Attorney Says County Staff Made Errors In Shopping Center Report

Attorney William Berryman wants Oconee County commissioners to reject three elements of the county’s planning staff report on a rezone request by his client for a shopping center at the Oconee Connector and Mars Hill Road.

The planning staff is wrong is saying that three parcels owned by Maxie Price’s Deferred Tax can be developed under the current zoning classification, Berryman said in a March 2 letter to the commissioners.

As a result, if the commissioners deny the rezone request it will be a denial of applicant Maxie Price’s constitutional rights to develop his property as protected by the U.S. Constitution, Berryman said.

Price has a right to an access cut and a full interchange on the Oconee Connector with a median break because of past commitments by the county, Berryman said, so the staff recommendation that the access be restricted to a right-in, right out traffic is unacceptable, he wrote.

Finally, the staff recommendation that Price be required to construct two roundabouts on Mars Hill Road is a violation of state law and imposes undue financial obligations on Price, Berryman said.

Berryman wants the Commission to approve the five entrances to the proposed shopping center off Mars Hill Road as submitted rather than the three--two with a roundabout--recommended by the planning staff.

Price’s request for the rezone for just less than 47 acres at the corner of Mars Hill Road and the Oconee Connector for a shopping center that would include a Publix is scheduled to be before the Oconee County Planning Commission on April 19 and the Board of Commissioners on May 4.

The Planning Commission in January voted 8 to 0 to recommend to the Board of Commissioners that the rezone be denied, but the Commissioners have sent the request back to the Planning Commission for reconsideration of the request.

The Planning Commission has one replacement member since that 8 to 0 vote.

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