Townley Family Partnership Asking For Rezone For A Large Subdivision On Hog Mountain Road At Hodges Mill Road

***Access On Rocky Branch And Hodges Mill Roads***

Townley Family Partnership LLLP is planning an 120-lot residential subdivision on what is now farmland bordered by Hodges Mill Road, Hog Mountain Road, and Rocky Branch Road in the northwest of the county.

While some of that acreage is inside the unincorporated Eastville community and is already zoned Agricultural Residential, the bulk of the 299.9 acres planned for the subdivision currently is zoned Agricultural.

Representatives for Tony Townley and the Townley Family Properties LLLP will be before the Oconee County Planning Commission on Dec. 9 asking for a rezone of the property currently zoned Agriculture to allow for the subdivision.

The subdivision will be accessed via both Hodges Mill Road and Rocky Branch Road.

The narrative says the rezone and resulting subdivision will create a “community within a walkable distance to North Oconee High School and the future Dawson Park” on Rocky Branch Road.

Townley says he will not build homes on the property until January of 2030.

The Board of Commissioners is scheduled to make a decision on the request at its meeting on Jan. 7 of the new year.

The Planning Commission on Dec. 9 also will hear a request to add 10 small cabins for recreational overnight camping on 19.6 acres further west on Hog Mountain Road and a request from Prince Avenue Baptist Church to expand its campus on U.S. 78.

Details Of Townley Rezone

The Townley rezone involves seven different parcels totaling 257.46 acres. Only three of those are wholly zoned Agricultural at present.

Rezone Sign On Hodges Mill Road 11/26/2024

Two parcels totaling 42.48 acres will be incorporated into the subdivision but are not part of the rezone request.

Each home will range in size from 2,500 square feet and up, according to the narrative for the rezone, with average cost of the residences at $1 million.

Lots will be two acres in size. Sewage will be treated by individual septic systems.

Water will be provided by the Oconee County Water Resources Department.

The project is being called Old Rocky Branch.

Properties

All nine of the properties to be included in the subdivision currently have a 10-year conservation easement on them, three of them renewed in 2024, according to Oconee County property records.

In the narrative, prepared by Carter Engineering, Townley said that the delay for actual building on the 120 lots is due to the “understanding there are numerous residential lots available in the county at the time of this rezoning request.”

“In an effort to allow time for the lots to drawdown, the developer agrees to not build homes on the subject property until January of 2030,” according to the narrative.

According to property records listed on qPublic, Townley Family Partnership LLLP owns more than 100 properties in Oconee County, including the nine that are proposed for the subdivision.

Tony Townley, one of the founders of Zaxby’s, is the general partner of the Partnership.

North High Shoals Deannexation

In February of this year, Townley Family Partnership asked the Town of North High Shoals to deannex 175.5 acres it had purchased within the Town’s boundaries.

Outline Of Subdivision From Rezone Narrative
Hog Mountain Road At Bottom
(Click To Enlarge)

North High Shoals Mayor Stephen Goad said at that time that in August of 2023, Carter Engineering, representing Townley Family Properties, approached the previous mayor with plans for a 30-lot subdivision on that and adjoining acreage outside the town’s boundaries.

When the Council turned down the deannexation request, Townley Family Partnership filed suit in Oconee County Superior Court.

In July, Oconee County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard rejected Townley’s request for a review of the Council’s decision.

Townley Family Partnership filed a notice of appeal on Nov. 7 of Judge Haggard’s decision to dismiss the Townley petition for judicial review of the deannexation decision by the Town Council .

The Town of North High Shoals filed a cross appeal on Nov. 18 stating that Judge Haggard incorrectly ruled that the deannexation law was not unconstitutional.

Other Rezone Requests

Dixon Family Trust of 2012 is asking the county to grant a special use request that it be allowed to add 10 rental cabins of approximately 1,000 square feet in size on 19.6 acres it owns at 6011 Hog Mountain Road, just west of the Lane Creek Road intersection.

The property currently is zoned Agricultural and contains a three-bedroom house that presently is not occupied.

The plan is to incorporate that building into the planned recreational complex as a rental.

Plans call for a trail system and a common meeting area.

Prince Avenue Baptist Church is asking for special use for development and expansion of its campus onto roughly 30 acres it has acquired, bringing its total campus to 74.4 acres.

All of the acreage occupied for the campus is zoned Agricultural, and the special use will allow the Church to expand its parking and add a 30,000 square foot building.

The proposed use of the expanded campus will remain unchanged, according to the zoning narrative. “It will be used as a Christian Church and School at a Community Scale,” the narrative states.

The Planning Commission meets at 6 p.m. on Dec. 9 in the Oconee County Administrative Building, 7635 Macon Highway, north of Watkinsville.

NOTE: Beginning in September, the Planning Commission changed its meeting time from 7 p.m. to 6 p.m. The original version of this story had the meeting starting at 7 p.m. I apologize for the error.