Oconee County on Sept. 15 issued a permit for land disturbance activities for expansion of Epps Bridge Centre, but it has not yet issued a second permit that would allow for installation of site infrastructure.
The county permit followed approval on Aug. 18 by the Oconee River Soil and Water Conservation District of an erosion and sediment control plan submitted by Oconee 316 Associates LLC and developer Frank Bishop of Atlanta for the 54 acres for the shopping center expansion.
Oconee County, having reached a settlement with Jennings Mill Country Club over easements for the McNutt Creek Sewer line from Jimmy Daniell Road to Jennings Mill Road, is now turning its attention to the other property owners across whose land the sewer line will run.
The line will cross 17 properties not owned by Laniertindall LLC, owner of the country club.
Simpson Trucking and Grading of Gaineville already has completed some of the clearing and grubbing work for Parkway Boulevard Extension, which will serve as a major entranceway for an expanded Epps Bridge Centre.
The company also is putting in temporary erosion control measures, according to Oconee County Public Works Director Emil Beshara, and plans to begin moving direct in the next couple of weeks.
Stacey Abrams, minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives, gave a rousing calls to action to a gathering of Oconee County Democrats this (Sunday) afternoon, telling them to get people of all races registered and to get people of all races out to vote starting next month.
“Georgia is already blue,” Abrams said at the outset.
Robert Wyatt of 1090 Apalachee Trace in the Lane Creek subdivision in the west of the county, asked the first question at the Oconee County Election Forum on Thursday night, and he found discord among the three candidates for the open seat on the Board of Commissioners in their answers.
Wyatt noted that there has been disagreement on the Commission about the county’s organizational chart and wanted the three candidates to indicate where they stood on the issue.
Oconee County Library Friends has unpacked 1,134 boxes of books–a record number–in preparation for the book sale that will run Thursday through Saturday at the Oconee County Civic Center, 2661 Hog Mountain Road, west of Butler’s Crossing.
While no one knows the exact number of books in those boxes, book sale coordinator and Library Friends Treasurer Penny Mills said that a conservative estimate would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 32,000 books.
Oconee County has experienced only modest growth in revenue it receives from sales tax in the last decade and a half even with significant expansion of its commercial inventory, changes in the county’s alcohol laws, and the opening of new restaurants.
The growth in sales tax revenue in Oconee County, in fact, is not so different from the growth experienced by Athens-Clarke County, which has lost some retail outlets to Oconee County and lost its exclusivity in selling alcohol in restaurants.
