Oconee County Commissioners on Tuesday evening are scheduled to take action on two rezone requests designed to bring a third QuikTrip to Oconee County, the second with dedicated diesel truck pumps.
Property Owners Amir and Connie Tahamtan are asking the Board to rezone 3.3 acres pulled out from an 8.7 acre parcel on U.S. 78 (Monroe Highway) at Hog Mountain Road (SR 53) between Bethabara Baptist Church and Stripling’s from AG(Agricultural) to B-2 (Highway Business District).
They also are asking the Board for a Special Use Permit to allow for three truck diesel fueling islands.
QuikTrip Corporation of Tulsa, Okla., has an option to purchase the property once it is rezoned, attorney Eric Eberhardt told the Oconee County Planning Commission at its meeting on Oct. 20.
Entrance to the proposed QuikTrip would be from a right-in, right-out driveway on U.S. 78 and from a driveway on Hog Mountain Road opposite the existing entrance to Strippling’s that would allow entrance and exit in both directions.
No one spoke in opposition to the rezone request at the Planning Commission meeting, though Rick Caffery from the Oconee Crossing subdivision did ask for clarification on the location of the driveway on Hog Mountain Road.
The Board on Tuesday also is scheduled to take action on a request for a modification to a 2019 rezone of property on Jennings Mill Road in what is called Research Quarter and on three residential and one commercial zoning variance requests.
In addition, the Board is scheduled to act on its consent agenda from its meeting on Oct. 28, including approval of an agreement to spend $670,000 to purchase a house on 1.1 acres at 1621 Daniells Bridge Road for expansion of its lift station on Barber Creek and to spend $350,000 for protective netting at sports fields at Oconee Veterans Park.
In unrelated news, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Monday (Nov. 3) set qualifying for the Dec. 9 special election for House District 121 for Nov. 6, 7, and 10, with early voting starting on Nov. 17.
QuikTrip Enters Oconee
In 2010 QuikTrip built its first gas station and convenience store in Oconee County on the northeast corner of Daniels Bridge Road and the Oconee Connector.
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| QuikTrip Image Submitted With New Rezone Request |
The plan was for a 4,555 square foot convenience market and 16 fueling positions in five rows, three of which had four fueling stations and two of which had two.
The gas station was to have–and has-- entrances and exits on both the Oconee Connector and Daniells Bridge Road.
The 1.3 acre lot already was zoned for highway business development, but QuikTrip asked for variances to the county’s development code to allow it to plant fewer trees and to place required parking in the buffer.
Citizens opposed granting of the variances on the ground the site would be congested and dangerous, but the Commissioners approved the request by QuikTrip.
Second QuikTrip Request
In 2023, QuikTrip asked for a rezone of 6.3 acres on the north side of U.S. 441 bypass of Watkinsville from AR (Agricultural Residential District) to B-2 (Highway Business District) for a 5,312 square foot convenience store with 16 fueling stations for automobiles and four diesel fueling stations, three for trucks.
QuikTrip needed and asked for a special use permit to allow for the diesel fueling stations for the trucks.
Citizens opposed the rezone on the grounds it was incompatible with residential development across U.S. 441, but the commissioners were more concerned that the site not become a truck stop.
The Board unanimously approved the rezone and special use after with the condition that QuikTrip had to clearly label with signs and markings on the roadway that no truck parking is allowed.
That project currently is under construction opposite the Oconee County Administrative Building and will have the 16 gasoline stations in eight rows at the front of the convenience store and the four diesel stations at the rear.
Current Request
The concept plan before the Board on Tuesday is for a 5,023 square foot convenience store with eight proposed standard fueling islands and 3 truck diesel fueling islands.
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| QuikTrip Image Submitted With New Rezone Request Showing Front (Auto) And Rear (Truck) Canopies |
Each standard fueling island would have pumps on each side, making 16 fueling stations.
The county planning staff recommended approval of the rezone with the condition that “No truck parking signs are to be displayed on the site of the development.”
The Planning Commission recommended that the Board of Commissioners approve the rezone and the special use with Robbie Tieman, Colby Baker, Matt Elder, Chris Herring ,Stephen LaPierre, Ann Evans, and Lisa Ferguson voting in favor of the motion and Jim Jenkins abstaining.
