Commissioners To Address Oconee County Cell Tower Request by Verizon At Tuesday Meeting

Tower Number 28

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to decide Tuesday evening if Verizon Wireless can place a cell tower on farmland near the Eastville community over the objections of at least some residents in the area.

Three people spoke against the issuance of a special use permit for the cell tower at the Planning Commission meeting on Sept. 16. They were joined by about a dozen fellow citizens in the audience and said they expected others would have spoken out had they known about the plans for the cell tower.

Oconee County Goes Forward With Farmland Program Despite Losing $175,000 In Federal Funds

Application Deadline Set

Oconee County is going forward with the process of identifying and selecting farms for a farmland protection program even though there is no federal money to make the program work.

The local office of the United States Department of Agriculture, which administers the federal program, in July turned back $175,000 in federal funds that were available to the county for farmland protection this year, saying that the county “opted not to put a farm forward” for 2013 funding.

Oconee County Commissioners Tell Industrial Development Authority Not To Focus Only On Industrial Parks

Want More Discussion Of Zoning

The Oconee County Industrial Development Authority received a cautious response last night when it delivered its report on industrial development to the county’s Board of Commissioners.

Commissioner Jim Luke said the report “was a great work in progress” but that he was concerned that the Authority was putting too much emphasis on creating industrial parks.

Oconee County Industrial Development Authority Says Zoning Not Holding Up Development

Wants Industrial Sites

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners asked the members of the county’s Industrial Development Authority to study the feasibility of changing the county’s approach to zoning as a way to attract industrial development to the county.

The Development Authority recommended instead that the county should create one or more industrial sites each between 25 and 75 acres in size and that the county should make sure those sites have needed infrastructure for development.

Oconee And Walton Counties To Hold Hard Labor Creek Groundbreaking Ceremony Oct. 4

Gov. Deal Expected

The Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir Management Board has decided to hold an official reservoir groundbreaking ceremony at 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 4 at or near the reservoir intake construction site on Social Circle-Fairplay Road in Walton County.

Invited guests will include Gov. Nathan Deal, though Project Manager Jimmy Parker told me on Wednesday that the governor’s office has asked that the governor’s attendance not be included in any formal press releases.

Oconee County Planning Commission Recommends Denial Of Permit For Cell Tower

Near Eastville

The Oconee County Planning Commission voted 6-4 on Monday night to recommend to the Board of Commissioners that it deny Robert W. Strickland a permit to construct a communication tower on his property just outside the Eastville community in the northwestern part of the county.

About 15 people turned out to oppose the tower, saying it would adversely affect the value of their properties. They asked that the tower be built on commercial property rather than on the Strickland property, which is zoned for agriculture.

Mars Hill Road Bidding Delayed By GDOT To Allow For Right Of Way Acquisition

Pushed Back Five Months

The Georgia Department of Transportation has put off until February the letting of bids for Oconee County’s Mars Hill Road widening project.

Brent Cook, District One preconstruction engineer, told me in a telephone conversation today that right of way acquisition by the county is “running a little behind schedule,” making it necessary for GDOT to delay by five months the expected bidding for the $25.8 million project.