Connectivity (or lack thereof) keeping us isolated in our subdivisions
Watkinsville City Council member Brian Brodrick talked about connectivity in passing Wednesday evening when taking homeowner Dwayne Wilkes to task for an ill fitting sketch plat designed by Ken Beall and Associates to shoehorn seven houses on a private drive in a narrow farm field. Connectivity is something sorely lacking in a lot of neighborhoods and subdivisions in many areas of Oconee County. Necessity being the mother of invention, the children and young drivers of my neighborhood have taken the problem into their own hands and wheels, driving in between the elbow curve in the road of my street Katie Lane and the cul de sac of the neighboring Taylor's Landing subdivision, right past the cement sewer cover and kind of in between at least four different tracts of property. The tire tracks are visible right there in the sod, but I do not think this is a very heavily traveled road, but given the fact that kids hang out with kids in the adjoining subdivisions, it makes sense that the children would seek the shortest route between houses for a variety of obvious reasons. Dogs and walkers will always find a shortcut between neighborhoods as well.
The city council will be taking up this and a wide variety of other issues (RELOCATION OF THE COUNTY COURT HOUSE???? HELLO HOT BUTTON ISSUE) at a day long meeting Monday, July 20 8:30 am to 5:30 pm at an as of yet undisclosed location (it is not going to be at the recently wireless-ly enabled Watkinsville Community Center). I believe they are labeling this a Strategy Review Session and it would be very important for anyone who has any desire to be involved in the future planning of our fair city.
To me this is alarming for a number of reasons, the least of which being the day of the week, and the second being the fact that the 800 pound gorilla in the room seems to be the de facto acceptance of the moving of the courthouse. This would represent a seismic shift in the conventional wisdom at least around these parts. Perhaps I do not have my finger on the pulse of Oconee County and Watkinsville as much as I thought I did, but now the rumor is that the large tract of land zoned for an apartment complex kind of behind/besides Bethel Baptist Church and the expanded county jail would be the place where a new Court House in Watkinsville would be located. There have been posts elsewhere about other large tracts both in and out of the city limits of Watkinsville that might be considered.
Right now I would opt for the least expensive and expansive measures of claiming the property around the existing courthouse and building bigger parking lots or additional courthouses or whatever is needed. Being employed in the legal profession I can only report that I have not heard a huge hue and cry from either attorneys or Judges about the need for new courtrooms in Oconee County, Georgia. Would the Governmental Annex not be available to be reconverted back to an additional court room? Can we better schedule the court room assignments as to avoid the supposed perfect storms that the local legal organ liked to trumpet? There seems to be no shortage of available real estate adjacent to the existing Court House. Earmark the next SPLOST pennies toward expanding the existing courthouse as opposed to harvesting our economic future (and that of our grandchildren) toward building a white elephant we really do not need,
Funny when a Democratic writer extols the virtue of a low tax, slow growth, measured expansion versus the local Republican tax and spend, quick growth, fast expansionist view point, isn't it?
Kudos to the City of Watkinsville for smoothing out the sidewalk to curbs on First, School and Third streets (and elsewhere) inside the city limits. Those riding bikes, skateboards and scooters as well as pushing strollers thank you very much as well. Governments can do good for those who are patient and persistent. Now can we pave the sides of Wilson as well as the horrible T intersection near the Mayor's house on Third Street before we build any unconnected private drive subdivisions on farm fields off Barnett Shoals?
How about cleaning up the massive amounts of trash on the sides of the railroad so we do not have another fire (or at least less likely a fire) in the back of any number of subdivisions inside the city limits like they had almost a mile out of the city limits at Victoria Station a few weeks back. Great job as always by the volunteer Fire Fighters and thanks for the explanation by city council member and firefighter Mike Link as well during the meeting the other night. The large amount of the garbage on the sides of the railroads are not products of railroad garbage but dumping by people who have access to the tracks at various locations. Perhaps the next city wide trash pick up can involve the sovereign state of the Norfolk Southern leased to Benny Anderson line running through many of our back yards? I love and respect railroads and will do anything to support them that I can as they are a part of our history and my family.
The city council will be taking up this and a wide variety of other issues (RELOCATION OF THE COUNTY COURT HOUSE???? HELLO HOT BUTTON ISSUE) at a day long meeting Monday, July 20 8:30 am to 5:30 pm at an as of yet undisclosed location (it is not going to be at the recently wireless-ly enabled Watkinsville Community Center). I believe they are labeling this a Strategy Review Session and it would be very important for anyone who has any desire to be involved in the future planning of our fair city.
To me this is alarming for a number of reasons, the least of which being the day of the week, and the second being the fact that the 800 pound gorilla in the room seems to be the de facto acceptance of the moving of the courthouse. This would represent a seismic shift in the conventional wisdom at least around these parts. Perhaps I do not have my finger on the pulse of Oconee County and Watkinsville as much as I thought I did, but now the rumor is that the large tract of land zoned for an apartment complex kind of behind/besides Bethel Baptist Church and the expanded county jail would be the place where a new Court House in Watkinsville would be located. There have been posts elsewhere about other large tracts both in and out of the city limits of Watkinsville that might be considered.
Right now I would opt for the least expensive and expansive measures of claiming the property around the existing courthouse and building bigger parking lots or additional courthouses or whatever is needed. Being employed in the legal profession I can only report that I have not heard a huge hue and cry from either attorneys or Judges about the need for new courtrooms in Oconee County, Georgia. Would the Governmental Annex not be available to be reconverted back to an additional court room? Can we better schedule the court room assignments as to avoid the supposed perfect storms that the local legal organ liked to trumpet? There seems to be no shortage of available real estate adjacent to the existing Court House. Earmark the next SPLOST pennies toward expanding the existing courthouse as opposed to harvesting our economic future (and that of our grandchildren) toward building a white elephant we really do not need,
Funny when a Democratic writer extols the virtue of a low tax, slow growth, measured expansion versus the local Republican tax and spend, quick growth, fast expansionist view point, isn't it?
Kudos to the City of Watkinsville for smoothing out the sidewalk to curbs on First, School and Third streets (and elsewhere) inside the city limits. Those riding bikes, skateboards and scooters as well as pushing strollers thank you very much as well. Governments can do good for those who are patient and persistent. Now can we pave the sides of Wilson as well as the horrible T intersection near the Mayor's house on Third Street before we build any unconnected private drive subdivisions on farm fields off Barnett Shoals?
How about cleaning up the massive amounts of trash on the sides of the railroad so we do not have another fire (or at least less likely a fire) in the back of any number of subdivisions inside the city limits like they had almost a mile out of the city limits at Victoria Station a few weeks back. Great job as always by the volunteer Fire Fighters and thanks for the explanation by city council member and firefighter Mike Link as well during the meeting the other night. The large amount of the garbage on the sides of the railroads are not products of railroad garbage but dumping by people who have access to the tracks at various locations. Perhaps the next city wide trash pick up can involve the sovereign state of the Norfolk Southern leased to Benny Anderson line running through many of our back yards? I love and respect railroads and will do anything to support them that I can as they are a part of our history and my family.
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