Oconee County, GA Politics

Ball: Athens development battles result of insufficient planning | Online Athens

Courtney Gale, Melvin Davis, Tony Glenn and Russ Page are just a few of the familiar faces on this preview of the film by Celestea Sharp.

Great idea John Gentry. This is something needed very much in Oconee County. Woven brightly, Daniel J. Matthews, Jr. Subject: FW: Meeting on greenways, rails to trails and connectivity between parks, schools and neighborhoods Date: Mon, 6 Oct 2008 17:01:12 -0400 FYI…   From: John Gentry [mailto:Jgentry@oconee.ga.us] Sent: Monday, October 06, 2008 3:22 PM   All: The Oconee County Advisory Committee on Recreational Affairs will be holding a meeting on greenways, rails to trails and connectivity between parks, schools and neighborhoods.  Guest speaker will be Mike Wharton from Athens-Clarke leisure Services and John Devine from the Northeast Georgia Regional Development Center.  The meeting will be held at the Oconee County Civic Center on October 21 at 6:00pm (just before the SPLOST public hearing).  Please forward to other interested parties and committees.  Thanks.   John Gentry Director ...

Enlightening item about imminent rezone of Epps Bridge Centre after the thumbs down from NEGRDC so if you want to ask the BOC about this vote, Tuesday is your time. Lee Becker pens a thoughtful piece encompassing many of impacts of this mammoth decision.$76 million is a lot to spend during these uncertain times, and we could certainly use the economic impact, but at what cost to our way of life and traffic. The impact of our own bridge to nowhere is a question of what we allow in this Epps Bridge corridor. Is smart growth out of the question? I wish the BOC would table this and listen to James Howard Kunstler 4:00 pm Oct. 21 at UGA. Dear Friends, The Oconee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night is scheduled to make a crucial rezone decision regarding the proposed $76 million Epps Bridge Centre. The rezone comes before the BOC with a negative finding from the North East Georgia Regional Development Center that "the development is not in the best interest of the Region and...

I am always quick to condemn the Planning Commission as slash and burn developers hell bent on paving every inch of sod or clay left in Oconee County, so I need to acknowledge when they do something reasonably good. A large chunk of sparsely populated Bishop, Georgia will NOT be developed according to this story in Athens Banner Herald . Good for them. But when will the local authority realize we are in an economic recession and more and more home sites may be graded and paved, but we have a huge surplus of some 3,000 lots not developed and getting larger by the day? At least the votes are getting a whole lot closer at 4-3 than the usually 6-2. I think it is not wise to have developers such as Dan Arnold and Travis Marshall on the Planning Commission because it creates the impression of a huge conflict of interest at the very least. Let them run for the Board of Commissioners or any other public body, but I think they should be replaced at the next convenient appointment time.

Smart growth proponents will be pleased to know of the emergence of an as-of-yet unnamed group of supporters borne out of frustration with the development of the former Green Hills Country Club tract and surrounding area at the Clarke-Oconee-Oglethorpe nexus down Barnett Shoals way. This group has met several times at the Splitbeard Meadow barn of Dr. Bill Paul at 4900 Barnett Shoals Road in his barn and will do so again Tuesday evening at 7 pm. " The mission of our organization is to promote responsible community development by protecting historic(al) features, maintaining healthy economic growth, enjoining the political process, addressing environmental concerns, and monitoring sprawl, thereby preserving a high quality of life for all residents of the Clarke-Oconee-(Oglethorpe) region," wrote Dr. Paul in an email sent out earlier. Barnett Shoals Regional Coalition, (Intercounty) Coalition for Sustainable Development and Watch Dawgs are names that have been given a test...

