The Greene County Development Authority is stepping back from its recent involvement in the lawsuit between the Greene County Board of Education and Lake Oconee Academy.
The GCDA said the BOE-LOA lawsuit over funding and the resulting feud is hurting efforts to bring people and businesses to Greene County. They had suggested that a piece of its Industrial Park, currently leased by Athens Technical College might become available for future school development. The motive was to get the two bodies to resolve their differences and take a longrange view of education in the county.
A meeting two weeks ago, facilitated by the GCDA, resulted in the start of talks between School Superintendent Chris Houston and LOA CEO Otho Tucker, which have appeared to be fruitful.
“Our sense is to not keep delaying this thing,” said Mark Lipscomb at Tuesday’s GCDA meeting. Lipscomb serves on both the GCDA and LOA Boards.
“Let’s, try to push it across the finish line and move on to better things. With Dr. Houston and Dr. Tucker, they’re the two educators, most of us, our board members, none of us are educators. Let us focus on policies and let them do the work of making educational recommendations.”
After the meeting, GCDA Chairman Scott Tolleson told the Lake Oconee News that they’ve done what they hoped to do.
“We facilitated that conversation and we’ve backed away until they decide what they want the Development Authority to do next,” Tolleson said.
And the land deal is off the table.
“Our initial read on it was that Athens Tech may not want to renew that lease but now we’ve heard that they will so that’s probably going to put some of this on the side for now.”
The majority of the GCDA meeting on Tuesday was a look at the status of development projects in Greene County.
The Lake Oconee Church at Village Park Drive is underway with a $5.2-million expansion project. It will include a 32,650 square foot facility for church additions and classrooms as well as the creation of more parking spaces.
Adjacent to the church project a new Dunkin’ (formerly known as Dunkin’ Donuts) store will be constructed. The grading is almost complete. When it opens, it’s expected to create 15-20 jobs.
Steel is now “out of the ground” on a $36-milion expansion and modernization of the Novelis recycling plant off Willow Run Road. Estimated completion is March 2023.
Just around the corner from Novelis, on Oconee Avenue, several foundations have been poured for The Cottages at Baynes Creek. Phase 1 includes 50 cottage style homes with one or two bedrooms designed for seniors, ages 55 and up. It is tentatively scheduled to open in early 2023.
More residential buildings are under construction at the Park South Townhomes on Park Place Blvd behind Watersports Central off Highway 44.
Nearby the townhomes, The Garages at Lake Oconee nears completion. It includes sixty 22 by 54 square foot Luxury Garage units which include climate control, bathrooms, electricity and other amenities inside the gated property.
Site preparation is still underway next to the Chick-Fil-A at exit 130 on I-20. The land will hold a new Starbucks coffee and Jersey Mikes sandwich store. A third retail business is expected to be named soon.
The new Fine Arts building at Lake Oconee Academy has been walled in. The 15,707 square foot facility will hold classrooms and storage for band, theater, media and other arts programs at the charter school. It’s valued at $3.9 million.
The GCDA Board also discussed the success of the Teacher Externship Program that was held last week. Seven Greene County teachers spent four days at local companies to learn what real world jobs and career paths are available to high school students. Participating companies included Reynolds Lake Oconee, The Ritz-Carlton, the Tru by Hilton hotel, a2b Fulfillment, StairSouth, ARC and Boiler and Steam Performance.