The planning staff and Planning Commission also recommended granting a waiver of an incompatible use buffer between the QuikTrip and the remaining 5.3 acres of the tract owned by the Tahamtans.
The expectation is that the remaining acreage also will be rezoned and developed consistent with the B-2 zoning for QuikTrip. The developer will be required to erect at present a 6-feet-tall imitation wood-vinal fence around all the three sides of the development not facing U.S. 78.
County property tax records show that the 8.7-acre parcel under consideration for the QuikTrip rezone is one of eight owned by the Tahamtans on U.S. 78 and Hog Mountain Road.
Included is the 4.2 acre parcel diagonally across U.S. 78 from the proposed QuikTrip containing a convenience store and gas station originally built in 1957 and remodeled in 1998.
Research Quarter Rezone
Burgess Jennings Mill Land LLC and J.G. Griffeth Investments LLC are asking the county to change the conditions of a rezone in 2019, with modifications in 2023 and 2024, to allow for uses that were not previously indicated.
Specifically, the developers are asking for approval of plans for a two-building shopping center in the large cleared area abutting the Oconee Connector and between Virgil Langford Road and SR Loop 10.
A Goddard School and a business park with medical offices currently are under construction on part of the property, and the county is reviewing plans for a hotel on the site.
One of the buildings in the proposed shopping center will be 12,615 square feet in size, and the second will be 12,980 square feet.
Beall and Company is representing the developer in the rezone request, but no one attended the Planning Commission meeting on Oct. 20 to speak on behalf of the request, and no one spoke in opposition.
The Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of the changes in the rezone to the Board of Commissioners.
Daniells Bridge Road Purchase
County Administrator Justin Kirouac told the commissioners at their agenda setting meeting on Oct. 28 that the county needs to upgrade the wastewater lift station on Barber Creek at Daniells Bridge Road.
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| Kirouac 10/28/2025 |
The upgrade will include an expanded wet well to accommodate redirected flows from the Land Application System on Rocky Branch Road that is being phased out and increased flow from the Epps Bridge Road commercial area.
The county currently owns 0.12 acres on the creek at the bridge carrying Daniells Bridge Road over Barber Creek, but Kirouac said that improvement to the lift station will requires expansion into the adjacent 1621 Daniells Bridge Road property.
That property currently is listed for sale, and Kirouac said after the meeting the list price is $700,000. The assessed value for the 1.1 acre parcel, which contains a house built in 1984, is only $241,727, though recent improvements have been made to the property.
Kirouac said the county has reached an agreement with property owner William A. Kelly to purchase the land and building for $670,000.
Kirouac said in an email exchange after the meeting that “We are hoping to recover a significant amount of the cost when the property is resold after the lift station is upgraded.”
The county is still determining the amount of acreage needed for the lift station upgrade, he said, before subdividing the property.
“We know we'll likely have to relocate the entrance drive prior to selling,” he said, “but the engineers feel it'll be fine to keep the dwelling remaining.”
The Board put the item on its consent agenda for final approval at the meeting on Tuesday.
Special Election
Secretary of State Raffensperger on Monday (Nov. 3) officially set the special election for House District 121 for Dec. 9.
The election is required because Marcus Wiedower, a Republican, announced his resignation on the morning of Oct. 28.
Raffensperger set qualifying from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Nov. 6, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Nov. 7, and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Nov. 10. The qualifying fee is $400.
Nov. 10 is the last day to register to vote for the election.
Advance in-person voting will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 17 to 21, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Nov. 22, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Nov. 24 to 26, and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Dec. 1 to 5.
Advance voting will be at the Oconee County Administrative Building, 7635 Macon Highway, north of Watkinsville.
Absentee ballot applications are being accepted at present and will be accepted through Dec. 1.
No primaries will be held, and Democrat Eric Gisler and Republican Steven Strickland are the only two persons so far to indicate they intend to qualify for the election.
Video
The two videos below are on the county’s YouTube Channel.
The first video is of the Oct. 10 meeting of the Planning Commission.
Discussion of the QuikTrip rezone begins at 8:34 in the video.
Discussion of the Research Quarter rezone request begins at 21:31.
The second video is of the Oct. 28 meeting of the Board of Commissioners.
Kirouac began his presentation on the Daniells Bridge Road lift station upgrade at 9:33 in the video.
1 comment:
Just a reminder. I will only publish comments with a real, complete name indicated.
Thanks.
Lee
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