Planning Commission Recommends Against Restaurant On Hog Mt. Road

The Oconee County Planning Commission told the Board of Commissioners on Monday that it thinks building a drive-through fast food restaurant on a tiny piece of property on Hog Mountain Road across from RaceTrac is a bad idea.

The property actually fronts on the stub of what was Hog Mountain Road before it was re-engineered to meet the widened U.S. 441, and traffic would have to cross that stub before reaching or leaving the restaurant.

County planners showed a complicated set of modifications to the roadway that would be needed to make the plan work.

The restaurant as proposed shows seating only at a small outside patio.

Property owner Mike Thornton also is asking that the requirement for a 50-foot buffer around the restaurant be dropped in favor of buffers of 12 and 15 feet.

The Planning Commission voted 6 to 0 to recommend that the Board of Commissioners deny the rezone request.

The Planning Commission unanimously recommended that the Board of Commissioners approve a rezone for Jeff Bell to build a series of homes along Colham Ferry Road backing up on the existing fishing lake on the site.

Bell also is asking for a variance to accompany that request, but the Planning Commission does not review variance requests.

For more on this story, with a video of the Planning Commission meeting, please go to Oconee County Observations.