Oconee County commissioners last week spent 16 minutes deciding what to do with a driveway leading to an unpermitted guest house on Garrett Road and an hour deciding what to do with an unpermitted storage shed on Oconee Forrest Drive.
The decision on the driveway was one the commissioners had delayed following a zoning hearing a month ago, and last week they sided with the homeowners and allowed them to use an existing driveway the commissioners previously had blocked rather than build a new one.
Following appeals by neighbors who supported the shed builder and those who opposed, the commissioners decided not to grant a variance that would allow the existing 1,218 square foot shed to remain.
The commissioners were unanimous in allowing the use of the existing driveway, even though the county’s planning staff and the citizen advisory Planning Commission had recommended against that action.
They were nearly unanimous in rejecting the shed, with Commissioner Mark Thomas being the exception. The planning staff and the Planning Commission had recommended denial of the variance.
The commissioners also voted unanimously to approve a contract with the Upper Oconee Basin Water Authority that will allow the Authority to borrow up to $140 million for an expansion of the Authority’s water treatment plant in Jackson County.
After a 40-minute discussion, the Board took no action on a request that it award a contract to a consultant to develop a self-funding health insurance program for county employees.
Employee Insurance
At the Board’s agenda setting meeting on Oct. 29, Board Chair John Daniell said that the county as been investigating self-funding health insurance for county employees since 2015 in response to increasing health care costs.
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| Kirouac, Left, Thomas, Horton, Daniell, Harden, Saxon 11/5/2024 |
Daniell said that a benefits program consultant had concluded that the county could benefit from self-funding employee insurance and that the county had issued a request for proposals (RFPs) for a consultant to develop a self-funding program for the county.
At the meeting on Nov. 5, Daniell reported that the county received six responses to the RFPs for benefit consulting services.
Gallagher Benefit Services Incorporated received the highest rating from a review committee, Daniell reported. It also had been the initial consultant.
At the meeting on Nov. 5, Commissioner Chuck Horton said he was concerned that the request was to award a second contract to Gallagher because it had an advantage as a result of its work on the first phase.
County Administrator Justin Kirouac said the second RFP was not specific to Oconee County.
The RFP focused on “What are your qualifications? What are the services? And the proposals were sent in to identify who would be the appropriate broker slash consultant going forward for our health services.”
Reason For Change
In response to a question from Commissioner Mark Saxon, Kirouac said “At the end of the day, what we're looking for, and this is why we would go to a self-funding model, we're going to more of a cost containment.”
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| Thomas, Horton, Daniell, Harden, Saxon 11/5/2024 |
“But we're also looking to see if we can expand benefit offerings for the employees at the same time,” he said, “and provide a more rich overall program.”
“It's not like we're in financial difficulties,” Commission Chair Daniell said. “That’s what spurs a lot of people to look into the self-funding. This is more about the program itself–a healthier workforce.”
“Certainly leveling the growth of the curve of the health insurance is a goal,” he added.
“You just don’t know what you’re going to get yourself into when you go to self-funded,” Commissioner Mark Saxon said. “There’s no guarantee, obviously,” he added.
At present, Kirouac said, the county has a professional services agreement with the Waller Insurance Agency for the health insurance the county provides its employees.
Daniell said the consultant will tell the county whether it should make the change on Jan. 1 or “Do we stay where we're at for three months, six months, entire year.”
Request For Delay
“We should have been talking about this a lot sooner,” Horton said. “I mean, this is a big deal. It's a lot of money. We're making a decision for our employees.”
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| Thomas, Horton, Daniell, Harden 11/5/2024 |
“I do think we really need to spend more time these big ticket things so we knock out the confusion,” he said.
Horton said he would not support giving the contract to Gallagher.
Daniell said a committee of county employees has been meeting for four months to student the insurance options.
“I just make a motion that we table the vote until at such time the commissions have had their questions answered and they're prepared to make an informed decision,” Commissioner Amrey Harden said.
Horton seconded the motion, but Saxon and Commissioner Thomas did not support the motion. Daniell voted against the motion to break the tie.
“Is there another motion on the table?” Daniell asked. When none was offered, he said “I think we're ready to move the next item.”
Zoning Hearings
Just more than 40 people were in the audience on Nov. 5 when the Board of Commissioners began dealing with eight different zoning requests on the agenda.
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| Attorney Stanton Porter Representing Gibsons 11/5/2024 |
The commissioners quickly approved requests to rezone 17.4 acres at 2880 Monroe Highway for an eight-lot subdivision, for a special use to modify conditions of a previous rezone on 16.3 acres at 1600 Black Ike Road to create two lots, and for a special use for an accessory modular farm tenant dwelling on 32.7 acres at 2791 Oliver Bridge Road.
Kristen and Phillip Gibson, at the Oct. 1 meeting of the Board, asked the county to set aside a condition of an earlier rezone of a 2.5 acre parcel on which their home sits at 1030 Garrett Road in the northwest of the county.
That property has a driveway onto Hog Mountain Road (SR 53) that the county blocked via a one-foot, no access easement when a previous land owner rezoned the property in 2020.
When the Gibsons purchased their home in 2022, that driveway still existed, and a guest house was partially constructed at the rear of the property, though no permits had been issued for its construction.
The Gibsons have said they did not know that the guest house had not been properly permitted and that the driveway, which leads to the guest house, was blocked via the easement the county put into place.
Commissioner Chuck Horton said if the county’s Property Appraisal Office had informed the county’s Planning and Code Enforcement Office of the unpermitted building when that office appraised the property, the Gibsons “would have never gotten themselves in that (situation) in the first place.”
“This is a lesson to all of y'all,” Commissioner Amrey Harden said, “that if you buy something, you better know what you're buying.”
