Oconee County Considering At Least Four Alternatives To Calls Creek Sewer Pipeline

Oconee County has been considering at least four alternatives to the proposed sewer pipeline down Calls Creek since at least April 1.

The alternates include a route that largely follows U.S. 441, one that largely follows Simonton Bridge Road, and one that would follow the existing easement of Georgia Power Company.

These had been suggested by citizens on March 28, when more than 70 people turned out at a meeting called by Friends of Calls Creek to voice their concerns about running a 24-inch pipeline from the county’s wastewater treatment plant just outside Watkinsville down the creek.

A fourth route along Spartan Lane was not suggested at that meeting but was included in a message Jimmy Parker from Precision Planning Inc. sent on April 1 to Oconee County Utility Department Director Wayne Haynie.

Precision Planning, with offices in Monroe, is doing the survey work for the county on the proposed Calls Creek gravity feed line.

These lines and variations of them were a focus of a meeting Friends of Calls Creek held Thursday night that was attended by about 50 people, including Athens attorney John Baker, who is representing Friends of Calls Creek in its efforts to keep the pipeline out of the creek.

Representatives of the group plan to attend the Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday night to show again their opposition to county plans for a pipeline down Calls Creek.

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