With an unprecedented period of growth and development in Oconee County comes a large number of houses on the market. The overall infrastructure has yet to catch up with the massive amount of building here in this special section of Northeast Georgia. Three years of building has resulted in a glut of houses on the market, with Oconee's median price pushing over the half-million dollar mark recently. We need sanitary sewage systems for the entire county. No more huge septic fields please. The balloon could soon burst for all of us unless we compile a creative approach to growth and a vision to incorporate it with improved services such as a paid fire department. Keep an eye on the Planning Commission, Board of Commissioners and more as they threaten to mortgage our future with one too many strip malls and cul de sac developments

Aside from encasing the place in lucite, polyuerethane or some other anti-aging encasement, I do not know what can be done to preserve this former stagecoach stop for future generations. I think some good steps have been taken including relocating next door for Oconee County Tourism Director Anita Rikli Ford and her associate Peggy Holcomb. I butted heads with Anita over the Watkinsville Bicentennial celebration last year which pretty much cost me my freelance writing with the Athens Banner-Herald's Oconee Living section that her husband Wayne edits. But some things are more important than petty personal squabbles. I am glad the Tavern still stands and donors have not reclaimed their donations, as was threatened at some meetings in the recent past. Tourism has never been fully embraced by the government here. Successive Board of Commission chairs have done plenty to make sure the necessary upgrades and bandages have been placed around the foundation of the Eagle Tavern, but ne...

The Democratic Party needs to enunciate the positive alternatives to the Republican culture of corruption and not just line up like sheep behind the latest Clinton brand of political washing machine soap to clean out the sleaze of GOP cronyism. Locally this could be best formulated with comprehensive smart growth planning for our rapidly growing county. The perception is that development drives our economy. We need to connect our communities, build more sidewalks, make it safe for Johnny to ride a bike to school. Right now Oconee County is nothing more than a gathering of semi-secluded neighborhood subdivisions which keeps up apart. Sewer systems are not available outisde of Watkinsville. The roads are entirely too narrow in most of our municipalities. Our schools are not the least bit connected for jogging, biking, skating or walking. We need to plan more and build less, unless it is bike paths or sidewalks. There are some good subdivisions and development that seem to come fro...

Certain parts of the rare sidewalks inside the city limits of Watkinsville were sorely needing upgrade and repair. My son and I used to coast over what we affectionately call the roller coaster between Third and Second on Barnett Shoals cement pedestrian paths. The Street Department has done an excellent job of smoothing out the jagged precipice to make it a nice safe ride. There are a couple of areas as sharp curbs at First and Third that should be next on the Street Department's list of things to improve by smoothing out to the street level with the nice gradual rise. The new sidewalk down by Stone Shoals is a welcome addition, but the blight that remains of SC Logging is an eyesore. Main Street Yarn is a welcome addition in the beautifully refurbished barn by Quinton Phillips and Cindy Jerrell. Residential, small business and industrial can co-exist well with a little bit of community input and planning, along with a healthy dose of smart growth. The Watkinsville City Coun...

Here in Oconee County we have cooperative but often competing forms of local governments with the municipalities exerting their own influence to the sometimes contrary conflicts with the county government on issues such as beer and wine. Potential business owners appear before the towns asking permission to open their doors, and very seldom does a council question the existence of any legitimate enterprise. But just such a rare turn occurred in Watkinsville recently over a small piece of property way down on Highway 15 at the south end of the city limits tucked in a trash filled lot owned by Cokey Elder. Council member Brian Brodrick led the charge in asking absolutely essential questions about how much the Colbert Storage, LLC would clean up of the considerable amount of eyesore garbage accmulated in piles. Brodrick and members of the council were polite but persistent in wanting to clean up this gaping wound of an industrial area in question at 1427 Greensboro Highway. The father an...

Dear Concerned Oconee County Citizen, As you, I am sure, are aware, Oconee County is currently in the process of revising its Land Use Plan. I need not remind you of the importance of this plan to the quality of our lives and the livability of our community. It is this plan by which we will grow and develop. Though the county has appointed a number of citizens to help put this plan together, the presence of this committee does not prevent all interested citizens from being involved. All citizens are invited and encouraged to come to committee meetings and will be provided opportunities for input. Though the county posts the dates of the committee meetings on its web page and in the Enterprise, we often tend to over look these notices. For this reason I am sending all my friends and acquaintances the dates for upcoming Comprehensive Land Use Plan Development Committee meetings. Please come voice your concerns and opinions. Hope to see you there. Mary Mellein May 15 – Citizens I...