Life Church Athens Seeking Approval For New Church Plans

Life Church of Athens, confronting vocal opposition from potential future neighbors in Summit Oaks and Summit Grove subdivisions, scaled back its plans for a community-scale church to a neighborhood-scale church.

At the Planning Commission meeting last month, many neighbors continued to object to the plans, focusing largely on traffic that even the smaller church will put onto Summit Grove Drive as it intersects with SR 15 (North Main Street) just north of Watkinsville.

The Planning Commission was unpersuaded, voting 6 to 1 to recommend that the Board of Commissioners approve the church’s request for the special use permit it needs for the project.

Staff of the Oconee County Planning and Code Enforcement Department also had recommended approval of the project.

On Tuesday night, the Board of Commissioners is scheduled to hold another public hearing on the Life Church of Athens request at its regular 6 p.m. meeting at the Courthouse in Watkinsville.

The agenda for that meeting is relatively light, though the Board will consider again the $60,000 in new fees Oconee County Schools is asking the county Parks and Recreation Department to pay for use of school athletic facilities.

The Board of Education meets at 6 p.m. on Monday at the Superintendent’s Office on School Street in Watkinsville, where the recreation facility fees may come up for discussion.

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