Oconee BOC: Bury my head in the sand of the Daniells Bridge Road Rezone

Lee Becker lets us know once again how ethically flawed the decision
making process has become in the Oconee County government.


Dear Friends,

The Board of Commissioners tonight approved the rezone for an office
park just east of the blind curve on Daniells Bridge Road.

Margaret Hale cast the only dissenting vote. Chuck Horton made the
motion to approve, which was seconded by Jim Luke.

Don Norris, who in May of 2007 concluded he had a conflict of interest
on the same rezone and recused himself, decided tonight he was not in
conflict and voted with Horton and Hale to approve the project.

In May of 2007, Hale, Horton and Luke all voted against the same rezone.
The developer filed suit. In closed session, the Board decided to settle
the suit. The vote tonight was simply a confirmation of that
closed-meeting decision.

Emil Beshara, director of Public Works for the county, told the BOC the
blind curve was not "dangerous" but the development would make it better
because it would include turn lanes and allow the county to swing the
curve out just a bit wider.

The attorney representing the developer forgot to attend the hearing,
though it had originally been scheduled for a month ago and had been
postponed in a surprise move by Horton, Luke and Norris to give Beshara
a chance to develop plans to fix the road. The "fix" did not include an
elimination of the curve.

County attorney Daniel Haygood left the meeting chamber tonight to call
attorney Jeffrey DeLoach to get him to show up. The Board dithered, then
allowed DeLoach to speak, though his time to do so had passed.

Seven citizens, including me, spoke in opposition to the rezone. One
presented 384 petitions in opposition. No one spoke in favor, except
DeLoach.

The Board also approved the SPLOST allocation, which sets aside much of
the money to be taken in during the six year run of the tax for projects
the Board approved long in the past. The vote will be March 17, if the
Board approves the agreements with the four cities in the county. The
agreements were supposed to be approved tonight, but they didn't get
written in time, Haygood said.

The Board also decided to upgrade Calls Creek sewage plant rather than
Rocky Branch, after spending more than four years and lots of money
preparing to do just the opposite.

Details to follow.

Lee

--
Lee Becker

Blog: www.oconeecountyobservations.blogspot.com

Web: http://lbbecker48.googlepages.com/

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