The Oconee County Cycling Organization was sent home tonight without its Share the Road signs when the Land Use and Transportation Planning Committee decided to postpone further discussion of the signage until it has information on the legal implications of telling bicyclists and motorists to ride together.
The cycling organization asked the Committee back in July to recommend that the county install Share the Road signs on Colham Ferry road from Watkinsville to Watson Spring Mill road, on Simonton Bridge road from Watkinsville to the county line, on New High Shoals road from U.S. 441 to SR 186, and on Barnett Shoals road from Watkinsville to the county line.
The Committee delayed discussion of the request until tonight, in part so it could ask Emil Beshara, director of the Public Works Department, his opinion of the request.
Beshara left little doubt that he is not in favor of the signs, saying that he was afraid that they would indicate an endorsement by the county of biking on the roads, possibly leading to legal liability should there be an accident.
“I have reservations about putting signs on heavily traveled roads, on narrow roads, on roads with a speed limit above 35 miles per hour,” Beshara said. “I personally have reservations about the possible perception of endorsement of cycling along these routes.”
Beshara stressed that bicyclists and motorists have the same right to the roadway.
“Much to many people’s dismay, bicyclists have the legal right to use our roadways, just as much of a right as a car,” he said.
None of the eight committee members present expressed much support for the request, and several, most prominent among them Frank Watson, were openly hostile.
“I have friends who complain to me all the time about bicyclists and holding up traffic,” he said. He added that he also felt “BikeAthens has a little bit to do” with the request and he didn’t like that.
Watson made the motion to delay any action until the Committee had more information on the legal implications of putting up the signage. The motion passed 7 to 1. (The committee has 14 members, but only eight members showed up for the meeting.)
Richard McSpadden, a member of the Committee and president of the OCCO, was not present, and Tony Glenn made the pitch for the signs in his absence.
Glenn said OCCO selected the four roads because its members indicated they use them extensively, often to reach other roadways in the county with less traffic.
The Committee will not take up the signage request again until at least November. Watson will not be on the Committee then, since his term ended tonight and he did not seek reappointment.
Any action taken by the Committee would be advisory to the Board of Commissioners, which would make the final decision.
In October, the Committee plans to devote its meeting to a public pitch for its recommendation that the county separate the county judicial and administrative facilities and build a new judicial facility near the county jail.
The exact date for that presentation has not yet been set.
Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis didn’t attend the Northeast Georgia Regional Commission Advisory Committee meeting today, but his point of view about the designation of the Athens Line as a regionally important resource did.
Athens-Clarke County Mayor Heidi Davison reported Davis’ concern about protecting the rail line from detrimental development within a mile on either side of it, though she expressed no such anxiety herself.
Lee Carmon, planning director and general counsel for NEGRC, said she was aware of Davis’ reservations as well. Others in the room also acknowledged having heard from Davis about his problem with the rail line designation.
Joe Walter, mayor of Watkinsville and one of three Oconee County representatives on the NEGRC Council and its only representative on the Advisory Committee that selected the regionally important resources, chose not to comment during the discussion.
Davis (left), along with Amrey Harden, president and CEO of Oconee State Bank, and designated as a citizen representative of the county on the Council, and Walter will decide on Thursday whether to send the list of 25 resources designated as regionally important to the Georgia Department of Communication Affairs for review and comment.
The Council is the governing body of NEGRC.
That meeting will be begin at noon at the Holiday Inn in downtown Athens.
Elder Mill, Elder Mill Bridge, the Athens Line and the Apalachee River are the four resources from Oconee County designated by the Council back in April as regionally important in the first round of review.
At the meeting today at the NEGRC offices in Athens, Carmon presented a Resource Management Plan drafted by her staff following that April meeting.
The plan asks counties to take a series of steps to preserve the resources, including steering development away from them, coordinating new development patterns with those of existing neighborhoods, and preserving historic and cultural resources located on or adjacent to the sites.
Davison said that Davis was concerned that it was difficult to draw a one-mile radius around a line. The Athens Line, still partially used, runs from Athens to Madison.
Davison said it is no harder to draw a one-mile radius around the rail line than it is around a river. The Apalachee runs along the western border of the county.
