Sunday, May 07, 2017

Stakeholders Subcommittee For Oconee County Comprehensive Plan Creates List of Parks And Greenspace Wants

Land Use Meeting Too

Oconee County needs more park space.

As a result, it should identify land now for future expansion of its parks.

The county should include a natatorium with swimming and diving facilities in one of the new parks it builds.

The county needs a master plan for Heritage Park as well as a system-wide master plan.

The county should expand the staff of the Parks and Recreation Department, adding five new staff members immediately.

These are some of the preliminary recommendations of a subcommittee on Parks and Greenspace of the Joint Comprehensive Plan Stakeholders Committee. The subcommittee met on Wednesday evening at the Government Annex, 1291 Greensboro Highway (SR 15) in Watkinsville.

A Stakeholders subcommittee on Land Use met on April 26, and a Transportation subcommittee is scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m. on May 25, also in the conference room at the Government Annex.

The reports of the two subcommittees that have met will come before the full Joint Comprehensive Plan Stakeholders Committee meeting at 6:30 p.m. on May 16th at the Community Center in Oconee Veterans Park, 3500 Hog Mountain Road.

Creation Of Subcommittees

Only six of the 29 members of the Joint Comprehensive Plan Stakeholders Committee participated in the subcommittee on Parks and Greenspace meeting on Wednesday, even though the subcommittee was created at the initiative of the citizen Stakeholders Committee.

The Land Use and the Transportation subcommittees were created on the initiative of Justin Crighton, a planner with the Northeast Georgia Regional Commission. Crighton is heading up the county’s efforts to revise its 2008 Master Plan for 2018.

Nine members of the Stakeholders Committee participated in the Land Use subcommittee meeting on the 26th.

Discussion at that meeting was heated at points.

Committee member Daniel Marks, associate broker and developer at Nichols Land and Investment Company, 2500 Daniells Bridge Road, dominated the conversation, taking pro-development positions at odds with those taken by most other Committee members present.

In the end, the Land Use Committee agreed to retain the main features of the existing Land Use map and to work on modifications to the descriptions of the character areas for future discussion.

Parks and Greenspace List

The meeting of the Parks and Greenspace subcommittee lasted just more than 70 minutes, with much of the initial discussion about the demand for sports fields at the existing parks.

At the end, Crighton offered his summary of the discussion, focusing on the need for more park space, for a natatorium, for master plans, and for increased staffing.

No one from the Parks and Recreation Department was at the meeting, and none of the members of the county’s Citizens Advisory Committee on Recreation Affairs is on the Stakeholders Committee.

Many of the topics raised by the subcommittee have been discussed at meetings of the Citizens Advisory Committee on Recreation Affairs as well.

Funding Options

The Stakeholders subcommittee proposed that the county partner with the county School System to identify and preserve green space.

The county also should develop public-private partnerships and seek grants, Crighton said in summarizing the recommendations of the subcommittee.

The subcommittee members said that developers should share the costs of creating greenspace, through an excise tax or through impact fees, Crighton said in his summary, or find “some other way to get the developers to pay for that.”

The county needs a multi-use path, the subcommittee said, and there was considerable interest in the possibility of a rails-to-trails initiative.

Rather than build outdoor swimming pools, the county should build splash pads, the subcommittee said.

Land Use Subcommittee

The meeting of the Land Use Committee on April 26 lasted nearly two hours and lacked a central focus.

At time, several conversations among subgroups took place at the same time.

Marks placed himself at the center of the table and spoke loudly throughout the meeting

“I just don’t think Mars Hill is going to be the nightmare that everybody thinks it is going to be,” he said at one point, after committee member David Jackson raised concerns about the impact of the road, now being widened, on future development in the county.

Lisa Douglas, another committee member and a farmer, said how important it is to her to preserve green space in the county.

“Listen, nobody’s farming. It does not pay to farm,” Marks said.

Epps Bridge Centre

Committee member Laura Iyer said she was disappointed in Epps Bridge Centre, the new shopping center at Epps Bridge Road and the Oconee Connector. Expansion of the shopping center is now underway.

“It could have been a center for community,” she said of the original shopping mall. “But it is just for the shops. It is retailers rule. My question is, do we have a voice on getting a little bit of a community feel to some of these retail spaces? That’s what I would like.”

“That’s ancient history, now. Let’s move on,” Marks said. “That’s ancient history.”

“That’s why I’m on this Committee,” Iyer said. “I’m frustrated.”

“We can learn a lesson from it, and make sure we don’t allow it to go to another spot,” Jackson added.

Video Of Parks And Greenspace

The video of the meeting of the subcommittee on Parks and Greenspace is below.

Penny Mills recorded the video of the meeting, which I joined about 10 minutes after it started.

Crighton was joined by Jordan Shoemaker from NEGRC.

B.R. White, director of the Oconee County Department of Planning and Code Enforcement, also attended.

OCO: Comprehensive Plan 5 3 17 from Lee Becker on Vimeo.

Video Of Land Use

The video of the meeting of the Land Use subcommittee is below.