Shed Without Permit
Deborah Hargrave, 1230 Oconee Forest Drive, was asking the Board to allow an accessory metal building constructed without permits that is 1,218 square feet in size to remain on her property even though it is in violation of the county’s Unified Development Code (UDC).
The lot that Hargrave owns is only 0.6 acres in size, and the UDC stipulates that an accessory structure on a lot less than three acres in size can be only 1,000 square feet in size.
Hunter Hargrave, speaking on behalf of the request, told the Board that despite rumors the building was being used for a business “It's being used for personal storage--for stuff that we had from a storage unit. And due to today's times, prices are going up, it made sense to build something that was ours versus continue to pay for a storage unit.”
Three people followed Hargrave, speaking on behalf of his request.
Jams Griffith said “I don't have any problem with their building...I had no idea it was bigger than it's the requirements because it doesn't look that big to me.”
Kaylee Cooper said “The Hargraves are wonderful people...I didn't realize the size of it...It kind of just blends in.”
Chris Mobley said she doesn’t live in the Oconee Forest subdivision, which is between New High Shoals Road and Union Church Road.
“They're some of my closest friends, some of the most honest and hardworking people that I know,” she said of the Hargraves. “Hunter has dedicated his life to public service. His family is just good people. They're good, honest people, and I don't think they're trying to do anything nefarious.”
Opposition To Barn
John Parker said “I want to echo what has been said about the Hargraves. They are good people. They are great people.” But the building, with a poured foundation, large garage doors, and large gravel driveways make the facility more appropriate for commercial use, he said.
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| Hargrave 11/5/2024 |
Paula Sisler said “a building that is 1,218 square feet is almost as big as a house in our neighborhood. “Frankly, I find it hard to believe that he never gave any thought to investigating with the county before he built this big, huge structure.”
Armando Rodriguez said “I strongly object the variance. And I support Code Enforcement's finding that this variance should not be approved.”
Mary Fletcher said Hargrave is “a contractor by trade and should know about building codes and permits. If he's allowed to proceed without consequence, what's the point of having ordinances at all?”
“Mr. Hargraves chose to ignore the laws,” she said, “and saying, oops, and I'm sorry, is not fair to all the other citizens in Oconee County who go out of their way to be good neighbors.”
Josh Welch said “We are concerned by the size of the appearance of the structure. The disregard for the county ordinances, including the requirement to obtain property or proper permits, has led to resulting in a building nearly three quarters the size of an average home.”
In refusing to approve the request by the Hargraves, the Commissioners are requiring them to figure out some way to reduce the size of the building.
The commissioners took no action on a second request by the Hargraves to reduce the side setback for the constructed building from 10 feet to 9.45 feet and to reduce the rear setback f rom 40 feet to 27.15 feet.
The Hargraves will have to submit new plans showing the resized building before the Board will vote on that request.
Upper Oconee Basin Water Authority
Jim Woodward, bond counsel for the Upper Oconee Basin Water Authority, of which Oconee County is a part, told the Board at the Nov. 5 meeting that the Authority has approved a “bond transaction up to $140 million.”
The funds will be used to double the capacity of the Jackson County plant–the source of Oconee County’s water--from 21 million gallons per day to 42 million gallons per day. Oconee County’s allocation will increase from 4.5 million to 9 million gallons per day.
Woodward said the plan is to go to the market on Nov. 20 after resolutions by Oconee County, Barrow County, and Jackson County are approved by the respective Boards of Commissioners guaranteeing the bond sales.
Sales will be in “two tranches,” Woodward said.
Oconee, Barrow, and Jackson counties, plus Clarke County, make up the Upper Oconee Basin Water Authority, but, while Clarke County draws water from the reservoir, it has its own treatment plant.
The resolution approved by the Board also extends the reservoir contract, which has been in place since 1996, and amends the water treatment contract to reflect the new allocations of water when the expanded plant is completed.
Oconee County is responsible for 23.8 percent of the costs of the treatment plant expansion.
Alcohol Beverage Ordinance
Commissioners, at the Nov. 5 meeting, also got updates on revisions to the county’s Alcohol Beverage Ordinance.
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| Clip Of New Service Area Click To Enlarge |
The changes will expand the service area for the sales of alcoholic beverages, allow for brew-pubs, allow for restaurants serving alcohol within grocery stores, and move responsibility for administration of the ordinance.
At present, the granting of licenses is administered by County Clerk Holly Stephenson, and the revised ordinance moves that responsibility to the county’s Department of Planning and Code Enforcement.
The proposed expansion of the service area would allow for alcohol sales in The Village At Malcom Bridge strip shopping center now under construction on Malcom Bridge Road opposite Malcom Bridge Middle School.
The county placed the revised ordinance on its web site this past week, with an the updated service area map.
The service area map, revised in 2019 and in place at present, allows for alcohol sales along U.S. 78 and Mars Hill Road but does not extend the service area down Malcom Bridge Road.
The new map creates a service area island on Malcom Bridge Road for The Village At Malcom Bridge.
The Commission will hold a public hearing on and give first reading to the amendments to the Ordinance Regulating the Sale of Alcoholic Beverages at its Agenda Setting meeting on Nov. 26.
It will hold a public hearing and give final reading to the ordinance on Dec. 3.
Both meetings begin at 6 p.m. in the Commission Chambers of the Administrative Building, 7635 Macon Highway, north of Watkinsville.
Video
The video below is on the Oconee County government YouTube Channel.
The meeting starts at 6:12 in the video.
Discussion of he first rezone cases begins at 3:54 in the video.
Discussion of the request by the Gibsons is at 24:02 in the video.
The Hargrave rezone request begins at 40:23.
Discussion of the changes in employee insurance begin at 1:43:29 in the video.
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