Life Church Of Athens Allowed To Withdraw Application For Permit

Life Church of Athens asked the Oconee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night to withdraw its request for a special use permit to build a church at Summit Oaks Drive and Summit Grove Drive north of Watkinsville.

The Board was scheduled to hold a public hearing on the church’s request but instead voted unanimously to approve the request by Life Church to withdraw the application “without prejudice and without restrictions on future filings.”

The proposal ran into strong opposition in the neighborhoods on Summit Oaks Drive and Summit Grove Drive, but it had received the endorsement of the Planning Commission.

Guy Herring, director of Planning and Code Enforcement for the county, gave no explanation of the request by Life Church for the withdrawal of the application.

In other action at its brief meeting on Tuesday, the Board approved for a second time a special use permit for Athens College of Ministry to build a campus on 100 acres on Barnett Shoals Road in the far eastern part of the county.

The Board also approved a bid from ER Snell Contractor Inc. of Snellville for $561,377 for construction of the roundabout at the bus and staff entrance to Malcom Bridge Elementary and Malcom Bridge Middle School.

On Wednesday, County Clerk Kathy Hayes announced that the Board of Commissioners has cancelled its meeting for Dec. 17, meaning the meeting on Tuesday was the last of the 2019 calendar year.

For more on the story, with a video of the meeting, please go to Oconee County Observations.