Kristin Gibson appeared before the Oconee County Planning Commission on Monday evening asking for help with problems she and her husband have with the 2.5 acre parcel on which their home sits at 1030 Garrett Road in the northwest of the county.
After the purchase of their home and the land in May of 2022, Gibson said, they discovered that no building permits had been issued for the partially completed guest house on the rear of their property.
Gibson said the guest house is for her mother-in-law and that she and her husband are prepared to go through the process of getting permits to finish the structure and meet all of the code requirements.
But they also want to be able to use an abandoned drive to access that second home.
The county holds a one-foot, no-access easement on the property at the abandoned driveway. The county placed the easement on the property at the time the 2.5 acres the Gibsons owned was rezoned in October of 2020 to remove access to Hog Mountain Road.
Gibson said she and her husband also didn’t know about that restriction when they bought the property.
Commission members expressed sympathy, but in the end, they voted 6 to 1 to recommend to the Board of Commissioners that it deny the Gibson’s request to be able to use that driveway.
The Planning Commission on Monday night voted to recommend that the Board of Commissioners approve the rezone of 17.4 acres on U.S. 78 (Monroe Highway) east of Wellington Drive for an eight-lot subdivision.
Guy Herring, Director of Planning and Code Enforcement for the county, said on Friday, that so far no plans for the recently announced indoor pickleball facility on Hog Mountain Road near the U.S. 441 intersection have been submitted to the county for review.
Staff Review
Guy Herring told the members of the Planning Commission that the 2.5 acres that the Gibsons own was rezoned in October of 2020 to create a two-lot subdivision.
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| Screen Shot Gibson At Planning Commission 9/16/2024 |
A condition of that rezone was that a one-foot, no-access easement had to be placed on what became the Gibson parcel along Hog Mountain Road, which is SR 53.
A manufactured home was on the property at the time of the rezone, and the dirt driveway provided access to that home.
The purpose of the easement was to prohibit use of that driveway. Access to the proposed homes on the two lots was to come from Garrett Road.
The Oconee County Planning staff recommended denial of the request by the Gibsons that they regain access to Hog Mountain Road and proposed instead that the Gibsons extend the driveway to their home to reach the guest house.
If that were done, the staff report states, the Gibsons would not need to change the zoning conditions from 2020 and also would not need a special exception variance for a separate guest house driveway.
The variance request was not before the Planning Commission on Monday. Only the Board of Commissioners holds hearings on and makes decisions on variance requests.
Gibson Predicament
Attorney Stanton Porter, representing the Gibsons, told the Planning Commission members that “the Gibsons had no idea that this (the guest house) was not permitted, not OK'd by the county.”
“It really was only when they went to go finish it out and apply for a septic permit to put in a septic system for this building they learned that the building was never permitted and that this driveway that's there would not be allowed,” he said.
Porter showed pictures of the dirt drive, with an existing curb cut and culvert.
He said the drive, cut and culvert existed for access to the manufactured home and were not changed by the Gibsons or the previous owner.
Porter said it was feasible to extend the existing driveway, as the county proposed, but it would create other problems, such as drainage, and decrease the value of the property.
Kristin Gibson, speaking after Porter and confirming his statements about what she and her husband knew when they purchased the lot, said “I know we're asking to bend the rule. But as you can see from the photo, having that drive come up the side of the house...that goes right by my bedroom window.”
“You probably wouldn't be concerned about that,” she said, “but imagine sleeping and a car is driving right by your window.”
Gibson said it would be “about one to two times a day that she (her mother-in-law) might go in and out of that driveway.”
Commission Discussion
“I am sympathetic,” Commission Member Chris Herring said when Porter and Gibson had finished speaking, “but it's pretty clear here on this survey there's a recorded easement.”
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| Existing Driveway And Guest House |
“I wish your mother-in-law a long life,” Commission Member Jim Jenkins said to Gibson. “But what happens to the house once she doesn't live there any longer?”
“It really is the intent to keep it as part of our family and just use it for our needs as we see fit till we sell the property one day,” Gibson said.
“We don't have anything in our rules that if we do that with that driveway, that pipe ought to be dug up and gone before we approve?” Commission Member Matt Elder asked of Guy Herring.
Guy Herring said the county didn’t have any requirement, and the state, which controls the right of way, also does not have that requirement.
