The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) has issued a public notice that the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) intends to impact the buffer of the headwaters of McNutt Creek to build the new interchange of Dials Mill Extension and SR 316.
The proposal is to cover 85 linear feet with fill within the mandated 25 foot buffer to an intermittent stream on the south side of SR 316 east of the current intersection of Dials Mill Road with SR 316.
GDOT is seeking a variance of state environmental law to allow it to encroach on that buffer.
According to GDOT documents, the disturbance will result from the reconstruction of the two eastbound lanes of SR 316. The impacted area is within the 25-foot buffer but outside the line of wrested vegetation for the stream, or the normal flow lines of the stream.
The public has until Sept. 9 to make comment. Oconee County has posted the notice from EPD on its home page.
The GDOT project also will impact a larger area on the north side of SR 316 west of the existing Dials Mill Road, but GDOT does not need a variance to state environmental law to do that work.
A full interchange is planned with SR 316 at a reconfigured Dials Mill Extension. Dials Mill Road will be closed, ending in cul-de-sacs on each side of SR 316.
The project is scheduled for construction in 2026.
Headwaters Of McNutt Creek
According to a description of McNutt Creek prepared by the Upper Oconee Watershed Network, the creek “originates in Oconee County in the vicinity of Dials Mill Road and Hwy 316.”
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| Variance Sought For Area In Red No Variance Needed For Area In Blue Click To Enlarge |
The stream flows east from that site and then forms the boundary between Oconee County and Athens-Clarke County roughly beginning where U.S. 78 crosses into Athens-Clarke County.
McNutt Creek joins Barber Creek near where U.S. 441 intersects with SR Loop 10 and flows on to the Middle Oconee River.
According to the GDOT diagram, GDOT will impact the 25 foot buffer of the stream on the north side of SR 316 west of the existing Dials Mill Road, but a Roadway Drainage Structure Exemption (RDSE) applies to that site, meaning GDOT does not have to apply for a variance to state environmental law.
According to a GDOT Guidebook on buffers, drainage structures falling under this RDSE exemption “typically consist of stormwater drainage outfalls discharging to the buffered stream or open water.”
The GDOT diagram of the site shows the drainage flowing diagonally under SR 316 before feeding into the existing intermittent stream that feeds McNutt Creek.
GDOT has what is called a 50-foot Exemption Box for that construction
The intermittent stream for which GDOT is seeking its variance to violate the 25 foot buffer is within the right of way owned by the state for the existing SR 316.
UCS Dials Mill Road LLC
While the buffer intrusion on the south side of SR 316 for which GDOT is seeking a variance is within the existing right of way, the 50-Exemption Box on the north side of SR 315 falls partially outside existing right of way.
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| Notice Of Appeal Of Dismissal Of Case |
The impacted property on this side of SR 316 is owned by UCS Dials Mill Road LLC, which joined with Andersen-Wells II LLC in a lawsuit filed in July of 2024 in Oconee County Superior Court to force GDOT to move the interchange to Dials Mill Road, where it had been proposed back in 2022, rather that at Dials Mill Extension.
UCS Dials Mill Road LLC and Andersen-Wells II LLC share a principal office at 573 Hawthorne Avenue in Athens. Andersen-Wells owns several properties along Dials Mill Road near that road’s intersection with SR 316.
The suit also asked for compensation for the loss of value for development of its land at the Dials Mill Road intersection.
UCS Dials Mill Road LLC and Andersen-Wells II LLC filed an amended complaint in October of 2024 arguing that they were victims of inverse condemnation, that is, that GDOT was taking or damaging their property without having brought eminent domain proceeding.
Oconee County Superior Court Judge Lawton E. Stephens granted GDOT’s request to dismiss the suit on Dec. 20, 2024, noting that GDOT has not yet built the roadway.
“Georgia case law is clear that a claim for inverse condemnation is not ripe until there has been an action by the condemnor that results in a taking or damaging of property,” Judge Stephens wrote.
UCS Dials Mill Road LLC and Andersen-Wells II LLC filed a notice of appeal of that decision on Jan. 17, 2025.
A notice of docketing of that appeal was filed with the Oconee Superior Court on May 7, 2025.
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