Public Hearing On Comprehensive Plan Update On Agenda For Board of Commissioners Meeting On Tuesday

***Fees Charged For School Sports Facilities Also To Be Considered***

In preparing the five-year update to the county’s 2018 Comprehensive Plan, the Oconee County planning staff has conducted 11 focus groups, with five to 10 participants each.

The staff held a Kick Off Meeting at the June Town Hall Meeting, another Kick Off Meeting Public Hearing in July, and a Future Land Use charette in December of 2022.

COVID Case Count Drops In NE Health District After Slight Increase A Week Earlier

***Transmission Rate In Clarke County Now Low***

The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 67 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on April 19, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.

That number of cases added a week earlier had been 80. The week before that it was 58.

Steering Committee For LifeWise Religious Program, Advocates For School Safety Officers, Address Oconee County Board Of Education

***Opponents Of LifeWise Also Spoke Up***

All six members of the local steering committee asking Oconee County Schools to set aside an hour in the school day for independent, off-campus religious instruction appeared before the Oconee County Board of Education on Monday.

They offered consistent but somewhat different arguments for putting the issue on the agenda for future discussion by the Board or simply for adopting the plan and Bible-based curriculum developed by LifeWise, an organization in Ohio.

Will Dollar General Be Coming To Manders Crossing? Developer Tells Oconee County Planning Commission He Doesn’t Know The Answer

***Planning Commission Recommends Rezone Approval***

The 10,600 square foot building proposed for the vacant lot at Manders Crossing on Cliff Dawson Road and Mars Hill Road could house retail stores.

The three separate units shown on the site plan also could be medical offices.

The building could have three tenants, as shown, or two tenants, or one.

And a single tenant could be a Dollar General store.

Groundbreaking Ceremony For New Oconee County Library At Wire Park Highlights Plans For New Facility

***State Added $500,000 To Cover New Components***

Groundbreaking events are always ceremonial and symbolic.

Even by that standard, as Mark Campbell, Chair of the Oconee County Library Board of Trustees, had announced in advance, the Friday Groundbreaking Ceremony for the new Oconee County Library at Wire Park in Watkinsville was unusual.

No ground was broken for the 25,000 square building, which was very much in evidence behind the line of participants as they donned white hard hats, grabbed shovels with a gold painted blade, and smiled for photos.

Oconee County Responds To Lawsuit Seeking To Overturn Rejection Of Shopping Center At Mars Hill Road And Oconee Connector

***County Says Owner Responsible For Any Injury Sustained***

Oconee County filed its response on Tuesday to the lawsuit seeking to overturn its denial of a rezone request for a shopping Center at Mars Hill Road and the Oconee Connector, saying that the claims are barred by applicable statutes of limitations.

Deferred Tax LLC, which filled the suit against the county on March 6, also failed to use and exhaust remedies afforded by state law to address the claims it has made, the response by the county states.

COVID Cases In Northeast Health District Increase Slightly; Oconee And Clarke Report Slight Declines In Cases

***Clarke County Has New Confirmed Death From Disease***

The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 80 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on April 12, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.

That number of cases added a week earlier had been 58.

The Department of Public Health reported one new confirmed death from COVID-19 in the Northeast Health District in its report on Wednesday.