At the BOC meeting back in March, when Carmon unveiled the list of Oconee County resources on the list, Davis expressed concern not about drawing the radius but about the restrictions such a designation might place on development in Oconee County.
Carmon said today that NEGRC would review any development within a mile of the designated resource, but the report NEGRC would release would be only advisory.
NEGRC serves 12 counties and 54 municipal governments in the Northeast Georgia Region.
Back in 2008, NEGRC planners negatively reviewed the large Epps Bridge Centre shopping mall planned for Epps Bridge Parkway behind Lowe’s, citing traffic and environmental concerns. The county ignored that assessment and rezoned the property for development.
And just last week the Board of Commissioners ignored a land use map it passed only two years ago to spot zone a piece of property in the rural southern part of the county for a waste transport facility.
At the April 15 meeting, Davis held his voice, but Davison and Carmon indicated he has not done so in private conversations.
Carmon said critics could work to get any of the four resources taken off the list when the next round of resource review starts later this year.
County officials did not nominate any county resources as regionally important in this first go-around.
Tony Glenn, an avid bicyclist, submitted the Athens Line proposal, noting its historical significance and potential recreational value as a bike trail.
The Friends of Elder Mill and Elder Mill Bridge submitted the Elder Mill and Elder Mill Bridge nomination.
The Apalachee River, as a water resource, was included automatically and was listed as a resource for Barrow, Greene, Morgan, Oconee and Walton counties.
The Northeast Georgia Regional Commission is scheduled to hold three meetings this coming week that will determine the kind of protection Elder Mill, Elder Mill Bridge, the Athens Line and the Apalachee River will receive as four of 25 resources identified by the Commission as regionally important.
At issue is a Resource Management Plan drafted by the staff of the planning division of the Commission that asks counties to take a series of steps to preserve the resources. Oconee is one of 12 counties served by NEGRC.
These steps include steering development away from these four resources, coordinating new development patterns with those of existing neighborhoods by use of compatible scale and design and preserving historic and cultural resources located on or adjacent to the sites.
The draft plan will be taken up by the Planning Advisory Committee of NEGRC at its 10 a.m. to noon meeting on Monday. That meeting will be held at the E.H. Culpepper Conference Room of the NEGRC offices, 305 Research drive in Athens.
A public hearing on the plan will be held at that same location from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday.
The plan will be submitted to the Council for consideration at its meeting on Thursday. That meeting will begin at noon at the Holiday Inn in downtown Athens. Following the decision at that meeting, the plan will go to the Georgia Department of Communication Affairs for review and comment.
The Council is the governing body for NEGRC.
The mill, the bridge, the rail line, which stretches from Athens to Madison and runs through Oconee County, and the river were designated unanimously as regionally important and in need of protection by the Council at its meeting on April 15.
Melvin Davis, chairman of the Oconee County Board of Commissioners and a member of the NEGRC Council, expressed reservations about the inclusion of the Athens Line on the RIR list prior to the meeting, but he did not voice those reservations publicly at the meeting itself.
Davis and other members of the BOC said they were worried that designation of the rail line might hamper development in Oconee County.
Watkinsville Mayor Joe Walter, the municipal representative of Oconee County on the Council, voted for the Oconee County proposals as a member of the Planning Advisory Committee that screened nominations and presented the recommendation to the Council.
The third Oconee County member of the Council–-designated as a citizen representative–-is Amrey Harden, president and CEO of Oconee State Bank.
Though Oconee County officials could have submitted resources for possible inclusion on the RIR list, none of them did so.
Tony Glenn, an avid bicyclist, submitted the Athens Line proposal, suggesting that it would be appropriate in the future for a bike trail.
The Friends of Elder Mill and Elder Mill Bridge submitted the Elder Mill and Elder Mill Bridge nominations.
The Athens Line was listed as a resource for all three counties.
The Apalachee River, as a water resource, was included automatically and was listed as a resource for Barrow, Greene, Morgan, Oconee and Walton counties.
The draft plan lists 18 different activities that counties should take to preserve the Regionally Important Resources.
In addition to steering development away from the resources, coordinating new development and preserving resources located nearby, the plan asks counties to encourage the redevelopment or adaptive reuse of existing buildings, to develop site plans for nearby development that are sensitive to the natural features of the site and to use low impact development practices.
