Road & development plans

Two items from the ABH today:

1. The state Department of Transportation will hold an informational meeting this afternoon about a proposed interchange at the Athens Perimeter intersection with Peter Street and Olympic Drive.

   The meeting will be held from 5-7 p.m. at Stroud Elementary School, 715 Fourth St.

   Visitors will be able to view interchange plans, ask questions and make comments. There will be no formal presentation.

2. Oconee [county] approves Epps Bridge shopping center despite environmental & traffic concerns:

Oconee commissioners voted 3-1 Tuesday to rezone the site from agricultural use to allow the shopping center. Commissioner Margaret Hale voted no.

Commissioners were more concerned about the problems visitors to Epps Bridge Centre will create for already-clogged traffic in the area, especially if plans for a new state road never come to pass.

The entire project hinges on a road that hasn't been built, the Oconee Connector extension, with which state Department of Transportation officials still have not moved forward.

Oconee officials hope the shopping center, if approved, and the road - if it's ever built - likely will be finished about the same time, early in the next decade.

But, the potential lack of access, along with environmental concerns, kept a regional planning organization from recommending the project last summer.

The Northeast Georgia Regional Development Center found in its nonbinding July review that Epps Bridge Centre would not be in the best interest of the region.