Oconee County Recreational Affairs Committee Endorses Greenway Project Along Oconee River

The Oconee County Citizen Advisory Committee on Recreational Affairs reversed course on Tuesday evening and voted to recommend to the Board of Commissioners that it move forward with a greenway project along the Oconee River at Barnett Shoals.

The Recreational Affairs Committee said the BOC should begin negotiations with two key landowners over easements and use Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax revenue for securing public access to the property.

Parks and Recreation Department Director John Gentry told the Recreational Affairs Committee that the Oconee County greenway project had the potential to create a recreational pathway that would lead from the Oconee River south of Barnett Shoals Road to Sandy Creek Park on the far north of Athens-Clarke County.

A joint Historic and Scenic Site Subcommittee had recommended the greenway project after reviewing uses of SPLOST money earlier this year, but the Recreational Affairs Committee in July let die without a second a motion to send the project forward to the BOC.

For more on this story, including a complete video of the meeting, go to Oconee County Observations.

Pictured: John Gentry