The Oconee County Planning Commission on Oct. 20 voted unanimously to recommend approval of a rezoning (P250043) and a companion special-use permit (P250044) to allow a gasoline station with a convenience store and truck fueling on a roughly 3.341-acre parcel at Hogmount Road and Monroe Highway, with conditions set by county planning staff.

The applications, filed for parcels identified in the record as Parcel A02013F, were presented by county planning staff and by attorney Eric Eberhart, who said he represents the property owner (identified in the record as the Tahompton/Tahamaton family) and the prospective operator under an option to purchase, Kwik Trip Corporation. Staff recommended conditional approval of both items, and the commission approved each by voice vote and hand vote, with no recorded opposition.

Why it matters: The site sits in the Civic Center character area near the U.S. 78/Georgia Highway 53 corridor. Commissioners and members of the public raised traffic and access questions; staff required a revised traffic-impact analysis (TIA) and other conditions intended to limit visual and traffic impacts before site-development plans can be approved.

Key conditions listed by planning staff include architectural standards requiring at least 80% of exterior wall surfaces to be brick veneer, stone veneer or glass (condition 4), landscape-buffer standards including one tree per 25 lineal feet with a mix of evergreen and deciduous trees that will reach more than 40 feet at maturity (condition 5), and screening of service areas and dumpsters behind a 6-foot masonry wall and black painted metal enclosure doors (condition 6). Staff also required a 6-foot imitation wood vinyl fence around the three sides not facing U.S. 78 (condition 7), signage prohibiting truck parking on site (condition 8), interparcel access and stub-outs to serve future development of the remainder of Parcel A02013F (condition 9), and a revised TIA that meets the Unified Development Code (UDC) revisions dated Oct. 7, 2025 (condition 10). The application included a request for a waiver of incompatible-use buffers adjacent to a future development area; staff recommended and the commission approved that waiver as shown on the concept plan dated 08/25/2025 (condition 11 as referenced in the staff report).

Public comment at the hearing included a question from resident Rick Caffrey about how the entrance location would affect traffic for the neighboring Oconee Crossing subdivision. Planning staff indicated the concept plan places the new entrance across from an existing stripling/entrance movement and reiterated that the required revised TIA could result in additional changes to driveways or turn movements if warranted by the traffic analysis.

Eric Eberhart, the applicant's attorney, said the applicant is prepared to work with the county on the listed conditions and asked the commission to approve the requests so the proposal can move forward to the Board of Commissioners for final action. No speakers registered formal opposition at the hearing.

Next steps: Per the commission's procedural statement at the start of the meeting, recommendations from the Planning Commission will be forwarded to the Oconee County Board of Commissioners or other appropriate final decision-making body for final action; site development plans, the revised TIA and any required roadway improvements must be approved by public works and planning enforcement before development permits are issued.

(Quotes in this article are taken from the public hearing transcript of the Oct. 20, 2025 meeting of the Oconee County Planning Commission.)