The Mayor and Town Council of Bishop bypassed the Oconee County planning staff and the county Planning Commission when it rezoned property for a Dollar General earlier this month.
“Dollar General was going to walk away,” Bishop Mayor Johnny Pritchett said in explaining that action.
The city has had an agreement with the county since 1991 calling for the county planning staff to administer its zoning laws and has had a seat on the county Planning Commission since 1982.
An Athens sales and marketing firm has registered a web site to promote the rezoning of 47 acres at the corner of Mars Hill Road and the Oconee Connector for a major shopping center that would include a Publix.
The web site contains information used by land planner Ken Beall in his presentation to the Oconee County Planning Commission on Monday night, including a concept plan for the project that is different from and at odds with the one submitted to the county for the rezone request.
Centerpiece of the web site is a video that has been shared on Facebook that calls the project “environmentally responsible.”
The Northeast Health District added 64 COVID-19 cases and two confirmed deaths from the disease with the release of Saturday’s Department of Public Health Daily Status Report. Both of the deaths were in Oconee County.
The seven-day rolling average of added cases and added confirmed deaths fell just slightly.
The two Oconee County deaths were of a 62-year-old male with a chronic condition and of a 74-year-old male without a chronic condition.
For the second day in a row, the seven-day rolling average of added COVID-19 cases rose in the Northeast Health District on Friday while the seven-day rolling average of added confirmed deaths from the disease declined.
The Department of Public Health listed two new confirmed deaths on the District in the Friday Daily Status Report, resulting in a drop in the rolling average to 1.1 deaths per day from 1.3 deaths per day on Thursday.
The deaths were of a 76-year-old female in Clarke County without a chronic condition and a 78-year-old male in Walton County, also without a chronic condition.
With the addition of 75 new cases of COVID-19 reported by the Department of Public Health on Thursday, the seven-day rolling average of added cases increased in the Northeast Health District.
The Department of Public Health Daily Status Report did not list any new confirmed deaths from COVID-19 in the 10-county Northeast Health District, and the seven-day rolling average of added deaths fell to 1.3 deaths per day from 1.7 on Wednesday.
The Northeast Health District added three confirmed deaths from COVID-19 on Wednesday, and the seven-day-rolling average of added deaths increased. Two of the three added deaths were in Clarke County.
The District added 58 cases with the release of the Department of Public Health Daily Status Report, and the seven-day rolling average of added cases declined to 52.9 added cases per day from 55.9 on Tuesday.
The Clarke County deaths were of 81-year-old and 83-year-old males. Neither had a chronic condition.
The third death was in Morgan County and was of a 67-year-old male with a chronic condition.
The Northeast Health District added 50 cases of COVID-19 in the Department of Public Health Daily Status Report on Tuesday, leading to a drop in the seven-day rolling average of added cases for the second day in a row.
The District did not add any confirmed deaths attributed to the disease, and the seven-day rolling average of added confirmed deaths remained unchanged at 1.4 deaths per day.
With the addition of the 50 cases, the seven-day rolling average of added cases for the 10-county District fell to 55.9 cases per day from 59.7 on Monday.
