Oconee County Commissioners Scheduled To Revise Sewer Policy for Assisted Living Facility

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday is scheduled to approve a change in sewer policy requested by Chairman Melvin Davis to facilitate construction of an assisted living facility at the corner of SR 316 and the Oconee Connector Extension.

The new policy repeats the existing requirement that no more than 50 percent of the capacity of either of the county’s two sewage treatment facilities can be allocated to residential use, and it excludes from the calculation of residential use facilities operated as an “assisted living community."

The policy does not restate the decision of the Board of Commissioners on Dec. 2, 2008, that new sewer capacity in the county’s treatment plants is to be restricted to commercial use, but County Attorney Daniel Haygood said he does not see that as a problem.

County Utility Department Director Chris Thomas said policy set in 2008 only applies to sewer capacity the county will realize when it upgrades its two plants at some point in the future.

“My understanding of the policy,” County Administrative Officer Jeff Benko said, “is that under no circumstances can the county go beyond the 50/50 split and that any other plant expansion should be for commercial, not residential.”

For more on this story, go to Oconee County Observations.