Every development within a mile of the Regionally Important Resource will be affected by the proposed plan.
The Tuesday evening public hearing conflicts with another meeting of interest to local bicyclists.
The Citizen Advisory Committee for Land Use and Transportation Planning is scheduled to discuss on Tuesday a request from the Oconee County Cycling Organization that the county install Share The Road signs on roads used by cyclists throughout the county.
That meeting is to begin at 7 p.m. at the Community Center in Veterans Park.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners voted 3-1 tonight to set aside the Future Development Map it approved in March of 2008 and rezone 6.2 acres on Greensboro highway just south of Watkinsville so Courtney M. (Matt) Elder Jr. can move his Oconee Waste Transport business from downtown Watkinsville.
Only Commissioner Chuck Horton voted against the decision.
The public hearing and discussion of the rezone request lasted two hours and included a well-organized presentation by neighbors strongly opposed to the rezone.
The opponents argued that the relocation of the trash transport business was inconsistent with the county development map and with the county code and threatened the quality of their lives and value of their homes.
Proponents, including Oconee County Chamber of Commerce Chairman Kenneth Mann, argued that the rezone was necessary to support a local business that contributes to the local economy.
Elder threatened to move his business outside the county if he didn’t get the rezone.
Elder submitted a letter from AmeriPride Services Inc. saying that his current property on Experiment Station Road is contaminated as a result of past dry cleaning activities carried out on the AmeriPride-owned property adjoining Elder’s current location.
According to the letter, AmeriPride will install a groundwater extraction and treatment system on the Elder property.
Land Planner Jon Williams (above during break with Elder behind), representing Elder, said at the meeting that Elder could not find any sites for his business other than the one he owned.
At the meeting tonight and prior to the vote, Oconee County Planning Director B.R. White said he would recommend that the BOC change its Future Development Map if it approved the rezone since the use proposed by Elder was inconsistent with the designated uses in the area.
The 2030 Future Development Map classifies the area as Country Estates. Areas so designated are to provide a transition from urban to more rural areas and should include estate farms or large-lot subdivisions.
None of the commissioners argued that the waste transport business was consistent with the designation, with Commissioner Jim Luke joining Horton in arguing most vocally that it was not. Luke said if the vote was positive he wanted to redraw the Future Development Map to allow for more such zoning in the future.
More than 100 people attended the hearing, which was moved from the usual commission chamber to a courtroom to accommodate the crowd.
The vote by the BOC changed the zoning for the 6.2 acres from A-1 (Agricultural District) to O-B-P (Office Business Park District).
The tract rezoned is part of a larger tract of 9.7 acres that Elder asked in 2005 be rezoned from A-1 (Agriculture District) to I (Industrial District). The BOC denied that request.
Land Planner Williams tonight said Elder has no firm plans for how to use the remaining acreage but that it could be used for future expansion.
He’ll have to come back for another rezone if he wants to do that, but the discussion tonight suggests the county will have changed the land use map by then to make it easy for him to do so.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night is scheduled to consider a rezone request for 6.2 acres on Greensboro highway just south of Watkinsville that challenges the board’s commitment to the Future Development Map it approved in March of 2008 and its commitment to support local small businesses.
Courtney M. (Matt) Elder Jr. is asking the county to rezone the land so he can move his Oconee Waste Transport business from downtown Watkinsville.
Property owners in the area say the waste hauling facility will adversely affect their home values and is at odds with the pastoral landscape and land use patterns of the area.
The county’s planning staff has recommended against the rezone request, saying that the “request is not compatible with the land uses or zoning classifications of neighboring properties” and “does not meet the guiding principles, policies, development strategies” of the county land use map.
The Planning Commission voted Aug. 16, by a vote of 4-3, to recommend to the BOC that it approve the change requested by Elder from A-1 (Agricultural District) to O-B-P (Office Business Park District).
A majority of the four Planning Commission members representing the unincorporated parts of the county actually voted against the resolution. George Rodrigues, who made the motion, represents Watkinsville on the commission, and Karl Berg, who seconded it, represents North High Shoals.
Bruce MacPherson, representing Bishop, joined Rodrigues and Berg and county representative Mike Floyd in voting for the resolution.