“I'm just saying I feel for the Gibsons because if it was removed and then they want to put it back, boy that'd be a different story,” Elder said.
Elder was the sole no vote on the motion to recommend denial of the request. Voting in favor were Jeff Burks, Nick Hobbs, Nathan Byrd, Chris Herring, Jim Jenkins, and Ann Evans. Board Chair Chuck Hunt does not vote.
The Gibson will have a chance to make their case directly to the Commissioners at their meeting on Oct. 1.
Sapphire Property Rentals
The second rezone before the Planning Commission on Monday night also involved a controversy regarding the existence of two houses on the 17.4 acres to be rezoned for an eight-lot subdivision.
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| Screen Shot Kirk At Planning Commission 9/16/2024 |
Though Planning and Code Enforcement Director Herring made no mention of this in his presentation on Monday, the Planning Department staff report by Senior Planner David Webb noted that the property contains two existing dwellings constructed in 1970 and 1973.
“Having two dwellings on the lot is a non-conforming use with the current Agricultural zoning,” Webb wrote.
Property Owner Robert Scott submitted planning documents showing the properties on separate lots, but Webb wrote that “A plat was recorded January 31, 1991, that showed a survey of an illegal 0.525 acre parcel that was not reviewed or approved by the County.”
Scott bought the property on Jan. 26, 2024, according to county tax records.
Adam Kirk, a landscape architect representing Scott, owner of Sapphire Property Rentals LLC, which is listed as the legal owner of the property, told the Commission that “There'll be eight new lots at the end of the project but two existing homes will remain.”
The two existing homes currently are accessed via driveways opening onto U.S. 78, and the concept plan submitted by Scott show those driveways being demolished and new driveways being constructed off a new road into the subdivision.
That new road will intersect U.S. 78, and although no deceleration and acceleration lanes are shown on the submitted comments, Planning and Code Enforcement Director Herring said the state will determine what road improvements are needed when the project is built.
Scott is asking the county to rezone the 17.4 acres now classified as AG (Agricultural) to R-1 (Single Family Residential District). The planning Commission unanimously recommended that the Board of Commissioners make the change.
Pickleball Facility
The Oconee Enterprise reported on its business page in its Sept. 19 edition that Pickleball Kingdom has granted a franchise for a facility on Hog Mountain Road at Macon Highway.
Dave Moran and Eric Middleton, of Atlanta, will be the franchisees, according to the Enterprise and a Sept. 10 news release from Pickleball Kingdom Franchising, based in Chandler, Ariz.
The news release lists the location for the facility “as situated at Hog Mountain Road and Macon Highway.”
According to Oconee County tax records, three undeveloped properties are behind the RaceTrak where Hog Mountain Road dead ends with Macon Highway (U.S. 441).
A 1.7 acre parcel is owned by CBH Properties Watkinsville LLC, based in Houston, Texas.
Two other properties, totaling a little more than 14 acres, are owned by Manor Holdings LLC, with its address at an office on Meriweather Drive in Oconee County, according to the Secretary of State corporate database.
On July 9, Oconee County commissioners approved a 23.5 acre commercial subdivision adjoining those 14 acres.
In the initial phase of development of the 23.5 acre site, access will be at the traffic light where Macon Highway (an extension of Watkinsville’s North Main Street) meets U.S. 441 Bypass.
On July 11 of 2023, the Commissioners approved a rezone for a QuikTrip on adjoining property that will use this same access to U.S. 441.
Extension Of Road Needed
Full development of the 23.5 acre commercial subdivision approved on July 9 is dependent on a second access to Hog Mountain Road across the 14 acres owned by Manor Holdings.
The Manor Holdings 14 acres as well as the 1.7 acre parcel owned by CBH Properties Watkinsville already are zoned B2 for Highway Business, so no change in zoning classification would be necessary to accommodate the Pickleball Kingdom facility.
In an email on Sept. 20, Planning and Code Enforcement Director Herring said “We have not received any submittals from them,” referring to the franchisees or their representatives.
“We will know more about the improvements required at Hog Mountain Road when we have a concept plan or site development plan submitted to us,” he said.
Video
The video below is on the county’s YouTube Channel.
The meeting begins at 4:45 in the video.
Discussion of the Gibson request begins at 7:46 in the video.
Discussion of the Sapphire Properties request is at 34:22.
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