The meeting lasted about two hours, but the video starts about 20 minutes into the discussion.

Sarah Bell recorded the video but was late arriving because of confusion over the venue. The earlier meetings of the Stakeholds Committee had all been at Veterans Park.

Marks is in the pink shirt, with a tie.

Crighton was joined by Eva Kennedy from NEGRC.

Planning and Code Enforcement Director White also attended.

Maria Caudill and Charles Hunt, members of the Stakeholders Committee and in attendance, also are on the county’s Planning Commission.

OCO: Comprehensive Plan 4 26 2017 from Lee Becker on Vimeo.

Video of Meeting On April 11

Crighton created breakout groups at an April 11 meeting of the full Stakeholders Committee, the most recent meeting of the full Committee.

The groups were for Land Use, Transportation, Parks and Greenspace, and Community Services.

Each Committee member was to rotate around among the four clusters, making lists of strengths and weakness of the county in the four areas.

Kennedy and Shoemaker from NEGRC joined Crighton in facilitating the discussions.

Planning and Code Enforcement Director White also was in attendance.

Penny Mills recorded the video of the meeting. She kept the camera on during the small group discussions, though only a few of the conversations are audible.

The full video is below.

These videos and videos from earlier Stakeholder Committee meetings are on the Comprehensive Plan Channel of the Oconee County Observations Vimeo Site.

OCO: Comprehensive Plan 4 11 17 Complete from Lee Becker on Vimeo.

12 comments:

David Rivertree said...

Thanks Lee for this! Is there a list that you can put up on this blog detailing the proposed sites for greenspace and parks? Keep up the good work!!!

Lee Becker said...

David,
There is no such list at present. If one is created, I'll post about it.
Thanks.
Lee

Anonymous said...

Sounds like Daniel Marks doesn't really know Oconee County and is there for the 'investment' in Nichols Land & Investment. It all makes sense when you go to the Nichols site and look under 'Development Services' only to see Epps Bridge Centre.

Xardox said...

Builders, brokers, developers, architects...
Makes sense for them to be in the loop for Land Use.
Too bad for the rest of us.
Tax Base! The drumbeat for money to spend.
Parks & Recreation touches nearly as many citizens as Utilities.
Right now it's a mess, a constant skrimping and scraping,
begging for every dollar it can squeeze.
What's it going to be? Softball, soccer, and recreational programs,
or billboards and businesses?

Anonymous said...

Seems like committee member Daniel Marks, "associate broker and developer at Nichols Land and Investment Company", has a clear self interest in development. Glad some committee members stood up to him.

Sorry Mr. Marks, the majority of Oconee County residents do not want to become Gwinnett County.

Yes, we need smart development, especially commercial. Before anyone cries out against "NIMBY's", there's a happy medium possible with very smart proactive planning. Our commissioners, Economic Development and Planing & Zoning staff need to look at best practices; Greenville, SC comes to mind. Gwinnett is the example on what not to do.

Anonymous said...

Xardox, I think you meant to say "digital billboards"!?!

Gotta love the digital billboards by QT and RaceTrac; tacky and unappealing.

Anonymous said...

Can't have softball and soccer without businesses unless everyone wants their taxes tripled.

Anonymous said...

Stay classy Mr. Marks!

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Marks placed himself at the center of the table and spoke loudly throughout the meeting

“I just don’t think Mars Hill is going to be the nightmare that everybody thinks it is going to be,” he said at one point, after committee member David Jackson raised concerns about the impact of the road, now being widened, on future development in the county.

“Listen, nobody’s farming. It does not pay to farm,” Marks said.

“That’s ancient history, now. Let’s move on,” Marks said. “That’s ancient history.”

rightway1974 said...

A so called developer who has been in Oconee County since 2014 knows whats best for us? He hasnt even been here long enough to know who the farm owners are. Were doomed to be another Gwinnett because of people like that.

Anonymous said...

So sorry to hear that someone who knows everything (Daniel Marks) has landed in Oconee County and set himself to getting us all straightened out. Don't you just hate loud-mouthed know-it-alls???

Let'sGoOoconee said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Can't have softball and soccer without businesses unless everyone wants their taxes tripled.

2:56 PM

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Anon 2:56 pm, there is absolutely no truth to your comment. Now what may actually triple are fees for water & sewer expansion,. And don't forget the fast-tracked $4 million dollar road for out of county developer Frank Bishop.

The Parks & Rec. Department operates very strong programs at the lowest cost possible.

Anonymous said...

Marks needs to go back to Augusta.
I wonder if Laura Iyer has toured HARDIGREE WILDLIFE SANCTUARY? It is only 7/10 of a mile south of Watkinsville down Hwy 15 on 1110 Old Greensboro RD. Their "mission is to provide outdoor education programs for children and adults to help them better understand nature, appreciate the outdoors, and become good stewards of the earth." To learn more or to visit, call or email Steve Scruggs, Executive Director 706-310-0088 or steve@hardigreewildlifesanctuary.org More complete information available at hardigreewildlifesanctuary.org