Dials Mill Road Special Use Permit Decision Could Have Wider Effects in Oconee County

Two Other Rezones Linked

While residents in subdivisions near the proposed materials recovery facility on Dials Mill Road have been most outspoken about the project, the decision the Board of Commissioners makes about the facility has the potential to impact indirectly residents of two other areas of the county.

One of the areas is south of Watkinsville, where the Board of Commissioners in 2005 turned down a request for a waste transfer station. That request is likely to come back if the BOC approves the Dials Mill Road project.

Milton Officials Told Oconee County Leaders And Citizens Why Milton Adopted A Transfer Of Development Rights Program

Commissioner Luke Still Skeptical

Two officials from the north Fulton County city of Milton last night told 30 Oconee County citizens, including four commissioners, why Milton adopted just last June a Transfer of Development Rights program.

The reason, Mayor Pro Tem Bill Lusk told the group, was simple.

The residents wanted to maintain the rural character, the “green space, the open space, your farms,” he said, and the TDR program was a mechanism for doing just that.

Oconee County Farmers Market To Launch Weekday Markets May 14

Fresh Produce For Dinner

Oconee Farmers Market will begin operating 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays on the grounds of Watkinsville First Christian Church in downtown Watkinsville starting on May 14.

Market Manager Cindy Pritchard said the expanded market is in response to customer requests and to help vendors during the peak part of the growing season.

Garretts Claim Their Special Use And Variance Requests Are Consistent With Their Oconee County Agricultural History

And They Got There First

As Bernard Garrett, daughter Katie Garrett, and son Simon Garrett tell the story, the family's companies, Roll Off Systems, Walton C&D Landfill, and the proposed Harvest Recycling, are a simple outgrowth of the family's history of farming and its commitment to the land.

County records indeed document the agricultural origins and vestiges of what has become a business with 35 employees in both Oconee County and Walton County.

GDOT Asks Oconee County Officials To Identify Projects For Possible Funding

Building Bridge Too

The Georgia Department of Transportation has told Oconee County officials it expects to have money to spend on state highway improvements in the region and has asked the county to submit projects for possible funding.

Oconee County Public Works Director Emil Beshara told the Citizens Advisory Committee on Land Use and Transportation Planning of the state request at the Committee’s April 16 meeting and asked the members to react to two projects he wants to submit.

Oconee County Planning Commission Recommends Materials Recovery Facility To Board of Commissioners

On Dials Mill Road

The Oconee County Planning Commission, after a hearing lasting nearly 90 minutes, voted 9-2 tonight to recommend to the Board of Commissioners that it approve a special use permit for construction of a materials recovery facility on agricultural land at 1441 Dials Mill Road.

Approximately 100 people turned out for the public hearing at the courthouse, with supporters outnumbering opponents.

Oconee County Asks, And Judge Agrees, To Vacate Order Against Oconee Waste Transport

Attorney Says Nobody Complaining

Oconee County officials have agreed to allow Oconee Waste Transport to continue to operate, at least in the short term, at its site on SR 15 south of Watkinsville during hours that Magistrate Court Judge Eric W. Norris found last October to be in violation of the county zoning ordinance.

OWT had indicated that it intended to appeal Norris’ ruling, but the county joined with OWT in asking Norris three weeks after he issued his ruling to reconsider and vacate it.