Oconee County may have only a little more than a year before it needs to find space in the Courthouse for a Superior Court judge, the judge’s secretary and a law clerk.
That was the message Chief Superior Court Judge David Sweat delivered to the Oconee County Board of Commissioners last night in the second of four scheduled work sessions the Board is holding to deal with pressing issues before the county.
Russ Page, a tireless advocate on behalf of historic sites in the county, will get a chance tomorrow night to make a case for funding from current and future Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax revenue of three projects in the county .
The first is preservation of the historic mill on Rose Creek just downstream from the iconic Elder Mill Covered Bridge off SR 15 (Greensboro Highway) southeast of Watkinsville.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners spent 90 minutes last night reviewing a long list of issues facing the county with the goal of winnowing and prioritizing, but it had only limited success with the task at hand.
Jim Dove, executive director of the Northeast Georgia Regional Commission (NEGRC), began the Monday session by presenting a nine-page, single-space list of issues raised in the two-day planning meeting the Board held in January.
Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis has renewed his efforts to increase the percentage of revenue that Oconee County restaurants can earn from alcohol sales through his column in the Feb. 12 edition of The Oconee Enterprise.
Davis said in the column he writes that “I understand” that several chains have inquired about locating in Oconee County, but “some” question the existing ratio of alcohol to food.
Plans are on hold for a restaurant in the center of Bishop as the resident of the historic Seymour D. Fambrough house seeks funds for a $75,000 commercial septic system to accommodate the development.
Blyth Biggs, who is living with his family on the second floor of the Victorian-era, Queen Anne style building at 4851 Macon Highway, is seeking community support to finance the required septic system.
Oconee County has cancelled the public hearing scheduled for Monday night on the proposed Presbyterian Homes of Georgia continuing care retirement center on U.S. 441 and Wellbrook Road.
The required advertisement did not appear in the county’s legal organ, The Oconee Enterprise, at least 15 days in advance of the public hearing before the Planning Commission, as is required by state law.
The Madison Athens-Clarke Oconee Regional Transportation Study (MACORTS) Policy Committee this morning took the first step toward reactivating the construction of a bypass of Bishop and the four-laning of U.S. 441 from Watkinsville to the Apalachee River.
The project now goes to the public comment stage, with a key meeting to be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Feb. 24 in the Community Center at Oconee Veterans Park.
