Blog posts by Lee Becker
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Oconee Could Vote on Liquor and Sunday Sales
Blog: In the Loop
Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis’ efforts to get alcohol referenda on the ballot in November got a slight push-back from two of his Commission colleagues Tuesday night.
Commissioner Jim Luke said the county needed to do more to warn the citizens that the referenda were under consideration by the board, and Commissioner Mark Saxon agreed.
The bigger setback for Davis came from County Attorney Daniel Haygood.
Haygood told the commissioners that getting separate referenda on the November ballot for Sunday sale of beer and wine in grocery and convenience stores and for Sunday sale of beer, wine and alcohol by the drink in restaurants is straightforward, requiring only a majority vote of the Commission.
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GDOT Assesses Oconee Farmland at Commercial Rate
Blog: In the Loop
Doug Dickens, president of Dickens Farms Inc., told the Georgia Department of Transportation that it should assess his 102 acres on Mars Hill Road not as agricultural land, as it is zoned, but as the site of the large residential and commercial development he said he plans for the property.
The state ultimately accepted his argument, giving him a partial median cut that was not part of the original design and paying him $32,000 for 0.312 acres of permanent easement and 0.501 of construction easement.
That was 2.7 times the $11,800 recommended compensation for the acreage.
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Oconee: No Agreement on Mars Hill Median Cut
Blog: In the Loop
Oconee County officials now say that the county does not have a written agreement to build a full median cut on Mars Hill Road to provide access to property owned by Dickens Farms Inc.
The officials also say that, prior to its meeting on Tuesday night, the Board of Commissioners had never voted to support that full median cut or to ask the Georgia Department of Transportation to modify its design for the road to include the full median cut.
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Secret Mars Hill Road Deal Approved
Blog: In the Loop
Oconee County commissioners Tuesday night agreed to spend $10,000 for design work—double the amount originally planned—as part of a previously unknown deal to create a full median cut on Mars Hill Road to provide access to 103 acres owned by Dickens Farms Inc.
The investment could be good money thrown after bad, as Oconee County Public Works Director Emil Beshara told the commissioners that the Georgia Department of Transportation already has rejected the proposed plans for the change in the roadway design.
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Oconee Commission Approves Move for Mercedes-Benz of Athens
Blog: In the Loop
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners voted to rezone property for an Athens Mercedes-Benz dealership that wants to move, based in part on an economic development document that wasn’t made available to the public.
Three weeks after the Oconee County Planning Commission voted against a proposed rezone on Highway 316 for auto dealerships, county Economic Development Director J.R. Charles sent members of the Board of Commissioners an “Economic Impact Analysis” that said the project would benefit the county.
Charles also sent the report to Jon Williams, president of Williams and Associates, who was representing those asking for the rezone, saying “Thought you would like to have it in your back pocket if you have to speak at the Commission meeting.”
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Shopping Center Proposed in Oconee County
Blog: In the Loop
The location of the proposed shopping center, Ray's Corner.
The Oconee County Planning Commission will hold public hearings on four different rezoning requests tonight, including one that will have impact on everyone who uses the already busy intersection of Hog Mountain Road and U.S. 441.
ABE Consulting, on behalf of property owner Toccoa 85 LP, is asking the county to rezone 1.7 acres, with frontage on and access to both Hog Mountain Road and U.S. 441, to allow development of a small commercial shopping center.
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Commissioners Met With Car Dealer Prior to Vote
Blog: In the Loop
The location of the proposed dealerships.
All three of Oconee County’s voting commissioners acknowledge meeting with the representative of the developer seeking to rezone properties on Highway 316 at Virgil Langford Road for auto dealerships—at least one of which is currently located in Clarke County—but each said he has not yet decided how to vote on the request.
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Openness Is an Issue in Oconee Races
Blog: In the Loop
Photo Credit: Lee Becker
Oconee County Commission Chairman said the idea of building a sewer line for a poultry plant was merely hypothetical, but a poultry company has in fact expressed interest in locating in Oconee.
The two candidates running as outsiders in the Oconee County Board of Commissioners contest have made transparency and openness in government a key issue.
At the last Board of Commissioners meeting on May 3, Commission Chairman Melvin Davis gave them the perfect illustration of the problem they are addressing.
