The results of the election in Oconee County last week do not follow a simple narrative.
Voters gave their strongest support to Post 2 Board of Education candidate Amy Parrish, an incumbent Republican who was unapologetic about her vote for the School Board’s request for a nearly 10 percent increase in property taxes.
Oconee voters gave their second strongest support to Republican Post 3 Board of Education candidate Ryan Hammock, who was muted in his criticism of the Board of Education.
Maxie Price’s Deferred Tax LLC was back before the Oconee County Planning Commission Monday night with a revised plan for a shopping center at the corner of Mars Hill Road and the Oconee Connector.
The outcome was largely unchanged from April 2021.
The Planning Commission, with only limited discussion, voted 6 to 1 to recommend that the Board of Commissioners deny the rezone request.
When Maxie Price resubmitted his application for a rezone for a shopping center at the Oconee Connector and Mars Hill Road, he eliminated a component that most adversely affects one of the key residential areas along Mars Hill Road.
The 13 acres opposite the entrance to Bond Crossing subdivision on DaAndra Drive is not part of Price’s current rezone request for the shopping center that is to include a Publix.
The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Friday that area hospitals had 13 COVID-19 patients, down from 19 last Friday.
The number of ICU beds in use on Friday was 65, down from 69 a week earlier, and the number of adult ventilators in use was 24, down from 27 on last Friday.
Based on preliminary estimates, Oconee County’s new Dove Creek Middle School will open next year with 478 students, or less than half the 1,000 student capacity of the school.
Malcom Bridge Middle School is projected to have 611 students, and Oconee County Middle School is expected to have 844 students. Both schools also have a capacity of 1,000 students.
The figures are estimates, but they are the ones Oconee County School administrators used to create the redistricting plan for the new middle school for next year.
The Oconee County Industrial Development Authority on Monday agreed to donate to the state a 13-acre parcel south of SR 316 for a new Georgia Department of Driver Services Customer Service Center.
Technically a part of the county’s Gateway Technology and Business Park, the acreage is south of SR 316 near Bogart with a small amount of frontage on McNutt Creek Road.
Oconee County voters on Tuesday decided to increase the tax they pay at cash registers in the county from 7 percent to 8 percent starting in April.
The vote was close to a mirror image of that of a year ago, with 51.3 percent voting in favor of the Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax. Last November, 52.8 percent had voted against the tax.
Turnout on Tuesday was 74.5 percent of active voters. Last November, it had been 10.7 percent.
