New Site Plan For Oconee Crossing Shopping Center Moves Grocery Store, Increases Buffer

***Grocery Still At Rear Of Shopping Center Near Residential Lots***

The new site plan released last week for the Oconee Crossing Shopping Center on U.S. 78 at Hog Mountain Road moves the proposed grocery store and increases the size of the buffer with the adjoining Oconee Crossing subdivision.

It also reduces the number of drive-through restaurants and moves the car wash.

Oconee Commissioners Delay Decision On Renewal Of Agreement With Oconee County Schools For Joint Use of Sports Facilities

***Comprehensive Plan Sent To State For Review***

Oconee County Commissioners on Tuesday night delayed until next week a decision on and further discussion of an agreement with the Board of Education on the increased fees Oconee County Schools wants to charge the county for use of school sports facilities.

The Commissioners delayed the decision at the request of Commissioner Chuck Horton, who said he probably will support the agreement but he wants to discuss it further at the next Board meeting before doing so.

Public Hearing On Comprehensive Plan Update On Agenda For Board of Commissioners Meeting On Tuesday

***Fees Charged For School Sports Facilities Also To Be Considered***

In preparing the five-year update to the county’s 2018 Comprehensive Plan, the Oconee County planning staff has conducted 11 focus groups, with five to 10 participants each.

The staff held a Kick Off Meeting at the June Town Hall Meeting, another Kick Off Meeting Public Hearing in July, and a Future Land Use charette in December of 2022.

COVID Case Count Drops In NE Health District After Slight Increase A Week Earlier

***Transmission Rate In Clarke County Now Low***

The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 67 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on April 19, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.

That number of cases added a week earlier had been 80. The week before that it was 58.

Steering Committee For LifeWise Religious Program, Advocates For School Safety Officers, Address Oconee County Board Of Education

***Opponents Of LifeWise Also Spoke Up***

All six members of the local steering committee asking Oconee County Schools to set aside an hour in the school day for independent, off-campus religious instruction appeared before the Oconee County Board of Education on Monday.

They offered consistent but somewhat different arguments for putting the issue on the agenda for future discussion by the Board or simply for adopting the plan and Bible-based curriculum developed by LifeWise, an organization in Ohio.

Will Dollar General Be Coming To Manders Crossing? Developer Tells Oconee County Planning Commission He Doesn’t Know The Answer

***Planning Commission Recommends Rezone Approval***

The 10,600 square foot building proposed for the vacant lot at Manders Crossing on Cliff Dawson Road and Mars Hill Road could house retail stores.

The three separate units shown on the site plan also could be medical offices.

The building could have three tenants, as shown, or two tenants, or one.

And a single tenant could be a Dollar General store.

Groundbreaking Ceremony For New Oconee County Library At Wire Park Highlights Plans For New Facility

***State Added $500,000 To Cover New Components***

Groundbreaking events are always ceremonial and symbolic.

Even by that standard, as Mark Campbell, Chair of the Oconee County Library Board of Trustees, had announced in advance, the Friday Groundbreaking Ceremony for the new Oconee County Library at Wire Park in Watkinsville was unusual.

No ground was broken for the 25,000 square building, which was very much in evidence behind the line of participants as they donned white hard hats, grabbed shovels with a gold painted blade, and smiled for photos.