The Oconee County Board of Commissioners, in a 3 to 1 vote, on Tuesday night turned down a request to build a contractor’s office/showroom/warehouse building with outdoor storage on Jimmy Daniell Road at the entrance to Silver Leaf subdivision.
Oconee Medical Properties LLC, owned by Gavin Griffith and Tim Burgess, was asking the Commission to grant it a special use to build the 25,000 square foot facility without rezoning the land from its current Agricultural District (AG) classification.
Just fewer than 90 people turned out for the commission meeting, with more than half of them there for the hearing on the Oconee Medical Properties request.
Seven persons spoke in opposition, frequently getting applause from the audience when they finished, arguing repeatedly that the warehouse facility with the expected truck traffic and outdoor storage area was not compatible with the neighboring residential area.
In response to questioning from Commissioner Chuck Horton, Oconee County Director of Planning and Code Enforcement Guy Herring said that code allows the Board to grant a special use for a warehouse in an Agriculture zone, but granting a special would be unprecedented as far as he could recall.
Herring said the county normally rezones property that will have a commercial use and that abuts a residential neighborhood to the Office Institutional Profession (OIP) category to soften the impact on the residences.
Herring added that a warehouse, even without outdoor storage, is not allowed in OIP zoning.
Commissioners Horton, Amrey Harden, and Mark Saxon voted to deny the special use application of Oconee Medical Properties. Commissioner Mark Thomas voted against the motion to deny.
Public Hearing
The agenda for the Tuesday night meeting included six zoning hearings, with the Oconee Medical Properties at the end of the list, but Commission Chair John Daniell moved the request to the top of the list on Tuesday because of the large turnout.
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| Herring Before Commission 3/3/2026 |
The Oconee Medical Property request had been on the agenda for the Feb. 3 Commission meeting, when a large number of people also turned out, but Oconee Medical Properties at the last minute asked for, and the Board granted, a delay of a month.
Oconee Medical Properties co-owner Griffith spoke first on Tuesday, making the case for the special use request. He was followed by his agent, land planner Ken Beall, and then Jon Mills, a resident of Silver Leaf subdivision who advocated for the request.
Seven residents of Silver Leaf and other nearby neighborhoods then spoke in opposition, and a final nearby resident spoke in favor.
During the 12-minute discussion that followed, Horton and Thomas asked questions of Planning Director Herring and of Beall that left little doubt about how those two were going to vote.
Harden and Saxon were quiet until Horton made the motion to deny the request, Harden seconded, and the Saxon joined in support of the motion.
After the vote, the audience shrank from just fewer than 90 to about 40, with most of those remaining students and instructors from two University of Georgia journalism classes.
The Case For Special Use
Griffith told the Commissioners that “we've owned this site since 2014. We've looked at a couple of other options to do with it, none of which were very welcomed, I guess, by the neighborhood.”
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| Griffith Before Commission 3/3/2026 |
In 2014, Oconee Medical Properties had asked the county to rezone the property to an Office Business Park (OBP) District so they could build six, single-story office/warehouses but withdrew the application after the county planning staff recommended against the request and residents from the area spoke out in opposition.
The county planning staff said the proposed project was “not compatible with nearby residential properties.” The planning staff, as well as the county Planning Commission, recommended approval of the current request.
“We just thought this might be a good use,” Griffith told the commissioners on Tuesday night of the current proposal. “Our goal was to kind of tuck the building in the center of the five acres.”
“We do not intend to take down any more trees than we absolutely have to get the building in. We're not a retail business. We don't need visibility. We're just looking for a place to work and store some leftover materials,” he said.
Beall said that he had made several changes in the plans since he had been before the Planning Commission, including moving the building to the center of the property, increasing the buffer at the rear from 50 to 100 feet, and retaining more trees along Silver Leaf Road.
“So we're of the the opinion that by keeping the trees along with that eight-foot fence (on Silver Lear Road), you won't even be able to see the building from Silverleaf Drive (Road),” Beall said.
Change Of Sides
Jon Mills, who had spoken against the special use request at the Planning Commission, focusing largely on the loss of those trees, was the next to the podium, this time supporting the Oconee Medical Properties request.
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| Mills Before Commission 3/3/2026 |
“I'm here not because I love the idea of developing the property–the five acres out front of my neighborhood,” Mills said, “ but I'm here because I think it's what's needed-- to do what's right.”
Mills said that at a recent Home Owners Association meeting he had been “removed” from his position as treasurer of the organization “and that's okay because now I can stand here in my personal place and say what I think is right.”
“I don't want to be here,” he continued. “I don't want to oppose my neighbors I care about, but at the end of the day, what's fair is fair, and these folks are trying to do something that's fair. They're developing property in a way that I think has minimal impact on the neighborhood.”
“They increased the buffer on the backside to 100 feet to protect the neighbors in the backside,” he said. “This building is going to be enclosed by trees. And I don't know of any other use that's better than this one.”
“There's all this talk about industrial, commercial development and whether or not we can believe these guys about what they say about how they do business,” Mills continued.
