Plum Creek plan of action
Good evening everyone,
Below is a message from Russ Page regarding the Plum Creek and river walk issues. If you have received your Oconee Leader and Oconee Enterprise, you will see related articles in both papers this week.
Mark your calendars and try to attend:
Planning Commission (again!) on Monday, October 16th (I’m out of town, so do me proud and fight hard to preserve our beautiful south Oconee!)
Board of Commissioners on Tuesday, November 7th
Both meetings at 7 p.m. in the County Courthouse, Main Street, Watkinsville.
Many thanks,
Tony
_____________________________________________
Here’s the update from Russ:
To those following the river walk saga...two significant items on the agenda for Oct 16 Planning Commission meeting.
Plum Creek Timberlands 2 rezones are back...I have submitted a Grant Proposal to Plum Creek Foundation, at Plum Creek headquarters in Washington State. I have discussed with Fernando Arias (Plum Creek Timberlands representative for land sales in North Georgia) the possibility that Plum Creek might donate their entire piece of land (295.42 Ac and 69.91 Ac at 441 and the Apalachee River, to Oconee County, with a conservation easement to the Athens Land Trust. Due to the considerable IRS tax write off just approved last month, Plum Creek could write off 100% of the appraised value of this land over a 16 year period (if it takes that long) and on top of that they could get a $500,000 Georgia Tax Credit taken over a 6 year period (again..if it takes that long, these time stipulations depend on how much Federal income tax they pay, and how much Georgia income tax they pay, but it gives them a long time to benefit from such a donation). They are considering it. The more people they feel are aware of this whole action, the more likely they are to take this "good corporation" route.
Also back is ALP development's Bend on the Apalachee...just a preliminary plat. Why is this one significant? This one is the one that had asked me to do a lot of leg work for them to see if it would be feasible for them to donate their entire piece of land to the county and an easement to ALT. It became apparent that ALP development was interested in the Plum Creek rezone...when the A of ALP questioned the Plum Creek representative at the last Planning Commission Meeting. This action was also responsible for getting the Plum Creek rezone sent back to the Planning Commission by the BOC. Any one who can't read between the lines here call me and I'll explain it 706-769-0797 or 540-0979.
We can deal with this in several ways...we can assume that the river walk idea is dead....that obviously is not my way of dealing with this.
We can keep telling the Planning Commission, then the BOC, all the reasons why this end of the county shouldn't be developed...after all it is 7+ miles from any county services, a fact that will cost Oconee County residents in the future.
We can keep talking with Plum Creek Timberlands...letting them know what a great thing they would be doing for this community...and themselves by way of good publicity and great tax benefits.
We can once again try to make the county see that especially in cases where a development is so far away from county services, that impact fees are a necessity in Oconee County. That way the developer would pay for the infrastructure needed. If the developers had to pay for the infrastructure, rather than us, they would be less likely to develop land so far away from such infrastructure.
I feel that a combination of these last 3 ways of dealing with it can work. If Plum Creek Timberlands donates their land, as outlined, I feel that the others will have much more reason to do it also. Please...everyone who is interested in the possibility of the river walk, come to the Planning Commission meeting on the 16th. Sign up to speak. Put in your 2 cents worth. One day we will all walk along the Apalachee River Walk together!!!
Thanks for doing your part!
Russ
Below is a message from Russ Page regarding the Plum Creek and river walk issues. If you have received your Oconee Leader and Oconee Enterprise, you will see related articles in both papers this week.
Mark your calendars and try to attend:
Planning Commission (again!) on Monday, October 16th (I’m out of town, so do me proud and fight hard to preserve our beautiful south Oconee!)
Board of Commissioners on Tuesday, November 7th
Both meetings at 7 p.m. in the County Courthouse, Main Street, Watkinsville.
Many thanks,
Tony
_____________________________________________
Here’s the update from Russ:
To those following the river walk saga...two significant items on the agenda for Oct 16 Planning Commission meeting.
Plum Creek Timberlands 2 rezones are back...I have submitted a Grant Proposal to Plum Creek Foundation, at Plum Creek headquarters in Washington State. I have discussed with Fernando Arias (Plum Creek Timberlands representative for land sales in North Georgia) the possibility that Plum Creek might donate their entire piece of land (295.42 Ac and 69.91 Ac at 441 and the Apalachee River, to Oconee County, with a conservation easement to the Athens Land Trust. Due to the considerable IRS tax write off just approved last month, Plum Creek could write off 100% of the appraised value of this land over a 16 year period (if it takes that long) and on top of that they could get a $500,000 Georgia Tax Credit taken over a 6 year period (again..if it takes that long, these time stipulations depend on how much Federal income tax they pay, and how much Georgia income tax they pay, but it gives them a long time to benefit from such a donation). They are considering it. The more people they feel are aware of this whole action, the more likely they are to take this "good corporation" route.
Also back is ALP development's Bend on the Apalachee...just a preliminary plat. Why is this one significant? This one is the one that had asked me to do a lot of leg work for them to see if it would be feasible for them to donate their entire piece of land to the county and an easement to ALT. It became apparent that ALP development was interested in the Plum Creek rezone...when the A of ALP questioned the Plum Creek representative at the last Planning Commission Meeting. This action was also responsible for getting the Plum Creek rezone sent back to the Planning Commission by the BOC. Any one who can't read between the lines here call me and I'll explain it 706-769-0797 or 540-0979.
We can deal with this in several ways...we can assume that the river walk idea is dead....that obviously is not my way of dealing with this.
We can keep telling the Planning Commission, then the BOC, all the reasons why this end of the county shouldn't be developed...after all it is 7+ miles from any county services, a fact that will cost Oconee County residents in the future.
We can keep talking with Plum Creek Timberlands...letting them know what a great thing they would be doing for this community...and themselves by way of good publicity and great tax benefits.
We can once again try to make the county see that especially in cases where a development is so far away from county services, that impact fees are a necessity in Oconee County. That way the developer would pay for the infrastructure needed. If the developers had to pay for the infrastructure, rather than us, they would be less likely to develop land so far away from such infrastructure.
I feel that a combination of these last 3 ways of dealing with it can work. If Plum Creek Timberlands donates their land, as outlined, I feel that the others will have much more reason to do it also. Please...everyone who is interested in the possibility of the river walk, come to the Planning Commission meeting on the 16th. Sign up to speak. Put in your 2 cents worth. One day we will all walk along the Apalachee River Walk together!!!
Thanks for doing your part!
Russ
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