Oconee County Commission Approves Convenience Store And Ministry College Campus In Far East Of County

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners Tuesday night gave unanimous approval to a string of rezone requests, including one that will allow a convenience store in an agricultural zone and another that will allow for conversion of a dormant golf course into a campus for a ministry college.

Both the convenience store and the college campus are in the far eastern part of the county, on the eastern side of the Oconee River, where Oconee, Clarke and Oglethorpe counties meet.

The Board approved two variances for the convenience store to allow it to bypass the county requirement that it be buffered from surrounding agricultural and residential properties and to exempt it from the requirement that it have off-street parking.

The ministry college will launch with a private well and septic system, but it will require water and sewer services as it expands to its projected 750 students.

The Board required the developers of the campus, Athens College of Ministry, to attempt to get the water service in the future from Oconee County rather than from Athens-Clarke County.

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

Pictured: Submitted representative photos for the convenience store.