Oconee County Comprehensive Plan Update Moves Into Final Stages

Planner Justin Crighton, having completed meetings in the last two weeks with the three subcommittees working on the update to the Oconee County Comprehensive Plan, now has the task of assembling the citizen input into a draft report.

Crighton, with the Northeast Georgia Regional Commission, has promised to present the draft to the full Stakeholders Committee on Nov. 20, but he’ll have to resolve some differences in opinion among the Committee members before that time.

At the final Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee meeting on Oct. 26, disagreements were in evidence over water and sewer policy and transportation options.

Land owner and developer Bob Bishop pushed for a statement in the 2018 Comprehensive Plan in favor of a U.S. 441 bypass on the eastern side of Bishop, but Crighton pushed back, saying he didn’t want to weigh in on that issue in the Plan.

Bishop and other pro-development voices on the citizen committee have been advocating for a disbursement of development around the county, and many slow-development voices have joined them out of frustration with the congestion and lack of greenspace on the Epps Bridge Road commercial corridor.

Were this recommendation on spreading water and sewer around the county to make it into the Comprehensive Plan, it would counter long-standing county policy of using water and sewer as a way of concentrating development and preserving the rural nature of the south of the county.

For more on the story, including videos of the recent meetings of the Subcommittees, please go to Oconee County Observations.

Pictured: Bob Bishop.