Monday, November 25, 2013

Judge Sweat To Appear Before Oconee County Commissioners To Discuss Courthouse

SPLOST Upcoming

Chief Judge David R. Sweat of the Superior Court of Oconee County has a slot on the agenda for the meeting of the Board of Commissioners tomorrow night to raise the issue again of the future of the county courthouse.

The visit comes as county department heads and other government leaders are submitting their requests to County Administrative Officer Jeff Benko for the planned 2015 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax referendum.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Landscape Group Met With Oconee County Planners To Discuss Complaints About Development Code

Too Many Red Oaks

Landscape designer Jane Bath is unhappy.

She says developers in Oconee County are planting too many red oaks and red maples, planting them too close together and in straight lines, and planting them too close to power lines.

She says the problem is with the county’s Unified Development Code (UDC) and the county’s planners.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Oconee County Recreational Affairs Committee Asking For $5.5 Million In SPLOST Funding

On Top Of Bond Repayment

The Oconee County Citizen Advisory Committee on Recreation Affairs last night added $5.5 million to the list of requests to go to the Board of Commissioners for inclusion on the ballot next spring as part of the 2015 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.

The Committee said it really needs $10 million in parks, recreation and historic site funds, but it prioritized its list to include money to complete three projects at Veterans Park on Hog Mountain Road and make a variety of overall improvements to parks throughout the system.

Monday, November 18, 2013

Six Farmers Apply For Oconee County’s Revised Farmland Protection Program

Only One New

Six farmers filled out applications by the Oct. 31 deadline telling the county they would like their property to be considered for inclusion under the county’s reconfigured farmland protection program.

Five of the six farmers already had their property on the list of 32 farms under consideration by the Partnership for Farmland Protection, the citizen group that ran the county’s farmland protection program until the Board of Commissioners appointed its own review committee on Aug. 6.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Volunteers Collect 1,500 Pounds Of Trash On Oconee County Side of McNutt Creek

Fifty-one volunteers this morning collected and hauled out an estimated 1,500 pounds of trash from the Oconee County side of McNutt Creek in a small area near the Macon Highway bridge over the creek.

The volunteers were recruited and organized by the Keep Oconee County Beautiful Commission as part of the state Rivers Alive Cleanup, a program of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division.

Monday, November 11, 2013

Oconee County Industrial Development Authority Wants $4.6 Million In Future SPLOST Funding

For Existing And Planned Projects

The Oconee County Industrial Development Authority voted earlier today to ask the Oconee County Board of Commissioners to earmark $4.6 million in the 2015 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax for its economic development projects.

The IDA gets no funds from the current SPLOST, approved by voters in 2009 and continuing through the end of 2015, and the Authority said it wanted to get its request before the BOC so it can have its projects included in the next tax.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Pebble Creek Owners Dismiss Complaint Against Oconee County Over Zoning Decision

Wanted Smaller Houses

CAAT Holdings LLC has dismissed its suit against the Oconee County Board of Commissioners, dropping its assertion that the commissioners abused their power and acted arbitrarily when they denied a request for a change in the minimum size of dwellings in Pebble Creek subdivision south of Watkinsville.

County Attorney Daniel Haygood announced the resolution of the suit against the county at the end of the BOC meeting on Oct. 29.

Wednesday, November 06, 2013

Oconee County Commissioners Decide Chickens Should Stay Out Of Subdivisions

Roosters Too

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners approved a series of modifications to the county’s Unified Development Code last night, but it decided the existing code language that excludes chickens and other fowl from all but agricultural acreage should remain in place.

B.R. White, director of the county’s Planning Department, told the Board that the possibility of changing the code to allow “poultry and other domesticated fowl” into subdivisions has been “very controversial.”

Monday, November 04, 2013

Oconee County Commissioners To Hold Zoning Hearings On Business Operating On Agricultural Land

Antique Acres

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners tomorrow night will hold public hearings on three zoning issues that, if approved, will allow Barton and Melanie Cartey to continue to operate their wedding reception business at 2531 Snows Mill Road in the western part of the county.

The Carteys already have built two reception halls, one resembling an old general store and the other resembling a barn, though county records do not show building permits having been issued for the two structures.

Sunday, November 03, 2013

Most Stores Not Downsizing In Move To Oconee County’s Epps Bridge Centre From Atlanta Highway Locations

Gap Inc. Increased Space

The clothing and accessories retailer Old Navy is occupying only three-quarters of the space at its new store in Oconee County’s Epps Bridge Centre as was the case in its now-closed store in Athens Promenade shopping center on Atlanta Highway.

And Children's Place will occupy a store at Epps Bridge Centre that is less than half the size of its current store in Georgia Square Mall.