted A Transfer Of Development Rights Program

Commissioner Luke Still Skeptical

Two officials from the north Fulton County city of Milton last night told 30 Oconee County citizens, including four commissioners, why Milton adopted just last June a Transfer of Development Rights program.

The reason, Mayor Pro Tem Bill Lusk told the group, was simple.

The residents wanted to maintain the rural character, the “green space, the open space, your farms,” he said, and the TDR program was a mechanism for doing just that.