Dials Mill Road Special Use Permit Decision Could Have Wider Effects

While residents in subdivisions near the proposed materials recovery facility on Dials Mill Road have been most outspoken about the project, the decision the Board of Commissioners makes about the facility has the potential to impact indirectly residents of two other areas of the county.

One of the areas is south of Watkinsville, where the Board of Commissioners in 2005 turned down a request for a waste transfer station. That request is likely to come back if the BOC approves the Dials Mill Road project.

The other is on Rocky Branch Road, where Presbyterian Homes of Georgia has proposed to build a continuing care retirement community next to several subdivisions.

That project is on hold, but the approval by the BOC of the materials recovery facility (MRF) on Dials Mill Road despite neighborhood protests about the traffic would weaken the hand of Rocky Branch Road residents who are making the same complaint about the PHG project.

The Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night is scheduled to hold a public hearing and make a decision on the request by Bernard A. Garrett to build the MRF at 1441 Dials Mill Road and a related request for a hardship variance allowing the facility to operate on the roadway.

The meeting is to start at 7 p.m. in the courthouse in Watkinsville.

For more on this story, go to Oconee County Observations.

See also:

• Garretts Claim Their Special Use And Variance Requests Are Consistent With Their Oconee County Agricultural History
• Dials Mill Resident Asks Commissioners to Oppose Recycling Center
• Oconee County Planning Commission Recommends Materials Recovery Facility To Board of Commissioners
• Oconee County Planning Staff Does Not Recommend Approval Of Permit For Recycling Facility