With the other three commissioners sitting by, Davis told what is certainly a fabrication to a citizen who also made a misstatement about a poultry processing plant.
Davis told Barb Carroll that references to a poultry plant were just an “example” and that nothing concrete has come before the county.
That clearly is incorrect, as Oconee County Utility Department Director Wayne Haynie told the county's Industrial Development Authority in April, with Davis present, that the county was in discussions with a poultry concern.
Haynie said the same thing to the Board of Commissioners on several occasions, starting as early as Jan. 26.
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Bill Would Exempt 441 Project from Environmental Law
Blog: In the Loop
Sen. Bill Cowsert (R-Athens) supported SB 346.
The Georgia Senate has approved, with the support of Oconee County Sen. Bill Cowsert, a bill that would exempt the Georgia Department of Transportation from the provisions of the Georgia Environmental Policy Act.
The exemption likely would have a major effect immediately in Oconee County, as it would allow GDOT to bypass the provisions of the Georgia Environmental Policy Act in widening U.S. 441 from the Watkinsville Bypass to the Madison Bypass, including the construction of a bypass of Bishop.
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Daniell Is Unopposed for Oconee Commission Chair
Blog: In the Loop
John Daniell will run unopposed for chairman of the Oconee County Board of Commissioners in the May 24 Republican primary and in the November general election, unless someone files to run as an independent during qualifying from June 27–July 12.
No one filed to challenge Daniell during the five days of qualifying that ended at noon Friday, and no one filed to run as a Democrat for any Oconee County office.
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Oconee Approves Epps Bridge Centre Expansion Despite Lack of Sewer
Blog: In the Loop
Oconee County commissioners voted In May of 2014 to move $2 million out of the water and sewer account in the 2009 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax at a time when the county’s Utility Department desperately needed money for maintenance and expansion of its two wastewater treatment facilities.
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Oconee Commission Chairman Melvin Davis Won't Run for Re-Election
Blog: In the Loop
Photo Credit: Lee Becker
Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis sent out an email message Wednesday afternoon saying that he plans to retire when his current term ends on Dec. 31 rather than seek reelection for what would be a fifth term.
Commissioner John Daniell told me in a telephone conversation that he will seek the chairmanship position.
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Diablo's, Bone Island Opening at Epps Bridge Centre
Blog: Grub Notes
Oconee County has issued building permits for two new restaurants in Epps Bridge Centre, one for Bone Island Grillhouse and the other for Diablo’s Southwest Grille.
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Athens State Reps Don't Like Redistricting Bill
Blog: In the Loop
Neither of Oconee County’s two members of the Georgia House of Representatives is willing to support a pair of resolutions prefiled before the current session began on Jan. 11 that would create an independent commission to create Congressional and General Assembly districts in the state.
Oconee County was split into two House districts in a special session of the General Assembly in 2011 to help the dominant Republican Party achieve a super majority. A super majority allows the dominant party to govern without minority support.
Oconee County had made up the majority of the old House 113th District.
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Oconee Commission Approves $4 Million Road for Potential Costco
Blog: In the Loop
Photo Credit: Lee Becker
Left to right, Commissioner Bubber Wilkes, Public Works Director Emil Beshara, consultant Bill Ross and Planning Director B.R. White.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners approved a $3.35 million contract on Friday with Simpson Trucking and Grading Company of Gainesville for construction of Parkway Boulevard Extension.
The three-lane road will run from the current terminus of Parkway Boulevard just west of Kohl’s department store to opposite an existing entrance to Epps Bridge Centre and is to be open by September of 2016.
Total cost for the roadway, including right-of-way acquisition, is expected to run to $3.9 million, and Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis said the county does not know at present how it is going to pay for the road project.
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Oconee Critic: 'I Will Not Be Intimidated'
Blog: In the Loop
Photo Credit: Lee Becker
Sarah Bell, sporting a sticker from her run against Oconee County Commission Chairman Melvin Davis in 2012.
Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis called the owner of the property where Sarah Bell plans to locate her We Care animal shelter one week after Special Master James Warnes dismissed Bell’s ethics complaint against Davis.
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Oconee Commissioner Wants His Own Property Rezoned
Blog: In the Loop
Bubber Wilkes.