Chuck Hunt, Bill Ramsey and Chuck Steen, all representing the unincorporated parts of the county, voted against the rezone request. Vice Chair Bill Yarbrough did not vote.
David Camp, representing Bogart, the county’s fourth city, was not present. Travis Marshall, Penny Mills and Chairman Dan Arnold also were absent.
The final decision is scheduled to be made by the BOC at its 7 p.m. meeting at the courthouse on Tuesday night.
The request the board will be considering is a redraft of one turned down by the Planning Commission by a vote of 5-3 on July 18, 2005. Yarbrough, Ramsey, Arnold, McPherson and then member Jim Butler voted for the denial.
The BOC also voted on Aug. 2, 2005, to deny the rezone. Current board members Margaret Hale, Chuck Horton and Jim Luke joined then member Don Norris in voting unanimously for the denial. John Daniell was not on the board at that time.
In 2005, Elder asked to rezone 9.7 acres from A-1 (Agriculture District) to I (Industrial District) to develop a waste transfer station.
The planning staff concluded that the zoning was out of character with the area and that zoning to industrial “would constitute a spot zoning of the area.” The staff report also said that the rezone was not consistent with development trends in the area or with the land use plan in effect at the time.
The current request uses only 6.2 of the total 9.7 acre-tract (at end of slide show) and is for a “solid waste collection company office facility” rather than for a waste transfer station.
The selected acreage is the northern part of the total tract. The proposal does not specify what is planned for the remaining acreage.
The proposal calls for construction of a 15,900 square-foot building and a 750 square-foot pole barn. It also calls for parking area for collection trucks and an area for storage of waste collection containers.
The site would include buffers to hide it from surrounding properties.
The staff report said “staff has concerns regarding contaminated run-off which could be generated by the site, including rainwater drained through the site.”
The report continues: “Additionally, cleaning and maintenance of the waste collection containers and vehicles will create contaminated run-off.”
“The proposed solid waste collection company office could negatively impact neighboring residential property values,” the staff report stated.
The report said the facility “will include outdroor storage of waste collection containers and collection vehicles resulting in incrased dust, odor and pest and rodent infestation. Noise generated by the delivery and removal of the waste containers, as well as the collection vehicles, could have substantial impact to neighboring residences.”
The staff said if its recommendation for a denial of the rezone request was not accepted, approval should be with nine conditions.
The Planning Commission, in recommending the rezone, modified two of those conditions.
The staff had said that no overnight storage of waste should be allowed. The Planning Commission resolution passed stipulated that only construction and demolition waste could be stored on the site and only overnight or over a weekend.
The Planning Commission resolution expanded the allowed hours of business from the staff recommendation of 7:30 to 5 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays to 6 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.
At the Planning Commission meeting on Aug. 16, Jon Williams from Williams & Associates, a land planning company representing Elder on the rezone, submitted a 60-page rebuttal to the staff report.
Included was a statement by Rusty Haygood, Oconee County economic development director, estimating total annual economic impact of Oconee Waste Transport of $1.3 million on the county’s economy.
Elder said he will have to move the business out of the county unless he gets the requested rezone because he is being forced to leave his current location (at front of slide show) and cannot find an alternative site.
Williams of Williams & Associates told the Planning Commission that the current site is contaminated and must be abandoned but the problem is not because of the operation of Oconee Waste Transport.
In making application, Oconee Waste Transport argued that the proposed new site will have “no negative effect on adjoining property values.”
According to the submitted Zoning Impact Analysis, the Future Development Map should be treated only as “a guide” for future development, “current trends in the area have been predominately toward commercial growth,” and the project is located on a major traffic artery make the site appropriate for development.
Both OWT and the planning staff agree that the Future Development Map designates the area as for low-intensity residential community development that is “reminiscent of a rural environment” and serves as a transition to the part of the county to be preserved as rural and for agriculture.
The site is only about three-tenths of a mile south of the Watkinsville city line and its industrial area.
On Aug. 5, 2008, the Board of Commissioners voted to deny a rezoning request from planning commission member Travis Marshall for a subdivision about a mile south of the Elder site on the grounds that it was inconsistent with the Future Development Map.
The county successfully defended that decision in court after Marshall filed suit against the county for denying the rezone.
