Blog Topic: Oconee Observations
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In the Loop: Oconee Can't Dump More Sewage Into Calls Creek
Photo Credit: Lee Becker
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division has denied Oconee County’s request for a 3 million gallons per day waste load allocation for Calls Creek, saying the stream is too small to handle the treated effluent.
The denial means that the county will have to change its plans to upgrade its Calls Creek wastewater treatment plant on the outskirts of Watkinsville, run a sewer line down Calls Creek, or find another way to discharge treated sewer water from an expanded Calls Creek plant into the Middle Oconee River.
Residents along Calls Creek have voiced strong and persistent opposition to construction of a sewer line down the creek, with many saying they will force the county to take condemnation action against them to get easements for the sewer line.
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In the Loop: Clearing Begins for Epps Bridge Centre Expansion
Chris Greer, an instructor of professional technology at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, shot this image of a new road off the Oconee Connector using a drone.
Simpson Trucking and Grading of Gaineville already has completed some of the clearing and grubbing work for Parkway Boulevard Extension, which will serve as a major entranceway for an expanded Epps Bridge Centre.
The company also is putting in temporary erosion control measures, according to Oconee County Public Works Director Emil Beshara, and plans to begin moving direct in the next couple of weeks.
The construction work is largely out of the view of the public because of topography and because access is cut off to the beginning of the roadway extension just northwest of Kohl’s department store off Epps Bridge Parkway.
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In the Loop: Top Dem Tells Oconee Activists to Focus on Turnout
Photo Credit: Lee Becker
House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams (D-Atlanta) gave a rousing calls to action to a gathering of Oconee County Democrats on Sunday afternoon, telling them to get people of all races registered and to get people of all races out to vote starting next month.
“Georgia is already blue,” Abrams said at the outset.
“There are already enough of us,” according to Abrams. “There are enough Democrats in Georgia to win every election from now on.”
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In the Loop: Commercial Growth Doesn't Pay Off for Oconee
Oconee County has experienced only modest growth in the revenue it receives from sales tax in the last decade and a half, even with significant expansion of its commercial inventory, changes in the county’s alcohol laws and the opening of new restaurants.
The growth in sales tax revenue in Oconee County, in fact, is not so different from the growth experienced by Athens-Clarke County, which has lost some retail outlets to Oconee County and lost its exclusivity in selling alcohol in restaurants.
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In the Loop: Oconee Chairman Wants County to Pay for Median Cut
Only 2 hours and 14 minutes after learning that the Georgia Department of Transportation had turned down the county’s request for a full median break on Mars Hill Road to accommodate landowner Doug Dickens, Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis turned to “Plan B.”
Davis told commissioners that the county can build the median break when GDOT turns the highway back over to the county.
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In the Loop: ACC Could Easily Extend Sewer to Oconee County
Athens-Clarke County has excess capacity at its Middle Oconee Water Reclamation Facility, the sewer plant closest to Oconee County, an analysis of the Discharge Monitoring Reports for the plant since January of this year shows.
Athens-Clarke County also has a gravity feed sewer line running along its side of McNutt Creek, paralleling the sewer line that Oconee County is building from Bogart to Epps Bridge Parkway on its side of the stream.
The existing ACC sewer line already carries sewage from a limited number of customers in Oconee County to the Middle Oconee plant.
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In the Loop: Oconee County Misled Public on Mars Hill Road Work
Oconee County administrators, to accommodate Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis, intentionally mislabeled $15,000 in expenses in giving a public presentation in June of a bill for added design work for Mars Hill Road.
Moreland Altobelli Associates Inc. billed the county $10,000 for requested design work to reconnect Old Mars Hill Road to Mars Hill Road and $5,000 for design work on a median break requested by businessman Doug Dickens.
In the presentation to the public, the reference to Old Mars Hill Road was eliminated, and the median cut was linked to the Athens Area Humane Society, not Dickens.
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In the Loop: Oconee County Tried to Buy Sewer Treatment from Athens
Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis and county Administrative Officer Jeff Benko met with their counterparts in Athens-Clarke County in late June to discuss possible collaboration in wastewater treatment.
Benko described the session as “a short meeting with no meaningful results.”
Benko said no materials were exchanged and no notes were taken, and he said he didn’t even send notes to the commissioners about the discussions.
Benko said Oconee County initiated the meeting, which took place in Mayor Nancy Denson’s office in Athens.
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In the Loop: Oconee Voters Will Decide on Sunday Alcohol Sales
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night voted unanimously to put two Sunday sales referendums on the November ballot.One of those referenda, if approved by a majority of voters, will allow the sale of beer and wine in grocery, convenience and beverage stores in the county on Sundays.
The other will allow for the Sunday sale of beer, wine and alcoholic beverages by the drink in area restaurants.
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In the Loop: Incoming Oconee Chairman Promises Changes
Oconee County citizens will witness a change of culture in county government after Jan. 1, said John Daniell, who will take over as chairman of the board of commissioners on that date.
The work of the government and the Commission will be “responsive to citizens... efficient in our operations, and... bring everybody in and talk about our goals and where we want to go as a community,” Daniell said.
The county again will hold town hall meetings, Daniell said, and efforts will be made to increase citizen participation in those settings and through appointments to county advisory boards. The government also will be more transparent, he said.
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