Politics & Government
Oconee County Commissioners Reduce Protective District Around Historic Elder Mill Bridge After Lengthy Deliberations
The BOC didn't actually know how much acreage was involved in the switch. The professional planning staff made that calculation days later.
It took 72 minutes last week for the Oconee County Board of Commissioners to reduce the size of the Scenic Preservation Overlay District at Elder Mill Bridge by .88 acres from what the county’s professional planning staff had recommended.
The BOC didn’t actually know how much acreage was involved in the switch. The professional planning staff made that calculation days later.
BOC members simply were drawing lines–or suggesting that lines be drawn--on a map projected on the screen in the Commission Chamber.
Property owner James Flanagan and his representative, realtor Norm Grayson, were not happy. They wanted to reduce the overlay district considerably more.
The BOC brushed that request aside, drew the new lines–or at least said where it wanted them to be drawn–and put an end at least for now to a months-long attempt by Flanagan to change dramatically the protective district the county drew around Elder Mill Bridge in 1968.
For details of this story, go to Oconee County Observations.
Pictured: Commissioners at rezone hearing on Feb. 2, 2016.