Commissioners Horton and Luke voted against the rezone request by Marshall. Commissioner Hale was absent, and Commissioner Norris voted in favor.
The Oconee Waste Transport rezone request in 2005 and the one this year have produced vocal opposition from residents in the area.
Residents have turned in petition in opposition to the current rezone request signed by more than 150 people.
In addition, someone dropped off at the Planning Department office a seven-page document that included, among other things, pictures of the current Oconee Waste Transport site on Experiment Station Road opposite the Watkinsville Post Office.
The planning staff forwarded the document from the unidentified person to the members of the Planning Commission, producing an email response from BOC Chairman Melvin Davis.
“I really have mixed reactions to this type of information being distributed to the PC by the Planning Department,” he wrote on Aug. 16. “Perhaps it would be in the best interest of the Planning Department to stick to the factual maters of a rezone/variance request and leave it up to those who do or do not support the request to make their preference known to the PC and the BOC.”
Alan Theriault, county administrative officer, disagreed.
“I personally think it is important that Planning Commission members have complete access to everything provided to staff about an issue if it provided to you in advance of their meeting,” Theriault wrote to planner Brad Callender. “Not to do so, might give some citizens the impression that we may be withholding information that is part of the public record.”
The email exchange is part of the Elder rezone file in the Planning Department. I came across it when I reviewed that file on Aug. 20.
Davis attended the Planning Commission meeting on Aug. 16, as did Commissioner Horton. Davis will vote on the rezone only in the case of a tie vote among the four other commissioners.
The rezone request has generated considerable interest in the development community.
Chuck Williams, president of North Georgia Bank and chair of the county’s Industrial Development Authority, was present at the Planning Commission meeting on Aug. 16, as was local businessman and developer Mike Power.
Neither spoke, but L.C. Givens, owner of Outdoor Speciality in Watkinsville, and local developer Tom Little did.
Both criticized the commission, assuming it was going to vote against the rezone.
“I think our forefathers would be ashamed of what we are going through tonight,” Givens said. “As an American people, we have took our country and brought it down to a point where nobody can do anything anymore unless it suits the neighbor.”
Little said “If you can’t support that, you can’t be pro business. You can’t say you’re pro business.”
“Those people who are against it," Little added, "if they don’t want him to be there, they can buy about a half acre apiece and let him go on down the road somewhere else.”
About 40 people attended the Aug. 16 Planning Commission meeting, and eight citizens spoke in opposition to the rezone.
At a Town Hall meeting held by the BOC on June 10, Chuck Williams from the development authority and Elder asked questions that anticipated the Oconee Waste Transport rezone request, which was submitted in July.
Williams asked how the board members would accommodate what he called “blue collar businesses” such as Elder’s waste hauling business when neighbors don’t want them nearby.
Commissioners Daniell, Hale, Horton and Luke said they thought the county needed to identify land for heavy industrial use and that they recognized there likely would be some public opposition to nearly any sight picked. (Chairman Davis missed the meeting because he was on vacation.)
Elder followed Williams at that meeting by asking the commissioners more specifically where they would be willing to locate industrial sites.
Luke said “near and around” the railroads in the county would be good sites. He also suggested some areas along U.S. 78 and “some areas in and around Watkinsville.”
Horton said he would look first at property adjacent to where these activities currently exist and also along the U.S. 78 corridor.
Hale said she would look at where current infrastructure exits and mentioned areas along U.S. 78 and U.S. 441. She said she also would consider some properties along SR 316.
Daniell didn’t commit.
The site Elder is seeking to rezone does have county water, but not county sewage treatment. Elder proposes to handle water treatment via a septic system.
What the site certainly does have is a small subdivision very near to it.
Planning Commission member Bill Ramsey said at the Aug. 16 meeting that “In this particular case, I have a hard time deciding whether this would be spot zoning or whether the subdivision would be spot zoning.”
The subdivision is question is known as Bell’s and is on Maple lane and Maple circle off Greene Ferry road.
Tax records show that of the four houses that are on properties that abut the full 9.7-acre tract (the northern part of which is under consideration for rezone), the first was built in 1966. The others were built in 1972, 1973 and 1983.
Ramsey said his concern was what the residents would see of the Oconee Waste Transport facility.
