Caggiano address status of the park near Fair Play

101.7/WGOG NEWS has received information to indicate that Oconee County will no longer pursue the sale of the Golden Corner Commerce Park to a solar farm company.  However, Annie Caggiano, executive director of the Oconee Economic Alliance, declined this afternoon to neither confirm nor deny that “Project Aztec” (Blue Ridge Solar LLC) will no longer be considered.  This week the county council was scheduled for legal advice and discussion of a contract matter “regarding certain real property located at the Golden Corner Commerce Park that is currently held by the Oconee Economic Alliance.”  The alliance is the public-private partnership group that pursues economic development for the county.  Caggiano released this statement to WGOG:  “Golden Corner is actually one of our more popular industrial sites.  And, yes, we’ve had several clients in the past including Project Aztec in the past which has been reported as a solar farm….That doesn’t mean we don’t continue to market it to other projects.  In 2020 alone, we submitted Golden Corner on 12 separate projects that had contacted us looking for an industrial park with close proximity to I-85.  While we do have several people looking at it, it doesn’t mean that we hold it for one user in particularly until the property is actually sold.”  The solar farm possibility, however, did reach a serious stage.  It approached a third and final ordinance reading early last year.  Back then that agreement called for the solar farm representatives to buy the 322-acres in the park from the county for $2.1 million.  Under the terms, in place of a property tax, the company would have paid the county an annual fee of $100 thousand.