An unexpected concern about
limiting someone’s ability to expand his business
was expressed by
Lame Duck Commissioner Richard Raines, the same who
made the motion for the exclusive franchise for trash collection by
ADS, and who apparently (in executive session so we don’t know for sure)
voted twice to sue local business Deep South Sanitation.
They spent five or six minutes on
an annexation request by Lake Park that was not on the agenda,
even though they received it last week.
They vote tonight at 5:30 PM,
and don’t forget
the budget hearings continue all day today.
One road in the Nelson Hill subdivision wasn’t up to snuff and will be omitted from the adoption of infrastructure; that’s better than the county’s previous practice for that development of staff waivers with no public hearings. Plus four rezonings, one for a former County Commissioner and another for a community well for a development. And the annual contract renewal for the MIDS on-call bus system, plus a master software service contract.
See
Musical chairs in local qualifying for why John Page is no longer
a Commissioner and they already
removed his picture from the entryway.
There’s more about that in
the previous post with the agenda.
And here’s the agenda again with links to the videos and a few notes.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
- Call to Order
- Invocation
Only in the Regular Session, Tuesday at 5:30 PM
- Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
Only in the Regular Session, Tuesday at 5:30 PM
- Recognize Firefighter of the Year
The actual recognition will be at Tuesday evening’s Work Session.
- Purple Heart Proclamation
Video. A Mr. Scobie(?) thanked the Commission on behalf of wounded veterans. Chairman Bill Slaughter said they would be acting on it at Tuesday evening’s Work Session.
- Distinguished Budget Presentation Award
Video. County Manager Joe Pritchard said they’d be recognizing Finance Director Stephanie Black at Tuesday evening’s Work Session.
- Minutes for Approval
- Public Hearings
- REZ-2014-04 Bennett Property, 7295 Hall Webb Rd E-A to R-1, Well and Septic, ~1.1 acres
Video. Applicant agreed to use family ties instead of rezoning.
- REZ-2014-05 Ruth L. Nutt Estate, 5935 Bird Hall Rd E-A to R-A, Well and Septic, ~2.61 acres
Video. This is for former County Commissioner Richard Lee, although they didn’t mention that.
- REZ-2014-06 Cobb Property, 4799 Hickory Grove Rd E-A to R-A, Well and Septic, 3.65 acres
Video. Board of Health concern about soils was resolved.
- REZ-2014-07 Ed and Evelyn Lund, 4701 Knights Ferry Rd E-A to PD-R, Community Well and Septic, ~15 acres
Video. Rural Planned Development, for events. Applicant willing to accept conditions proposed by Planning Commission. County Planner Jason Davenport said they might get a better site plan that is currention in the agenda packet (which Commissioners can see but you can’t).
Commissioner Richard Raines wanted to know if the applicant was OK with condition number 1, which limits uses to pecan orchard, event facility, and horseback riding lessons.
Answer: yes, although condition 2 provides some flexibility. Condition 1 is important because the event facility is not allowed in E-A.
The irony of what Raines said his concern was:
I would hate to lock the applicant into a use that limits his ability to expand his business later on if he desired.This is the same Richard Raines who who made the motions to close the county’s solid waste collection facilities and to pass the Exclusive Franchise with ADS; the same Richard Raines who apparently repeatedly voted to sue local business Deep South Sanitation (we don’t know for sure because those suing votes were taken under cloak of executive session). And now he’s concerned about limiting someone’s ability to expand his business!
Commissioner Demarcus Marshall wanted to know if the applicant had identified any types of events.
A: yes, mostly weddings.
- Grant Re-Application for the Rural Transportation Program and Associated Resolution
Video. County Engineer Mike Fletcher said this was the annual renewal, and:
In 2013 we had 28,822 trips by MIDS.- For Consideration
- Adopt Resolution Accepting Infrastructure for Nelson Hill Subdivision Phase II
Video. One road didn’t pass some test for inclusion and will be omitted this time.
- iVision Master Service Agreement
Video. IT Director Aaron Kostyu said iVision is a certified integrator of services for cisco, Microsoft, and others. Inititally they plan to use iVision for Microsoft SQL. This is a master agreement that handles legal wording and permits statement of work for further projects.
County Manager Joe Pritchard wanted to be sure it had been reviewed by the county attorney. Answer: Yes.
Commissioner Crawford Powell wanted to know if this was something that could be done in-house or would it need to go out. Answer: Yes, esp. for initial project, upgrading SQL array.
- Reports-County Manager
- Annexation request from city of Lake Park for Garden Apartments at Long Pond, ~10 acres
Video. County Planner Jason Davenport talked about that retirement community.
- Options on the approval of the Lake Park Annexation
Video. County Manager Joe Pritchard asked alleged County Attorney Walter G. Elliott to clarify what the law says about annexation. Elliott noted:
- Must be a contiguous area, including the entire parcel or parcels of real property owned by the person seeking annexation has to be annexed.
- Land must not be subdivided in an effort to meet (1).
County Planner Jason Davenport said they were trying to annex only part of the relevant land.
Elliott said nonetheless annexation could still occur with agreement between the county and the city. So unlike a typical annexation, the county would have to agree to this one.
Also, Elliott said a county can object to a proposed rezoning that would occur in connection with an annexation, for grounds including substantial change in land use, density, or infrastructure needs. Thirty days to respond to the request, which was received last week.
Commissioner Richard Raines wanted to know what were the property owner’s wishes.
A: property owner signed the request paperwork.
Raines also wanted to know if annexation of this piece of property would make any surrounding properties more vulnerable to annexation.
Answer from Pritchard: any annexation makes neighboring property contiguous. But surrounding property could otherwise be annexed as part of a larger annexation.
County Commissioner Crawford Powell said to bear in mind applicant did want to connect to county water and sewer, which is right there on the edge of that property.
He made several significant-seeming gestures, which I would take as reminders that the county would derive revenue by selling water and sewer services.
- Citizens Wishing to be Heard Please State Name And Address
Only in the Regular Session, Tuesday at 5:30 PM
Here’s a video playlist:
Videos
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 March 2014.
-jsq
Short Link:
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