Oconee Farmers Market will launch its ninth season on April 14 at a new venue–in the parking area in front of the courthouse in downtown Watkinsville.
The Board of Directors of the Market made the move to increase exposure for the market and its vendors.
An issue that has presented problems for the Oconee County Board of Commissioners–communication between the chairman and the other four commission members–surfaced again last week.
At the Feb. 28 agenda-setting meeting, Commissioner Chuck Horton and Commissioner Jim Luke complained that they had not been given sufficient advance notice of plans by the Oconee County Industrial Development Authority to purchase additional land for the undeveloped Gateway Business Park on SR 316.
Just more than 5 percent of the active registered voters in Oconee County have already cast their ballots in the presidential primaries, for which final voting will take place on Tuesday.
Of the 1,076 votes cast by the end of early voting on Friday, 1,048 (97.4 percent) were cast in the highly contested Republican primary, with the remaining 28 being cast in the Democratic primary, where the only name on the ballot is that of President Barack Obama.
While the 247-acre site for the future Caterpillar plant straddles the Clarke and Oconee county line, most of the actual plant will be in Oconee County, according to a preliminary site plan submitted to the Northeast Georgia Regional Commission.
The plan locates the plant mostly in the western part of the tract on the Bogart line.
It shows entrances to the site off U.S. 78 and U.S. 29.
Regina Quick told Oconee County Republicans earlier this month that the first thing she would do if she is elected to represent the county in the General Assembly in 2013 is introduce legislation to reverse redistricting from 2011 and make Oconee County whole in the 119th House District.
She said she would accomplish this by increasing the size of the Clarke County population in her district, the 117th, and by moving the three precincts in Oconee County now part of the 117th to the 119th.
Lowe’s Home Center on Epps Bridge Parkway, which lost one entrance when Jennings Mill Parkway was raised, will shift another and alter the traffic pattern for its parking lot if changes recommended by the Oconee County Planning Commission last night are approved by the Board of Commissioners on March 6.
The main entrance to the parking lot off Epps Bridge Parkway will be shifted south, and two out lots will be created on either side of the entrance.
Oconee County is seeking to renew its permit to discharge 1 million gallons per day of treated wastewater into Barber Creek, although county Utility Department Director Chris Thomas has indicated he does not plan to use the permit.
In fact, Thomas presented to the Board of Commissioners on July 26 of last year a long-range sewage and water plan that does not include construction of the sewage treatment plant on Rocky Branch Road.
