The Hard Labor Creek Reservoir Management Board on Tuesday is scheduled to take up the Oconee and Walton counties to help them build the 1,400-acre lake in the very south of Walton County.
The counties promised to give metro-Atlanta access to the water as part of the application for the loans.
In fact, the 1,758-page document filed by Oconee County and the 332-page separate document filed by Walton County in support of the application said the reservoir “would play a critical role in providing future water supply to both the metro Atlanta and Northeast Georgia regions.”
Discussion of the loans appears as the very final item on the agenda for the Management Board, which is scheduled to begin its meeting at 1 p.m. at the Walton County Government Building in Monroe.
The agenda indicates the Board is to discuss a “time line for loan execution.” According to that time line, the Oconee County Board of Commissioners is to approve the loans at its meetings on Oct. 30 and Nov. 6.
Walton County is scheduled to give its approval on Nov. 6.
In making the case for state funding, both counties promised to continue raising water and sewer rates as part of their contributions to the reservoir construction.
They also projected large population growth in the two counties, exceeding the level of growth projected by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The counties said the project would be a recreational asset for the region and would help with economic development.
For more details of the meeting on Tuesday and the arguments the two counties made in their applications, go to Oconee County Observations.
