Owner Of Pebble Creek Subdivision Seeking Permit To Build Smaller Homes On Slabs

Former Owner Opposed

The current owner of unbuilt Pebble Creek subdivision on SR 15 in the south of the county is asking for a modification to the 2004 rezone conditions to allow it to build smaller, less expensive homes on cement slabs at ground level.

The request, which is scheduled to be before the Planning Commission on Jan. 22 and the Board of Commissioners on Feb. 12, already has drawn opposition, including from E. Dwayne Wilkes, who owned and rezoned the property in 2004 and still has land abutting the empty subdivision.

Pebble Creek Entrance, 10/17/2007

The current owner of the land is a company named CAAT Holdings LLC, with offices at 1351 Jennings Mill Road. The company was registered in the Georgia Secretary of State database on March 22 of last year. The state record does not list officers.

According to county tax records, the company took over ownership of the Pebble Creek properties on March 30, 2012, from Athens First Bank and Trust, which received the properties in lieu of foreclosure from Land Star Development LLC.

Land Star had obtained the property from Wilkes, according to the tax records.

The Georgia Secretary of State database has no record of the ownership of Land Star Development.

2004 Ordinance Listed Conditions

The ordinance passed by the BOC on Nov. 2, 2004, stipulated that the minimum dwelling size for the subdivision should be 2,700 square feet and that the homes be constructed on crawl space or basement foundations. Slab-on-grade homes were not allowed.

CAAT is asking that the minimum home size be 1,800 square feet and that the homes be on slabs on grade, on crawl space or on foundations.

The staff report by Brad Callender, Oconee County planner, recommends that BOC not allow the slab on grade construction even if it does allow the size of the houses to be reduced. The Planning Commission only recommends action to the BOC.

Ken Beall of Beall and Company is representing CAAT Holdings. He also represented Wilkes in the original rezone request in 2004.

Homes In $180,000 To $250,000 Range

Beall, in the narrative for the rezone modification application, says that the homes in the subdivision will range in price from around $180,000 to $250,000.

The exterior materials of the homes will vary from predominantly brick, to brick and nonwood exterior siding, to combinations of brick, stone and nonwood exterior siding.

The subdivision has 98 buildable lots ranging in size from 1 acre to 3.4 acres, according to the application. Total acreage for the subdivision is 143 acres.

Wilkes, in a letter to the county regarding the rezone modification request, states that others did not buy the unbuilt subdivision because they were aware of the existing zoning conditions and said the current owner should be forced to follow the original conditions as well.

Wilkes operated a tree farm on the property when he rezoned it for Pebble Creek. The subdivision is near historic Elder Mill and the covered bridge over Rose Creek and surrounded by farmland, including property used by the University of Georgia’s veterinary school.

In another letter in the rezone file, Travis Marshall, whose property adjoins Pebble Creek, also opposes the modification of the original rezone conditions.. Marshall is a former member of the Planning Commission.

Medical Buildings Also On Agenda

Also on the agenda at the Jan. 22 Planning Commission meeting is a request for a rezone from Business and Office-Institutional-Professional use to simply Office-Institutional-Professional of a 14.5-acre tract on the north side of Virgil Langford Road between the Oconee Connector and SR 316.

Beall also is representing the applicant, Virgil and Hilda Langsford. Oconee Medical Properties LLC has a purchase contract on the property, according to the application, and wants to construct nine buildings totaling 102,060 square feet on the land.

Planning Commission meetings begin at 7 p.m. and are held in the courthouse in Watkinsville.