The Oconee County Planning Commission quickly and unanimously approved four rezone requests before it last month after no one spoke in opposition and the only persons speaking in support were the applicants or their agent.
The Commission sent to the Board of Commissioners its recommendation that it approve a modification of the rezone for The Landing assisted living and life plan community on U.S. 78, approve a four-lot subdivision on Atlanta Highway west of Bogart, and allow a manufactured home as a second and temporary residence in the south of the county.
The Commission also sent to the Bishop Town Council its recommendation that it approve a request by St. Aelred Catholic Church for a Conditional Use Approval for a community-scale church it plans to construct on 15.3 acres zoned for Agriculture inside the city limits of Bishop.
The Board of Commissioners is scheduled to hold hearings on the three Planning Commission recommendations at its 6 p.m. meeting on Tuesday.
The request by St. Aelred Catholic Church is scheduled to be before the Bishop Town Council at its meeting at 7 p.m. on Oct. 14.
The Town Council also is scheduled to hear a Variance request at that meeting by St. Aelred Catholic Church that Council remove the 10 foot no access easement and required planting screen on the 15.3 acres it owns.
The Planning Commission held its hearing on the request by St. Aelred for a Conditional Use Approval because the Town Council has contracted with the county to handle its zoning requests. The Commission does not review variance requests.
Lisa Ferguson, appointed by the Bishop Town Council to represent the Town on the Planning Commission, did not attend the Commission meeting on Sept. 15.
Bishop Request
St. Aelred has been at the center of controversy since the Council voted at its January meeting not to extend a lease with the church for the Bishop Community Center.
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| Submitted Drawing Of St. Aelred Church Hall |
In February, a group linked to St. Aelred launched a recall petition aimed at the mayor and three members of Council. The Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration rejected the petition on technical grounds.
Some of those involved in the recall have qualified to run against the incumbents in the Nov. 4 town elections.
On Sept. 24, the Board of Elections and registration upheld a challenge filed against one of the incumbents, Hudson 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.
Bishop contracts with the county for election services, and the decision of the Board of Elections and Registration is final, unless Holder appeals the decision to the Oconee Superior Court. The decision was contradictory to the opinion provided to the Council by its own attorney.
The Town Council will make the final decision on the zoning request reviewed by the Planning Commission, since the Commission is only advisory to the Town Council.
St. Aelred, established in 2017, had been using the Bishop Community Center for its services since 2020. It currently is operating in Madison pending completion of a new church in Bishop.
St. Aelred Request
Justin Greer of Pittman and Greer Engineering, representing St. Aelred at the Planning Commission meeting, said the concept plan submitted is “what would be their ultimate goal in 30 years probably.”
Included is a church, an assembly hall, an academy, an office, a catechesis classroom building, a rectory, and a maintenance building.
Total square footage for all of the buildings is 26,300.
Greer said he expected the 5,127 square foot hall would be built first, followed by the 6,990 square foot church.
Initially, he said, church services will be held in the hall.
The project is proposing to connect to the Oconee County water system and to use on-site septic systems.
Access as shown on the concept plan is from High Shoals Road (SR 186) and Cemetery Road.
Access to Cemetery Road will be possible only if the Town Council grants the requested variance.
Access Uncertainty
According to county tax records, St. Aelred purchased the 15.3 acres in October of 2023 for $382,800 from Seeundbery LLC. In the Georgia Secretary of State records, the name of the LLC is Seeunderberg, with Daniela Paz Wieczorek as the registered agent.
Bishop annexed the property in 2021, as part of a larger tract. Two acres were carved from that largere tract and zoned B-1 for construction of a Dollar General.
According to the Oconee County Staff Report, “Seeunderberry LLC” filed a plat in October of 2023 “that was not approved by the Town of Bishop and was not reviewed by Planning and Code Enforcement. Planning staff determined that the plat was an illegal subdivision.”
“St. Aelred Catholic Church acquired the 15.312 acres as recorded in Deed Book 1752, Page 216-220 based on the illegal plat,” according to the staff report.
“Daniela Wieczorek, St. Aelred Catholic Church, and Donald and Shirley Smith submitted an Administrative Plat to correct the illegal subdivision in February 2025, according to the staff report.
“The plat was approved and recorded in Plat Book 2025, Page 35 with a non-access easement to Cemetery Road,” according to the staff report.
The variance request is to “remove the 10 foot non-access easement and required plantings.”
The non-access easement prohibits access to the property from Cemetery Road.
Other Rezones
The Landing of Bogart LLC is asking the county to allow it to increase the allowed total square feet from 90,017 square feet to138,422 in two buildings on land rezoned in 2004 for a car wash that was never built.
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| Representative Architecture NIW Holdings |
In 2017, the rezone was modified to allow for construction of two buildings, each with 48 beds, for an assisted living facility. Only one of those was built.
The planned second building also will have 48 beds, Greer, who also represented The Landings, said, but the two buildings will be attached with additional square footage for common areas and staffing needs, necessitating the need for the zoning change.
NIW Holdings LLC, with Jody Watson listed as owner or managing member, is asking the county to rezone 7.0 acres that lie between Atlanta Highway and Pete Dickens Road west of Bogart from AG (Agriculture) to R-1 (Single Family Residential District).
The plan is to create four residential lots, two fronting on Atlanta Highway and two fronting on Pete Dickens Road.
Greer, who also represented NIW Holdings, said the builder was planing to build “some more smaller, more affordable” housing on the property. “Anywhere from 1,600 to 2,000 square feet,” he said.
Justin Cooper is asking the county to allow him to add a manufactured home to the 13.4 acres he owns at 1300 Sam Cooper Road off Colham Ferry Road in the south of the county.
Lindsay Cooper told the Planning Commission “We are trying to apply for the special use permit for my parents to live with us so we can help take care of them and stay on the property.”
The property is zoned AG (Agricultural) and contains a house built in 1970, according to the planning staff report.
The manufactured home will use an on-site well and on-site septic system, the report states.
Video
The video embedded below is on the county’s YouTube channel.
The meeting begins at 3:00 in the video.
Discussion of the Landings of Bogart rezone begins at 6:23 in the video.
Discussion of the NIW Holdings rezone begins at 11:24.
The Cooper request begins at 14:34 in the video.
Discussion of the St. Aelred rezone request begins at 17:30 in the video.
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