Photo Credit: Lee Becker

The Watkinsville City Council on Wednesday authorized City Manager Sharyn Dickerson to move forward with creation of a development agreement for the 66.6-acre former Southwire property on Barnett Shoals Road.

The council took the action following a presentation by developer Duke Gibbs and planner Bob Smith for what they are calling Wire Park.

The project includes single-family detached housing units on both large and small lots, townhomes and condominium flats, and an adaptive reuse of the existing wire manufacturing building on the site.

The central part of the roof of the building will be removed to create a pedestrian plaza that will be surrounded by restaurants and retail outlets.

The building also is expected to provide space for light manufacturing, warehousing, and offices and what the developers are calling "makerspaces," according to correspondence submitted to the city by Smith of Smith Planning Group (not to be confused with Watkinsville Mayor Bob Smith).

The centerpiece of the design is 1.5-acre public park at the front of the project on Barnett Shoals Road.

Gibbs says in a video he had created for the project that his goal is to create "a full live-work-play community within the city of Watkinsville."

For more, visit Oconee County Observations.