“They're not going to have these big delivery trucks coming and going with steel beams,” he said. “Just look at this driveway. Who builds a warehouse, a 20,000 foot warehouse, if they're intending to take large deliveries with a curved driveway. That's just insane because that's not what they're trying to do.”
Mills was referring to the concept plan submitted by Oconee Medical Properties that shows proposed driveways for the project.
During the rebuttal period at the end of the hearing, Scott Behr, who lives on Silver Leaf Road, said “I know Tim (Burgess) and I support what they're doing across there. I think we could end up with something much worse that goes in there.”
Opponents Speak Up
Oscar Gertsch, who replaced Mills as treasurer of the Home Owners Association, said the HOA had passed a resolution opposing the proposal.
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| Gertsch Before Commission 3/3/2026 |
In response to the comments Mills made about delivery trucks, he said, “we can't know and govern the use after the approval. So any talk about how many trucks or how many people or whatever is purely speculative. And the bottom line for this is that this is an end run around zoning.”
Gertsch said the section of Jimmy Daniell Road is a “residential corridor” and “what they're asking to do is to put a commercial warehouse having trucks going in and out right there at an entrance to a neighborhood.”
“It's not low intensity,” he said. “It's a high intensity use. Warehouse is the primary thing that they're using it for. Warehouse and outdoor storage, both which are uses that are not compatible to be right next to a residential community.”
Bob Hayes followed, referred to the county code, and said “there's no criteria in there that's going to allow for a functioning warehouse in an...area that's wholly residential.”
Shami Jones said “I can only assume that with a building that's putting in four rollup doors and outside storage, they're going to have to have materials to store.”
“They're going to have to get there, and they're going to have to be loaded into the building and unloaded at some point if they're ever going to be used again," Shami Jones said. "And so there will be trucks delivering materials. There will be trucks leaving with materials.”
Jim Jones said “the best use of a building like that with four large rollup doors and again another 5,000 square feet of outdoor storage is exactly what somebody would assume it is. It's going to be a high use for construction materials.”
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| Shami Jones Before Commission 3/3/2026 |
David Bell said “simply put, that warehouse, that size of a project, is not compatible adjacent to next to a residential area.”
Wanda Hayes said “having a warehouse next to a residential area is not compatible.”
Harold Thompson said a “25,000 foot facility that's combined office space, warehouse, and storage does not belong on agricultural property adjacent to three residential neighborhoods.”
Thompson said he searched the county code for “parking and loading and outdoor storage (and) there are no restrictions that I could find anyway on what can be stored in these buildings or what types of vehicle traffic is allowed under a Special Use.”
Horton Asks Question
When the hearing ended, Horton asked Herring to come to the podium, saying “I've seen a lot of rezones over the years, but I’ve never seen one where they're using an AG classification to do special use.”
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| Horton 3/3/2026 |
“This seems to be... almost really an end run around the zoning because I think what would normally go there would be some type of OIP. Is that correct?” Horton asked.
“It would have to be reszoned to an OIP,” Herring said.
“So do you know, or can you remember, when we've had a rezone like this where we stayed at the AG and we use special use to get something in?” Horton followed.
“The code does allow it,” Herring responded.
“The question is,” Horton said, “do you recall us doing that?”
“Not that I'm---No,” Herring said.
Horton then turned to Beall and asked for an explanation of the decision to retain the AG classification.
“Before we ever prepared any documents," Beall said, "we actually came and met with Mr. Herring and we talked about, do we change the zoning or do we try to fit into the existing zone?”
“The special use was a special use because it allows you to not have to rezone the property to one of the higher classifications of business use,” Beall continued. “That was the entire purpose, why we did not attempt to change the zoning classification.”
“What happens if they want to sell it?” Horton asked, turning back to Herring.
“The special use zoning would apply to any future use,” Herring said. “They would be bound by this document, the narrative, the proposal...They could use the warehouse space as proposed. They can use the outdoor storage as proposed.”
Thomas Asks Questions
Thomas asked Herring if the deceleration lane on Jimmy Daniell Road would be a problem, as some of those who spoke against the proposal has suggested would be the case.
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| Thomas 3/3/2026s |
Herring said the deceleration lane would need to be extended but that would not create a problem.
Herring told Thomas that the use proposed in the application for a special use was compatible with the county’s Comprehensive Plan.
Thomas asked again “So, in your opinion, have there been other special uses (in an Agricultural zone) that had been approved?”
“There probably have,” Herring replied. “I'm not aware of any at the moment.”
“In your opinion, based on what you've been involved in with truck radiuses and things like that, will a tractor trailer be able to enter into this property?” Thomas asked.
“I am not familiar with the radiuses since this hasn't been designed yet,” Herring said. “The engineering has not been done on this project. This is conceptual.”
“But I do believe they've stated the material will be dropped off,” Herring said. “We just don't know in what form. So it could be anywhere from, as you say, a lowboy being pulled with equipment or a flatbed.”
Thomas turned to Beall, who said “the reason why we designed the curve linear access is specifically so that large trucks won't be coming in there. They won't attempt to come in there because they can see they can't maneuver to be able to turn around in there.”
