All three of Oconee County’s voting commissioners acknowledge meeting with the representative of the developer seeking to rezone properties on SR 316 at Virgil Langford Road for auto dealerships, but each said he has not yet decided how to vote on the request.
Commissioner William “Bubber” Wilkes said he met with Jon William of Williams and Associates to discuss the project, and Commissioner Jim Luke said he met with Williams and with another representative of the applicant.
More than half of the funding for the campaign of Oconee County Sheriff candidate Kevin “Chappy” Hynes has come from non-local sources, according to early campaign finance filings, while incumbent Sheriff Scott Berry has raised almost all of his campaign funds from local sources.
As of March 31, Hynes had raised $52,600 and lent himself another $5,000 for the campaign, while Berry had raised $11,100.The two candidates running as outsiders in the Oconee County Board of Commissioners contest have made transparency and openness in government a key issue.
At the last Board of Commissioners meeting on May 3, Commission Chairman Melvin Davis gave them the perfect illustration of the problem they are addressing.
Early voting in Oconee County continues at a pace ahead of voting for the presidential primary on March 1, with 985 voters casting a ballot by the end of the day yesterday, compared with 518 after two weeks of voting for the March primary.
As of the end of the day on Tuesday, Oconee County early voting was considerably higher than the figures for the state as a whole and higher than in many of the surrounding counties.
Extreme Fireworks of Alpharetta is asking Oconee County to allow operation of a year-round retail fireworks store in Manders Crossing shopping center at Cliff Dawson Road and Mars Hill Road.
The request will be before the Oconee County Planning Commission when it meets at 7 p.m. on Monday in the Courthouse in Watkinsville and will be joined on the agenda by a rezone request for auto dealerships on SR 316 at Virgil Langford Road and for a reception hall on Hog Mountain Road.
The Oconee County candidates in the May 24 Republican primary covered familiar ground last night in introducing themselves to about 40 people who turned out for a Meet and Greet at Chops and Hops Restaurant in Watkinsville.
Board of Commissioners candidates Penny Mills and Sarah Bell, seeking Post 1 and Post 4 respectively, stated concerns about rapid growth in the county.
The owner of nearly 30 acres on the south side of SR. 316 just west of Virgil Langford Road is seeking to rezone the land from agricultural use to business and to develop the land for auto dealerships and related commercial service-oriented businesses.
Elaine Duckett Crane of Mineral Bluff in north Georgia filed an application for the zoning change on April 20.
