The Oconee County Planning Commission on Monday (June 16) is scheduled to review requests for three separate commercial developments, one on Mars Hill Road, one on nearby Lenru Road, and the third on U.S. 441 at Spartan Lane.
The county planning staff has recommended approval of all three requests, but it is asking the Planning Commission and the Board of Commissioners to eliminate proposed B-2 (Highway Business) Zoning for one lot in the commercial development on Mars Hill Road.
A crowd of more than 2,400 filled College Square across from the Arch in downtown Athens on Saturday, braving at times heavy rain and a thunderstorm, to protest against the way Donald Trump is wielding his power as president.
Part of the national No Kings protest, the Athens event was organized by a coalition of seven local groups, including the Oconee County Democrats.
Only a small number of people turned out for the listening session hosted by The Oconee Enterprise last week, but it was a group that came with compliments, criticism, and suggestions for the staff of the paper.
The individuals praised the paper’s sports coverage, its crime news, its willingness to run letters to the editor, and its focus on local news.
The City of Watkinsville and Oconee County will unveil a memorial plaque at 2 p.m. on June 29 at the Oconee County Courthouse in Watkinsville recognizing the nine victims of the 1905 lynching on that site.
That date is the 120th anniversary of the lynching, which left eight of the men dead and one wounded in the area behind what is now the Courthouse.
The developer of a grocery store with attached retail space on U.S. 78 just west of Mars Hill Road has filed construction documents with Oconee County, labeling the project Publix At Oconee Station.
Fred Hand IV of Hand Properties Inc. of Atlanta cautioned that no lease for the property has been signed, and completion of an agreement with Publix is contingent on receiving building permits from the county.
Parents concerned about the possibility of mold in Oconee County Elementary School scored a major victory on Monday night when Board Member Adam Hammond said he was in favor of having mold testing done at the school.
Hammond made his comment following a renewal of a request for independent mold testing by Sarah Danis, who has spoken repeatedly before the Board along with other parents of children at the elementary school.
The Oconee County Board of Education seems to have little competition in hiring a replacement for retiring Superintendent Jason Branch.
Georgia Leadership Associates (GLA), which is handling the search for the Board, lists open searches for superintendents in three other school districts, but the deadline for applying in each case has passed.
Turnout in the second week of early voting in the Public Service Commission Party Primaries picked up just slightly, with 399 of Oconee County 34,515 eligible voters having cast a ballot by the end of voting on Saturday, or 1.2 percent.
Voting across the six days of voting this week averaged 39 per day, up from 32 per day in the first five days of early voting last week, which included the Memorial Day holiday, when early voting was closed.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday agreed to spend $755,363 for a roundabout at New High Shoals Road and Union Church Road, with construction to start in the next few weeks and to be completed by the end of the year.
The roundabout is the second of five planned roundabouts to be funded by the Transportation Local Option Sales Tax (TSPLOST). Work on a roundabout at Lane Creek Road and Snows Mill Road is underway.
Pam Hendrix, the only citizen who spoke at the first Oconee County Board of Education Budget Hearing on May 22, returned on Thursday (May 29) to use her allotted three minutes to continue her criticism of the Board and of the $120.5 million Fiscal Year 2026 Budget before it.
Hendrix, a local attorney who has been a frequent critic of government spending in the county, was the only citizen to speak on Thursday, the final hearing before the Board is scheduled to adopt the Fiscal Year 2026 Budget on June 9.
Early voting in Oconee County for the June 17 Public Service Commission primaries is off to an extremely slow start.
After five days of voting, only 160 voters have cast a ballot, 49 of them in the Democratic Primary and 111 in the Republican Primary.
