The Morgan County Board of Commissioners held its first meeting of the year Jan. 6 with multiple developments on the agenda.
A majority of the meeting was devoted to a presentation from the Morgan County Charter School system on a road improvement project at the intersections of East Avenue, College Drive, Old Buckhead Road, and Highway 441. The proposed project would include installing an intersection, a bypass cut, an extended lane, and a roundabout for the incoming K-5 facility, which will open in the fall of 2028.
The Board of Education requested that the Board of Commissioners approve a motion to enter a partnership with the City of Madison to fund the project. The total project will cost nearly $4.2 million, and the BOE requested $964,700 from each the county and the city.
Susan Stancil, superintendent of Morgan County Charter Schools, began her presentation by noting that the school system has been working with Georgia Civil since Spring 2025 to conduct an intersection control evaluation and a traffic impact study.
“Based on the results from that study, road improvements are necessary to ensure that the new school can safely and efficiently handle traffic demands, along with additional traffic generated by the new school campus,” Stancil said. “The traffic study demonstrates that, without targeted improvements, several nearby intersections and roadway segments will experience increased congestion, longer delays, and higher crash risk during school peak hours.”
Stancil noted that the changes would “affect not only parents and buses accessing the school but also the general public traveling through the corridor.”
She added that Morgan County Charter Schools is seeking ways to pay the remaining $2.2 million for the project.
“Our traffic engineers did an in-depth study and felt like the roundabout was the best design to support the traffic,” said Jay Homan, assistant superintendent of schools. “We felt like, because there were portions of that roundabout that are on our property, that we are able to contribute a pretty sizable amount to that portion of the project. Along with the cut and the bypass, that’s a pretty substantial part of that is on our property.”
“Legally and constitutionally, we’re not able to make road improvements, so our attorney has worked with us to find loopholes in that. We’ve asked what pieces of this road improvement we can take on and have stretched that every way that we can to get that $2.2 million under the school’s budget,” Stancil said. “So that we’re asking you and the city for as little as possible.”
Shortly after the presentation, District 4 Commissioner Phillipp Von Hanstein expressed concern about funding the project, given the large amount of taxes already allocated to the school, and suggested that the board take time to review the legal aspects.
“It sounds like we need to look into it from a legal aspect a little bit more to see, I know we’ve got the school board attorney’s opinion, but what about the city attorney or the county attorney?” Von Hanstein said. “I think at the end of the day, when you consolidated all the schools, you created this traffic. “It’s not personal, don’t get me wrong, but it’s my job to look after county money and fiduciary obligations that I have out there. This just doesn’t strike me as, when I create a problem, I don’t get somebody else in on the deal.”
The Board of Commissioners ultimately voted unanimously to the partnership to fund the $964,700, contingent on the City of Madison’s approval, and the motion passed unanimously.
Other New Business Updates:
• The BOC approved a zoning map amendment for five acres at 2630 Eatonton Highway for the construction of a Dollar General. The store would reside within city limits, between Farmview Market and Ace Hardware. Two of the acres are mapped for Dollar General construction, with the remaining three for Ace Hardware.
• Mike Daubenmire, on behalf of APC Towers, requested conditional use approval for a telecommunications tower at 3491 Old Mill Road.
“This tower is desperately needed for communication in this part of the area, said Chuck Jarrell, director of Morgan County Planning and Development. “It won’t cover the entire area, but for the most part, the most populated area of that area would be served by this tower.”