Oconee County commissioners on Tuesday night tentatively approved an agreement that will allocate to the city of Watkinsville 100,000 gallons per day of sewage treatment capacity from the county’s Calls Creek Water Reclamation Facility and provide another 100,000 gallons per day when that plant is expanded.
Watkinsville can use that allocated sewage treatment capacity as it sees fit, including for residential use at the proposed multi-use Wire Park development on Barnett Shoals Road.
The Oconee County Planning Commission has recommended that the Board of Commissioners approve the rezone request for just under 62 acres between Old Epps Bridge Road and SR Loop 10 for a large retirement community with 398 residential units.
The project, called Celebration Village Athens–Oconee Campus, will include in Phase 1 two three-story “concierge living” buildings, a three-story assisted living and memory care building, two four-story independent living buildings, and 32 independent living cottages.
They talked about hobbies, about their favorite conversational topics, about the American dream, about their personality traits, about admired historical figures, and about family traditions.
According to the instructions, the 10 pairs of citizens gathered at the Oconee County Library on Saturday morning, and the others who joined the conversations during the following hour, were not to talk about politics.
Watkinsville’s appointee to the Oconee County Planning Commission has informed the county that he will no longer be attending Planning Commission meetings after being told by former Mayor Dave Shearon that the city no longer wants a member on the Commission.
Shearon sent George Rodrigues, the city’s representative to the Planning Commission going back four mayors, a letter on Jan. 6 saying that the city has been handling its own zoning since 2008 and no longer benefits from representation on the county’s Planning Commission.
Preparation for a vote this November on renewal of Oconee County’s Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax is underway.
County Administrator Justin Kirouac said he has asked county departments to develop projects lists and cost estimates and that the Board of Commissioners will discuss in February the schedule for creating the projects to be put before the voters in the fall.
The citizens who turned out for the Oconee County Board of Commissioners Town Hall meeting last Tuesday had a few questions for members of the Commission.
They wanted to know about the widening of Experiment Station Road, about plans for the new Watkinsville Library, about the planned detour route for construction of the multi-grade intersection of the Oconee Connector and SR 316, and about plans for broadband improvements in the county.
The Watkinsville City Council on Wednesday authorized City Manager Sharyn Dickerson to move forward with creation of a development agreement for the former 66.6 acre Southwire property on Barnett Shoals Road.
The Council took the action following a presentation by developer Duke Gibbs and planner Bob Smith for what they are calling Wire Park.
The first meeting of the Watkinsville Mayor and City Council last week got off to a very smooth start, and the good mood continued through the 13-minute-long session.
“I think congratulations are in order for Mayor Smith,” Council Member Brian Brodrick said at the beginning of the meeting, referring to newly elected Mayor Bob Smith, seated to his right.
Democrat Jonathan Wallace announced Monday that he will seek to regain his seat as the District 119 Representative to the Georgia House.
Incumbent Republican Marcus Wiedower defeated Wallace in the 119th in 2018 after Wallace defeated Wiedower and two other Republican candidates in a special election for the 119th seat in 2017.
Oconee County voters will get a chance on Tuesday to see a demonstration of the new voting machines that the county will use for the presidential primary on March 24.
Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell announced at the Commission meeting last Tuesday that the county will hold its January Town Hall meeting at 6 p.m. on this Tuesday at Oconee Veterans Park.