Horton Again
“The issue I've got is not what the company does,” Horton said to Herring.
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| Discussion Of Oconee Medical Properties Request Thomas, Horton, Daniell, Harden, Saxon (L-R) 3/3/2026 |
Horton acknowledged that Burgess and Griffith have developed much of the area around Virgil Langford Road and Jennings Mill Road, mostly for medical uses. “In the past five years I've been to a lot of those medical buildings out in that area,” Horton said.
“But the issue that I'm stuck with is the conformance of what they're talking about and being next to a neighborhood,” Horton said.
“I've been around here a long time,” he continued, “and the general thing was to protect neighbors, and so that's what I'm asking.”
“Warehouses maybe in some shape or fashion in the book,” Horton said, referring to the county Unified Development Code, “but do we normally do that or is it mostly OIP?”
“Usually we have an OIP request when they're adjacent to a residential subdivision,” Herring said, but there are exceptions.
“We don't have many requests for a contractor's office,” he said. “Those just don't happen very often, if ever. But the code does allow that request to come before you.”
“And that's up to us to go yea or nay?” Horton asked.
“Yes, sir,” Herring responded, with a smile.
In response to a question from Chair Daniell about what is allowed in OIP zoning, Herring said “No warehouse. No outdoor storage. It's just office.”
Daniell called for a motion, and the 3 to 1 vote followed.
Other Rezones
In other rezone action on Tuesday, the Board approved a request by Living Faith Fellowship, Inc. to rezone from OIP to R-1 (Single Family Residential District) 1.51 acres at 8780 Macon Highway.
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| Rendition Submitted With Hartfield Holding Request |
The Board also agreed to modify the conditions of an existing special use approval of 8.18 acres at that same address, allowing for removal of the 1.51 acres from the 8.18 acres originally covered by the special use permit for a Community-Scale Church in an OIP zone.
The church leadership wants to sell the 1.51 acres with a residence and related out-buildings located at Old Macon Highway and Ivywood Drive.
The Board also approved a special use requested by Andrew and Katlyn Fields, for five acres at 1202 Marshall-Wilkes Road to allow a manufactured home as a second and temporary residence.
The Board granted a variance request from Hartfield Holdings LLC to allow a flat roof instead of the required gable or hip style roof on a commercial building proposed for a vacant, two-acre lot at the corner of Stonebridge Parkway and Hog Mountain Road.
The proposed variance is for a one-story, 7,700 square foot office building for a local IT company, according to the narrative submitted with the proposal. A second building not covered by the variance request also is planned for the property, the narrative states.
The property, already zoned General Business District (B-1), abuts residential properties and was referenced indirectly by Planning Director Herring during the discussion of the Oconee Medical Properties special use request as an example of a commercial property that directly abuts a residential property.
The planning staff recommended against the variance, saying “The proposed variation in architectural standards would not be in harmony with the adjacent Stonebridge Planned Unit Development (PUD) and adjacent Stonebridge Oaks Professional Office Park.”
The Stonebridge Planned Unit Development is for Daniell Plantation subdivision. PUDs usually include both commercial and residential properties. One of the three residential lots adjoining the Hartsfield lot was built out in 1993, and another in 1994.
The submitted representative drawings lists the tenant as Athens Micro, currently located a 7980 Macon Highway, across from RaceTrac.
The Board also granted a variance to Thomas Partridge, Nancy Partridge, James Partridge, and Laura Partridge to allow placement of a guest house in the front yard rather than the rear or side yards of 2.58 acres at 1981 Barber Creek Road.
Votes on each of the five requests were unanimous.
Financial Update
Oconee County Finance Director Melissa Braswell gave the Board the Fiscal Year 2026 Second Quarter Financial Update on Tuesday, reporting $31.2 million in General Fund revenue, or 68.5 percent of projected income.
Expenditures are at $20.3 million, she reported, or $43.2 percent of budgeted spending.
Local Option Sales Tax revenue for October, November, and December was $3.0 million, up from $2.9 million in those same months last year.
Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax intake was $3.4 million, up from $3.2 during the second three months of the Fiscal Year in Fiscal Year 2025.
The county took in $3.2 million in Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax in October, November, and December of 2025, compared with $3.0 million in those months in 2024, she said.
Each of these three sales taxes is one cent on the dollar, but they have different exemptions.
Braswell reported that the Water Resources Department, which is self-funded, took in $9.0 million in revenue in the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2026, for 36.5 percent of anticipated revenue, and spent $6.4 million, or 21.6 percent of budgeted expenditures.
The Water Resources Department has nine capital projects in progress, Braswell said, including the $7.4 million Phase III upgrade to the Calls Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant north of Watkinsville and construction of the $2.0 million Rocky Branch lift station and force main project.
Video
The video below is on the county YouTube channel.
The meeting begins at 6:36 in the video.
Discussion of the Oconee Medical Properties special use request begins at 9:40 in the video.
Braswell’s report begins at 1:37:26 in the video.
I also recorded the meeting on my own camera as a backup.
The still images used in this post are frames from my video.
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