Jon Williams said they would be protected because of the buffers.
The Oconee County Board of Education spent an hour tonight interviewing the three applicants for its open Post 5 position, tossing them a series of questions on such topics as the responsibility of the board, perceived strengths and weaknesses of the school system and how the board members should handle complaints from the public.
Applicants Wayne Bagley, Michael Burnette and Glenn Townsend, seated at a table in front of the board members, answered the questions in rotation, and they gave mostly similar answers to the questions posed.
Bagley, a vice president of development for Lassiter Properties, made reference to his experience on the Oconee County Citizen Advisory Committee for Land Use and Transportation Planning in response to several of the questions to indicate his familiarity with local governmental issues.
Burnette repeatedly made reference to his experience as a businessman. He is an area manager for Tires Plus.
Townsend, a retired teacher and administrator in the Oconee County system, stressed his knowledge of the system and of educational issues generally.
The applicants recognized that the Board of Education sets policy, but it does not run the schools day-to-day.
They also said that complaints from the public should be directed to the school administration and that board members should not get involved.
Candidates were given three minutes to answer questions, which board members took turns in asking.
Burnette said the biggest strength of the Oconee County school system is the “teachers, parents and the students.”
“I’m going to have to say it is the community,” Townsend said.
“I think it is the students,” Bagley said.
Townsend said that one of the biggest problems facing the schools is a lack of maintenance people “to take care of the plant and facilities.”
“The teacher-parent communication is something that I think could use a little help,” Bagley said.
“Just like in business when you have high performers and low performers, the low performers are the ones that get the most attention,” Burnette said. He said all students need to be given attention.
Near the end of the interview session, board member Mack Guest asked each applicant to indicate what he would cut if the school budget needed to be trimmed more.
Bagley said he didn’t know what he would cut, but he would protect the teachers.
Burnette said he would look for whatever did not affect the classroom.
Townsend said he would focus on such things as lights that didn’t need to be on, travel that was not necessary and ways to make the bus system more efficient.
Only about 20 people attended the session, which was held at the superintendent’s office in Watkinsville.
The Post 5 position became vacant in May when Tom Breedlove resigned and moved out of the county. Seventeen citizens applied for the opening, and the three candidates interviewed have been selected by the board as the finalists.
Board Chairman David Weeks said after the meeting tonight that he expected the board to make its decision on Breedlove’s replacement by October.
The Oconee County Land Use and Transportation Planning Committee got the blessing from the Board of Commissioners tonight to go ahead with its plans to show the public its PowerPoint presentation justifying its recommendation that the county build a separate judicial facility near the jail.
The presentation probably will be in October, but not at the regular meeting of the committee on Oct. 12, since that conflicts with a rescheduled meeting of the BOC.
In the meantime, the board is going forward with its plans to remodel the Government Annex on Greensboro highway on the south side of Watkinsville.
It voted tonight to spend up to an initial $2,990 to hire R.W. Allen, an Augusta company with offices in Athens, as construction manager at risk for the project.
In addition, the board decided that it will hold a public meeting on Sept. 21, probably at the Annex, to allow citizens to review options for the renovation of the facility, which currently houses the Utility Department, Public Works Department and the offices for the Fire Department.
At the Aug. 3 meeting, the BOC approved a contract of up to $74,500 with Precision Planning Inc. of Lawrenceville for architectural services for the renovation.
Commissioner Chuck Horton told Land Use and Transportation Planning Committee Chairman Abe Abouhamdan (right) tonight to make clear at its meeting that no decision had been made on the committee recommendation.
Abouhamdan responded that he knew that only the BOC could decide on what the county should do regarding what the committee has been calling judicial and administrative facilities for the county.
The committee met for a year before it reached its recommendation in March that the county separate judicial facilities from the present courthouse and build a new judicial facility somewhere near the current jail on Experiment Station road.
The BOC sent the issue of the future of the courthouse to the land use committee in March of 2009.
Board members tonight suggested that the committee might use the public hearing to get citizen feedback as well as make its case for its recommendation, though the committee has been clear as it discussed its presentation that the goal was to justify the decision it had reached.
“I think that is a great idea, personally to hold a public meeting, and get more public input,” Commissioner Margaret Hale told Abouhamdan.
