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Politics & Government

Planning Commission Pushes Request for Downzone Back After No-Show

The Oconee County Planning Commission will hear a request to downzone a 442-acre property from residential to agricultural use in October.

The owners of a 442-acre property applying to rezone their land from residential to agricultural use will have to wait another month for the Oconee County Planning Commission to recommend approval of the request, after members of Classic City Properties failed to attend a earlier this week.

Rezoning applicants are required by county ordinance to appear before the planning commission whenever a property owner requests his land receive a new zoning designation, Planning Commission Director B.R. White said Wednesday.

Classic City Properties LLC will have another opportunity Oct. 19 to make the rezoning request in person for the property, located near by where U.S. 441 crosses the Apalachee river south of Farmington, when the planning commission convenes Oct. 19.

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In a narrative of the landowner's application, Classic City Properties said they were requesting the agricultural designation citing the poor economic climate and housing market crash.

Downzoning the property from residential to agricultural use will reduce the assed value of the property, thereby saving Classic City Properties money on the county's tax for the property.

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Classic City Properties purchased the property in 2010 in a foreclosure sale for $1.3 million from ALP Development Inc., who had planned to create 79 lots for single-family homes in what was to be called “The Bend on the Apalachee,” according to an Oconee County Observations report.

The proposed residential development was stopped before any infrastructure making way for the residential development was put into place, and is currently being used for agriculture, according to Classic City Properties.

Classic City Properties plans to continue using the land “to raise livestock, farm trees, manage and harvest wild game and preserve the natural and unique beauty of the property,” according to the narrative.

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