The Bishop Mayor and Town Council on Tuesday night voted 4 to 0 to approve a request by St. Aelred Catholic Church for a Conditional Use for its planned new church but voted 3 to 1 to deny a request for a variance to allow access from the church to Cemetery Road.
Only the Mayor and three Council members voted on the zoning requests, as Council Member Hudson Holder did not attend, though his name plate was on the table at the front of the room during the meeting and his chair was empty.
The Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration disqualified Holder on Sept. 24 as a candidate in the Nov. 4 election, and the county Elections and Registration staff removed his name from the Bishop voter roll.
Holder has appealed that decision to the Oconee County Superior Court, but as of Wednesday he had not yet asked that the parties–the Elections Board and Holder himself–be served notice of the appeal, and no action has been taken on his appeal.
Early voting is underway, and Holder’s name is on the ballot, though those voting in the Bishop election are told that Holder has been disqualified from seeking Post 3 on the Bishop Town Council.
Seven of Bishop’s 267 eligible voters (2.6 percent) cast a ballot on Tuesday, the first day of early voting for the Nov. 4 election.
In Bogart, two of the 1,006 registered voters (816 who live in Oconee County and 114 who live in Clarke County) voted on the first day of early voting, or 0.2 percent. In Watkinsville, 43 of the 2,516 voters (1.7 percent) cast a ballot.
In the first day of voting across the county, where renewal of the Education Local Option Sales Tax is on the ballot, 159 voters participated, or 0.5 percent of the 34,515 eligible voters. That percentage increased at the end of the day on Wednesday to 0.9, with an additional 138 ballots cast countywide.
Update: Early voting at the end of two days in Bishop was 19, or 7.1 percent, in Bogart 6, or 0.6 percent, and in Watkinsville 119, or 4.7 percent.
St. Aelred Request
Bishop held its hearing on the requests from St. Aelred at its regular meeting in Town Hall on Tuesday.
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| Porterfield And Hadden 10/14/2025 |
Fifteen people filled up every available chair in the small Council Chamber, with at least another three joining in the discussion from the hallway.
St. Aelred Catholic Church was asking for a Conditional Use Approval to be allowed to construct a community-scale church on 15.3 acres zoned for Agriculture inside the city limits of Bishop.
The property stretches from High Shoals Road (SR 186) to Cemetery Road, and the church was seeking a variance to the city’s zoning laws to allow it to have access to the property from Cemetery Road.
Bishop contracts with the County for planning services, and the Oconee County Planning and Code Enforcement Department had recommended approval of the Conditional Use but denial of the variance request.
The County Planning Commission also had recommended approval of the Conditional Use Approval. The Planning Commission does not review variance requests.
David Webb, Planning Manager for the county, wrote in the Staff Report that “Granting this variance would be allowing a non-residential use to access a road that does not meet the road width standards and thus would violate section 106.04" of the city code.
Cemetery Road is a one-lane road with approximately 12 feet of pavement where St. Aelred is seeking access, Webb wrote. The Town requirement is for roads to be 20 feet wide, he said.
“There is an estimated 832 Average Daily Trips for the whole church campus at full build-out that would access this one-lane road,” he wrote.
Petitioner Presentation
Justin Greer of Pittman and Greer Engineering, representing St. Aelred, told the Mayor and Council that the concept plan before them was “a long-term master plan for the overall campus.”
Greer said what was being presented represented “a 20 to 30 year growth plan” that includes a church sanctuary building, an assembly hall, an office, a classroom building, a rectory, and a maintenance building.
Greer said “we anticipate that the assembly hall will be built first.”
Greer asked that the Town remove a condition recommended by the planning staff and the Planning Commission requiring a traffic study and that the road be improved to a level of service that Greer said is higher than what the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) will require for SR 186.
Greer said the primary access to the church property will be via a shared entrance from High Shoals Road (SR 186) with the existing Dollar General with a secondary access off Cemetery Road.
A third entrance--off High Shoals Road--would be added at some point in the future “as the development grows,” Greer said.
“The intent would not be to use” Cemetery Road “every Sunday,” Greer said. “It is intermittent use.”
Council Discussion
The Council agreed to remove the requirement that the traffic study be required and said the level of service of the road would be determined by GDOT.
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| Kurtz, Lucas, Greer (L-R) 10/14/2025 |
Post 4 Council Member Mindy Porterfield made the motion for approval of the Conditional Use for the church, with Post 1 Council Member Chuck Hadden seconding. The vote was unanimous.
Mayor Drew Kurtz noted that the staff report “recommended against” the access to Cemetery Road.
Porterfield said the access would serve the rectory in the future and allowing use of Cemetery Road “would be giving private access basically to the person living there.”
“Just because we deny it now doesn’t mean we can’t revisit it down the road,” Kurtz said. “Maybe 10 years from now the rectory is there. We’ve made improvements on Cemetery Road. And we say, it makes sense now.”
Porterfield made a motion to allow the variance for access to Cemetery Road, but it died for lack of a second.
Hadden made a motion to deny, with Council Member Deborah Lucas seconding.
Porterfield voted against the denial.
Incumbents And Challengers
St. Aelred has been at the center of controversy in Bishop since the Council voted at its January meeting not to extend a lease with the church for the Bishop Community Center.
St. Aelred had been using the Bishop Community Center for its services since 2020. It currently is operating in Madison pending completion of the new church in Bishop.
In February, a group linked to St. Aelred launched a recall petition aimed at the mayor and all of the Council members except Porterfield, who voted against the decision not to extend the lease.
The Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration rejected the recall petitions on technical grounds.
On Sept. 24, the Board of Elections and Registration upheld a challenge filed against Holder, who voted not to extend the lease to St. Aelred. Holder suggested at the hearing that the challenge was related to the controversy over the lease.
On the Nov. 4 ballot, Mayor Kurtz is being challenged by Joey Allen.
Post 1 Council Member Hadden is being challenged by Jacob Spaulding.
Post 2 Council Member Lucas is being challenged by Alexander Schmidt.
Post 3 Council Member Holder is being challenged by Greg Montgomery.
Unless Holder’s disqualification is overturned, Montgomery will assume that seat.
Montgomery, Spaulding, and Schmidt played leadership roles in the recall petition drive.
Post 4 Council Member Porterfield is being challenged by Jeff Davis.
Davis said in a telephone conversation on Wednesday that he had been recruited by the other incumbents to run against Porterfield.
Video
The video is of the entire Oct. 14 meeting of the Bishop Mayor and Council.
Greer began his comments at 3:45 in the video.
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