Watkinsville Council Approves Wire Park Project

Watkinsville Mayor and Council last week, in three separate actions, moved the Wire Park project--on just less than 67 acres formerly occupied by the Southwire manufacturing plant on Barnett Shoals Road--closer to reality.

The Council voted in a virtual session to annex just less than six acres outside the city limits into the city, rezone just more than 41 acres for mixed use and office space and a little more than 25 acres for detached residential development, and allocate residential sewer capacity for the project.

In each case, the vote was 5-0. The Mayor does not vote unless there is a tie, but Mayor Bob Smith and the Council were in agreement on the value of this project.

“I think this is one of the best things to happen to Watkinsville in many, many years,” long-time Council Member Brian Brodrick said during discussion of the project.

The meeting was the first since the March 12 session called by Mayor Smith that included a tense exchange between Smith and Brodrick, and the group last week spent more than 30 minutes discussing the minutes of the March 12 and of two other meetings because of objections raised by Smith.

The entire session lasted 4 hours and 30 minutes, not including time at the beginning consumed by everyone getting used to the remote meeting software and procedures.

Because the Council could not complete action on a number of agenda items, Council members called a meeting that will start at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.

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