Three different samples drawn from Calls Creek following the sewage spill in the Watkinsville Cemetery on Sept. 10 show higher levels of bacteria downstream from the spill than upstream, though the differences have decreased over time.
Data gathered by volunteers from the Upper Oconee Watershed Network on Sept. 17 showed E. coli bacteria levels downstream just higher than those upstream and the level in the tributary into which the raw sewage flowed to be the lowest of the three readings.
About 50 citizens turned out at a meeting in Veterans Park tonight to tell the Oconee County Board of Commissioners how they feel about a proposal to reopen the connection between Old Mars Hill Road and the new Mars Hill Road now under construction.
All but one of those present said they are opposed to the project.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners decided back in 1999 that a key piece of property along what is now Old Mars Hill Road should not be rezoned for commercial use because it would adversely affect nearby Oak Ridge subdivision.
The effect of commercial development of property on Old Mars Hill Road is likely to be one issue that will come up on Tuesday night when the Board of Commissioners holds a public hearing on a proposal to make Old Mars Hill Road a cut through at the Mars Hill Road Oconee Connector intersection.
Residents along Mars Hill Road–fresh from a four-hour session on future land use along the roadway–will have another opportunity to express their views on future development in their neighborhoods on Monday night.
The Oconee County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing that night on a proposal by one of the land owners to move forward with a rezone of property even before the county takes action on an overlay district it is considering for the corridor.
Oconee County Strategic and Long-Range Planning Director Wayne Provost told Oconee County commissioners back in January that they could get an idea of what Mars Hill Road could look like in the future by looking at Epps Bridge Parkway today.
Provost said that the county promoted development along Epps Bridge Parkway between SR Loop10 and the county line at McNutt Creek by its investment in water, sewer and transportation infrastructure.
Oconee County is reporting yet another sewage spill–this one inside the city limits of Watkinsville and into a tributary of Calls Creek.
The sewage spill is the second reported by the county in three weeks and sixth since the first of the year.
Consultant Bill Ross is expected on Thursday to unveil details for implementation of an overlay district for Mars Hill Road when he meets from 3 to 7 p.m. with Oconee County citizens at the Community Center in Veterans Park.
The overlay district proposes land use that is at odds in significant ways with the county’s future development map, approved by the county in February of 2008 under Ross’ guidance.
