Oconee County Magistrate Court Fines Oconee Waste Transport $1,425 for Zoning Violation

Elder Reapported to IDA

Oconee County Magistrate Court Judge Eric W. Norris fined Oconee Waste Transport $1,425 last week for operating outside the business hours set forth in a rezone ordinance passed by the Board of Commissioners in September of 2010.

Elder 9/14/2012

Judge Norris had found after a hearing before him on Sept. 14 that OWT had violated the rezone ordinance, but Norris did not enter his final order and specify the fine until Thursday. The $1,425 fine includes court and administrative costs. The base fine was $1,000.

Oconee County Commissioners Approve Three-Sided Billboard for Epps Bridge Parkway, Relocation Of Billboard In Butler’s Crossing

One More Removed

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners tonight amended the agreement it had reached with Fairway Outdoor Advertising on July 24 to allow a proposed two-sided sign on Epps Bridge Parkway to become a three-sided sign.

It also voted to allow Fairway to approach the Board of Education to discuss placing the proposed Butler’s Crossing sign on school property.

Presbyterian Homes Got Sewer Capacity After Much Discussion Among Oconee County Officials

Helium Balloons For Viewing

The decision to grant Presbyterian Homes of Georgia sewage capacity for its proposed Continuing Care Retirement Community on Rocky Branch Road followed back-and-forth communication among Oconee County officials reflecting differences of opinion about how to handle sewage allocation for the project.

The project needed that sewage capacity allocation to begin the process of review that is now underway.

Corps of Engineers To Conduct Site Visit of Aycock Road Farm Pond To Investigate Complaint

58 Acre Pond in Morgan County Also Proposed

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has told Southern Environmental Law Center attorney Nate Hunt that it will conduct a site visit of the farm pond that local farmer Tony Townley built earlier this year on property he owns on Aycock Road just west of its intersection with Matthews Road.

Hunt, an expert on the farm pond exemption to the federal Clean Water Act, had written to the Corps on June 26 expressing concern about the pond built on Frazier Creek.

New Small Shopping Center and Office Complex Proposed for Daniells Bridge Road Intersection

Across from QuikTrip

The busy Oconee Connector–Mars Hill Road–Daniells Bridge Road intersection will get even more traffic if the Oconee County Board of Commissioners approves a new rezone request for a small shopping center/office complex with entrances on both Mars Hill Road and Daniells Bridge Road.

Abe Abouhamdan, chairman of the Oconee County Citizen Advisory Committee on Land Use and Transportation Planning, has submitted the application to rezone property currently owned by Gary and Linda Carroll of Eastpoint, Fla.

Presbyterian Homes of Georgia Wants to Relocate Proposed Oconee Facility To Rocky Branch Road

Needs Rezone and Variance

Presbyterian Homes of Georgia has submitted plans to the Oconee County Planning Department that would shift its approved residential retirement facility from the commercial area of Butler's Crossing outside Watkinsville to a residential area on Rocky Branch Road.

The nonprofit corporation from Quitman plans to build a $77 million Continuing Care Retirement Facility that would include cottages, villas, an apartment building, a health services center and a support building on the south side of Rocky Branch Road next door to a phase of the Rowan Oak gated community and across from Old Waverly subdivision.

Mars Hill Widening on Schedule, Oconee County Public Works Director Reports

Dirt Moving by Late 2013

The purchase of needed rights of way for the widening of Mars Hill Road from SR 316 to Butler’s Crossing is progressing on schedule, and actual construction on the roadway is expected to be underway late next year or early in 2014.

Emil Beschara, Oconee County Public Works director, gave the Citizen Advisory Committee on Land Use and Transportation Planning a status report on land acquisition for the widening project at its meeting on Sept. 11.