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.

Hard Labor Creek Management Board Agrees To Consider Adding Citizens from Walton and Oconee Counties

Vacancies Exist

The Hard Labor Creek Management Board agreed today to resolve the issue of citizen representation on the Management Board by modifying the intergovernmental agreement Walton and Oconee counties signed in 2007.

No vote was taken, but Management Board members said they wanted to have the issue settled so the newly seated boards of commissioners in the two counties can make their appointments in January and have the option of including citizens.

Oconee County To Add Three Billboards As Part of Settlement with Fairway Outdoor Advertising

One For Butler’s Crossing

Oconee County will get three new billboards--two of them on Epps Bridge Parkway and one in Butler’s Crossing--as a result of a settlement the county has reached with Fairway Outdoor Advertising, a national outdoor advertising company with regional offices in Athens.

Fairway also agreed to remove three of the six billboards it currently has along U.S. 441–one for each of the new billboards it installs on Epps Bridge Parkway and in Butler’s Crossing.

Oconee County Magistrate Court Judge Finds Oconee Waste Transport Violated Zoning Ordinance

What Does Hours of Operation Mean?

Oconee County Magistrate Court Judge Eric Norris on Friday found Matt Elder in violation of a county zoning ordinance when Elder began operating his Oconee Waste Transport business before 6 a.m. on July 11 of this year.

Though Elder plead not guilty to the charge, he admitted operating his trucks on his lot before the allowed opening time. Elder’s attorney contended that since Oconee Waste Transport had not opened the business office, it was not in violation of the zoning restriction.

Oconee and Clarke County Development Authorities Option Additional Land in Orkin Tract for Caterpillar

Taxes Shifted

The Oconee County Industrial Development Authority and its counterpart in Athens-Clarke County last week decided to take an option on 204 acres of land in what is called the Orkin tract in the hopes that the land will be used either by Caterpillar or some of its suppliers.

The optioned land is in addition to the 263 acres the two counties purchased from the Orkin tract earlier this year and that is being used by Caterpillar for the plant under construction on the eastern edge of Bogart.