The contract for design of the extension of Parkway Boulevard is back on the agenda for the Oconee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night, but this time there is no indication that the county is prepared to award the contract.
The BOC tentatively agreed at its meeting on Aug. 26 to accept the low bid of $96,925 submitted by ABE Consulting of 2410 Hog Mountain Road but reversed course a week later–on Sept. 2-- and decided to review the five submitted bids another time.
A Massachusetts biopharmaceutical company with roots at the University of Georgia has signed a lease for two buildings being completed at Gateway Technology and Business Park in Bogart.
One of the two buildings will be used for production and the other for research, according to plans distributed Monday to the Oconee County Industrial Development Authority, which developed the park and sold the 12-acre site to Rooker Properties LLC last year.
The developer of The Falls of Oconee commercial complex on Old Macon Highway just inside the county line has submitted slightly revised preliminary site plans as the project moves through the review process.
The Bloomfield Hills, Mich., company turned in the latest plans for the five-building center to house restaurants and small shops on Aug. 29. Those plans have not yet been approved by the Oconee County Planning Department.
When Oconee County voters go to the polls for the Nov. 4 election they will be asked to vote Yes or No on a 1 percent sales tax that, according to the ballot language, is expected raise $55.6 million over the six-year life of the tax.
Voters also will be presented with list of projects to be funded, including water and sewer infrastructure, roads, farmland protection, libraries and parks and recreational facilities.
Oconee County’s plans to begin design work on a road being sought by Atlanta developer Frank Bishop are on hold while County Attorney Daniel Haygood looks into the bids and the bidding process.
At the request of Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis, the awarding of the design contract to ABE Consulting, 2410 Hog Mountain Road, was removed from the consent agenda at the Sept. 2 meeting of the Commission.
Davis said it was necessary “to check a couple of things on the contracts,” and County Administrative Officer Jeff Benko told me in an email message on Sept. 3 that Haygood “was reviewing a few items.”
The Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir Management Board is focusing its attention on a site on the east of the reservoir rather than one more centrally located as it moves forward with planning for recreational facilities at the reservoir.
The Board made the decision to focus on the eastern site at its meeting on Aug. 19, and the members of the Board’s Recreation Committee have been reviewing a draft concept plan for the site in the weeks following that meeting.
A rezone request that would convert three pieces of property that front on Hog Mountain Road just west of Butler’s Crossing into a mixed use development with both retail stores and offices is before the Oconee County Planning Commission for review tomorrow night.
The property currently contains three houses, one of which is being used as a business, and abuts residential and agricultural properties at the rear.
