Oconee County Commissioners Rezone Land For Assisted Living Facility, Appoint Farmland Committee

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners last night rezoned 23 acres at the corner of SR 316 and the Oconee Connector, making way for a medical and office complex that will include an assisted living facility to be developed by Thrive Senior Living.

The rezone included two additional parcels at that intersection, one of which is being developed for a dermatological medical center. The other is being developed speculatively for a hotel.

The Board also voted, without discussion, to appoint its own five-member committee to screen applicants for the county’s farmland protection program, tossing aside a citizen committee that developed and has run the program successfully since 1998.

Commission Chairman Melvin Davis said the new committee would be in a position to evaluate any farms that come forward, but the county turned down a near-certain $175,000 in federal funds to protect a farm in the current year, and federal funding for the program in the future is uncertain.

For more on the story, including a video clip providing more detail about the assisted living facility, go to Oconee County Observations.