Oconee County Commissioners are initiating a rezone of 33 acres at the corner of the Oconee Connector and Mars Hill Road that had been proposed for a shopping center to include a Publix as an anchor.
The Board turned down the requested rezone for that property in 2022, in part because of traffic concerns, and subsequently was sued by the property owner, Deferred Tax LLC.
The rezone initiated by the Board of Commissioners has four access points, one on the Oconee Connector and three on Mars Hill Road. Three of those are right-in, right-out driveways, including the one on the Oconee Connector.
One of the driveways on Mars Hill Road is at a roundabout.
The initiated rezone divides the 33 acres into four parts, with the largest part zoned B-2 Highway Business District, and another part zoned B-1 General Business District. B-2 is the more intense zoning category.
The two parcels facing Mars Hill Road are to be zoned OIP Office Institutional Professional District under the county plan.
The rezone initiated by the Board of Commissioners does not involve 13 acres included in a rezone request by Deferred Tax in 2021 that also was denied, leaving that property zoned single family residential development.
The rezone being initiated by the Board, on which it is scheduled to hold a public hearing before voting on Dec. 2, is different from the rezone proposed by Deferred Tax in 2022, but it would allow for a grocery on the site.
County Attorney Daniel Haygood said the lawsuit filed by Deferred tax against the county “is not settled.”
County Announcement
The county placed an announcement on its web site on Oct. 7 stating that “The Board of Commissioners is considering a Board Initiated Rezone for a +/- 33 acre site.”
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| County Plan |
The announcement made no mention of Deferred Tax and only a vague reference to the location, stating that the 33-acre site was “reduced by the right of way acquisition for Oconee Connector/Mars Hill Road/ Daniels Bridge Road realignment.”
The county has placed the required legal advertisement in the Thursday (Oct. 30) edition of the county’s legal organ, The Oconee Enterprise, stating that “An action has been initiated by The Oconee County Board of Commissioners to modify the conditions of the existing rezones #8340 and #043...on property owned by Deferred Tax, LLC.”
The legal advertisement states that the Board will hold a public hearing on the initiated rezone at 6 p.m. on Dec. 2 at the county Administrative Building, 7635 Macon Highway, north of Watkinsville.
The Board of Commissioners turned down a request by Deferred Tax LLC for rezone of the 33 acres on Feb. 7, 2022.
Deferred Tax LLC filed suit against the county on March of 2023, asking for a judgment that the county’s denial of the rezone request violated the laws of the Georgia and the U.S. and Georgia constitutions.
The 2025 business registration with the Georgia Secretary of State shows the principal office address for Deferred Tax LLC is 1261 Hammond Creek Trail in Old Waverly subdivision off Rocky Branch Road. Maxie Price signed the lawsuit as Member for Deferred Tax LLC.
No substantive action has taken place in that suit since Dec. 13, 2023, when Superior Court Judge Eric Norris granted a motion to reopen discovery.
Site Plans
The Site Plan for the county initiated rezone shows a central area fronting on the Oconee Connector designated B-2 Highway Business District. It includes 56,785 square foot for a supermarket, 5,000 square feet for an automobile car wash, and 4,000 square feet for a drive-in bank.
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| Deferred Tax Plan |
The county’s site plan also contains a tract designated as B-1 General Business District that has a small amount of frontage on Virgil Langford Road. This area is designated as Phase 2 of the development. Square footage is listed as 45,000 for a retail shopping plaza.
Two other sections, both fronting on Mars Hill Road, are zoned OIP Office Institutional Professional District. Total square footage for OIP is listed as 59,040.
The site plan submitted by Deferred Tax LLC for the 2022 rezone had all of the area stretching between Virgil Langford Road and the Oconee Connector as well as most of the area fronting on Mars Hill Road designated as B-2. Total B-2 square footage was 150,578.
Only a small part of the Deferred Tax rezone site plan fronting on Mars Hill Road was designated OIP (14,765 square feet), with a small area behind the OIP designated as B-1 (21,369 square feet).
The county initiated site plan shows right-in, right-out access at three of the four driveways, with a roundabout on Mars Hill Road at the fourth driveway.
The Deferred Tax plan showed a full access at a median break on the Oconee Connector, a full access at two of the three Mars Hill Road driveways, and a right-in, right-out at the fourth.
Background On Initiated Rezone
The statement on the county web site states that a 1988 rezone of part of the 33 acre parcel to B-2 allowed for a grocery, shopping center, office warehouse, bank, service station, nursery garden center, and repair and supply center.
A 1992 rezone of part of the property to B-1 allowed for office, office/warehouse, restaurant, bank, fast food, and convenience store use
“Because both rezones were impacted by the right of way acquisition for SR 316 improvements and the realignment of Oconee Connector/Mars Hill Road/ Daniels Bridge Road, the current owner attempted a rezone of the two properties in 2022,” the statement on the county site reads.
The county turned down that rezone request.
In a conversation following the Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday evening (Oct. 28), County Attorney Haygood said “there is existing zoning on the property and existing site plans” from those earlier rezones.
“Because of the construction of the roads through those sites,” he continued, referring to SR 316 and the Connector, “the plan cannot be built as submitted.”
“So, at this point, they don’t have any zoning on that property that they can actually use, which means it is not a Constitutional zoning, arguably,” he said.
“So, what the Board has determined to do is to rezone the property in such a way that the zoning does comply with the constitutional requirements,” he continued.
Haygood said he does not know how Deferred Tax will respond to the county initiated rezone.
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