The Oconee County Code Enforcement Office issued a sign permit on Friday for two temporary signs on the property being listed for sale at the southeast corner of SR 316 and the Oconee Connector.
In issuing the signs, the Code Enforcement staff noted in the accompanying documents that the signs must be set back 5 feet from the roadway right of way.
Oconee County Post 3 Board of Commissioners candidates Margaret Hale and W. E. "Bubber” Wilkes take similar stands on some of the issues facing the county, but they differ markedly on one important one.
Hale wants to keep in place the current organizational chart for the county in which the administrative officer and the finance director report to all five Commission members equally and in which all other department heads report to the county administrative officer.
Wilkes wants to revert to the old system in which all county administrators report to the BOC chairman alone, who then reports to the other four commissioners.
In March of 2009, voters in Oconee County overwhelmingly approved a 1 percent Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax referendum setting aside $1.1 million for spending on “recreational, historic and scenic facilities” in the county.
More than three years later, in May of 2012, the Oconee County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to spend $90,000 from that “recreational, historic and scenic facilities” category of SPLOST 2009, with most of that money going to replacement of a damaged “bridge” in Northwest Woods.
The Commission will be reviewing a rezone application from Benson’s Bakery in the city of Bogart.
Oconee County officials now believe that the lack of congressional action to address a projected shortfall in federal highway funding will not affect the pending Mars Hill Road widening project.
Emil Beshara, director of the county's public works department, told the Citizens Advisory Committee on Land Use and Transportation Planning last night that he expects the state to let bids for the project in July.
Oconee County officials have made a conscious decision not to enforce the county’s sign ordinance for a property in the busy intersection of SR 316 and the Oconee Connector.
Code enforcement officials believe a double-sided sign the county approved for the property was installed in violation of the county requirement that such signs be five feet from the property line. The sign, the county contends, is outside the property itself and is in the state right of way, which is a violation of state law.
The Public Service Commission of Georgia will spend $0.5 million to run a gas pipeline under SR 316 to Resurgence Park, the commercial subdivision being created by Nichols Land and Development Company on Virgil Langford Road.
The gas line was requested by David Dwyer of Atlas Real Estate Advisors of Athens on behalf of his clients, Thrive Senior Living and Georgia Skin Cancer and Aesthetic Dermatology, which plan to open facilities in Resurgence Park.
The Oconee County Chamber of Commerce released a report on Monday showing that 79 percent of its members responding to a Chamber survey said they would like to see a referendum on liquor by the drink on the November ballot.
And 77 percent said they would like the Chamber to encourage the Oconee County Board of Commissioners to put the issue before the voters.
The Oconee County Board of Commissions last night approved a $36.6 Fiscal Year 2015 budget, agreed upon a $47.3 million spending plan as part the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax referendum to be on the ballot on Nov. 4, and rezoned property for a mini-warehouse and storage facility.
The budget approved was unchanged from the one reviewed by the Board at its meeting on May 27, meaning that Coroner Ed Carson did not get his requested transport van.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners tomorrow night will be asked to rezone a three-acre tract that is part of an island circled by SR Loop 10, SR 316 and the Oconee Connector.
Owners of the tract, at the eastern terminus of Virgil Langford Road as it crosses a stub of Jennings Mill Road, want to build an indoor mini-warehouse and self-service storage facility on the property.
Oconee County citizens will get their second and final chance to comment on the Fiscal Year 2015 budget on Tuesday night just before the Board of Commissioners takes final action on the $36.6 million spending plan.
The budget was outlined to the public for the first time in a 26-minute PowerPoint presentation by county Finance Director Wes Geddings last Tuesday night.