The members of the Oconee County Board of Commissioners will be in the uncomfortable position on Tuesday evening of having to decide if a fellow commissioner should be allowed to rezone his agricultural property for commercial development.
The three voting commissioners have good reasons to turn down the request by Commissioner William “Bubber” Wilkes.
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Oconee Industrial Authority Gets $850,000 Blank Check
Blog: In the Loop
Photo Credit: Lee Becker
Oconee County voters cut a nearly blank check for $850,000 to the Oconee County Industrial Development Authority when they approved the 2015 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax last November.
The language on the resolution for the 2015 SPLOST merely said the money should be used for “Economic Development Facilities,” and the voters, probably without giving it much thought, accepted the deal.
At its meeting earlier this month, the IDA decided it was time to give some thought to what it will do with the windfall.
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Ethics Complaint Filed Against Oconee County Commission Chairman Melvin Davis
Blog: In the Loop
Oconee County Attorney Daniel Haygood has referred to Special Master James C. Warnes an ethics complaint that Sarah Bell has filed against Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis.
Bell contends that Davis violated at least eight sections of the county’s ethics code by “using taxpayer money to pay an employee and to prepare and purchase plans” for the reconnection of Old Mars Hill Road to Mars Hill Road proper “as a special favor for one citizen.”
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More Sewer Spills Reported in Oconee County
Blog: In the Loop
Photo Credit: Lee Becker
Oconee County has informed the Georgia Environmental Protection Division of yet another problem with the operation of its Calls Creek wastewater treatment facility.
From 5–8 a.m. on Sept. 25, the plant released an estimated 50,000 gallons of discharge containing total suspended solids that exceeded the permitted level, according to the county’s report.
The county also acknowledged on Wednesday another violation of its permit for the Calls Creek facility based on data the county filed for operation of the plant in July.
Page 6 of 11, showing 20 records out of 210 total, starting on record 101, ending on 120
latest stories
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In the Loop | July 21, 2016 3:29pm
Oconee Could Vote on Liquor and Sunday Sales
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In the Loop | July 15, 2016 11:25am
GDOT Assesses Oconee Farmland at Commercial Rate
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In the Loop | July 12, 2016 1:48pm
Oconee: No Agreement on Mars Hill Median Cut
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In the Loop | July 7, 2016 3:10pm
Secret Mars Hill Road Deal Approved
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In the Loop | June 27, 2016 11:47am
Oconee Commission Approves Move for Mercedes-Benz of Athens
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In the Loop | June 20, 2016 10:42am
Shopping Center Proposed in Oconee County
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In the Loop | May 24, 2016 3:50pm
Commissioners Met With Car Dealer Prior to Vote
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In the Loop | May 17, 2016 1:17pm
Openness Is an Issue in Oconee Races
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In the Loop | March 15, 2016 10:21am
Bill Would Exempt 441 Project from Environmental Law
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In the Loop | March 14, 2016 4:50pm
Daniell Is Unopposed for Oconee Commission Chair
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In the Loop | March 7, 2016 11:29am
Oconee Approves Epps Bridge Centre Expansion Despite Lack of Sewer
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In the Loop | February 4, 2016 2:04pm
Oconee Commission Chairman Melvin Davis Won't Run for Re-Election
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Grub Notes | January 21, 2016 2:12pm
Diablo's, Bone Island Opening at Epps Bridge Centre
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In the Loop | January 18, 2016 10:59am
Athens State Reps Don't Like Redistricting Bill
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In the Loop | January 10, 2016 1:20pm
Oconee Commission Approves $4 Million Road for Potential Costco
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In the Loop | November 9, 2015 11:12am
Oconee Critic: 'I Will Not Be Intimidated'
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In the Loop | November 2, 2015 2:45pm
Oconee Commissioner Wants His Own Property Rezoned
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In the Loop | October 26, 2015 10:43am
Oconee Industrial Authority Gets $850,000 Blank Check
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In the Loop | October 6, 2015 11:12am
Ethics Complaint Filed Against Oconee County Commission Chairman Melvin Davis
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In the Loop | October 2, 2015 11:21am
More Sewer Spills Reported in Oconee County