Architect Message To Oconee County: Keep Courthouse In Center Of County Seat

The message on Wednesday evening for any of the roughly 75 people in the audience who wanted to hear it was very clear.

Barrow, Jackson and Walton counties made mistakes by moving their government buildings out of the center of their county seats.

Oconee County should not make that same mistake.

Instead, architect Robert Smith, said, the county should build a new government complex at the end of an open, green corridor that would connect the current school and arts facilities and the courthouse in a revitalized downtown Watkinsville.

No one in the audience spoke against the plan.

“I think you need to appreciate the historic significance of the courthouse site,” former Board of Commissioners Chairman Wendell Dawson  said. A courthouse has been at the current location on Main Street in the center of Watkinsville for more than 200 years, he added.

For more on this story, including a graphic of the existing and proposed changes in downtown Watkinsville, go to Oconee County Observations.