Complete agenda? Maps? Election process? Calendar? But few people were there to notice these things missing.

At the Work Session we had all maps and things to show you, but between then and now the digital copies have vanished off of both laptops. And we are sort of at a loss as to where they went but they’re gone. So if you’ll use the maps that are in your packet and perhaps some memory from the Work Session discussion….

That’s right, staff lost the digital copies of an agenda item, CU-2014-11 Normal Life of Georgia. Board packets on the county’s website would serve as a backup for copies on planners’ laptops.

Gretchen, who was there, reports further below, including a note about that charming young white man recently appointed to the Planning Commission. -jsq

At a brief and poorly attended GLPC meeting, there were a couple of interesting things.

Split zoning featured in Lowndes County rezoning case REZ-2014-19, a request by Danny E. Edwards to rezone 9.13 acres at 3307 Bemiss Road from R-10 (Suburban Density Residential) to C-G (General Commercial). Only part of the parcel is being considered for General Commercial and relatively new member Brad Folsom asked some interesting questions about split zoning and record keeping. While this was a Lowndes County case, Valdosta City Planner Matt Martin gave a knowlegeable and insightful overview of how split zoned parcels can happen and how records for these (and all other parcels) are kept.

And on the part of the agenda which was only available at the meeting, the commission members elected a vice chair for 2015, Mr. Jody Hall. Franklin Bailey will be the chair next year as he has been the vice-chair for 2014. As an observer, the process by which the vice chair was chosen was both amusing and horrifying.

Finally, the commission voted to accept a calendar of meetings for 2015 which was not available to the public. Perhaps Lowndes County will publish it on the snazzy new website.

-gretchen

Here’s the agenda, and below are links to each of the videos, followed by a video playlist.

• Call to Order

  Video. So sparsely attended even one of the Commissioners remarked, “Where’s everybody at?”

• Invocation, Pledge

  Video.

• Minutes for Approval

  Video.

• LP-2014-10-20 Walter Keith Sandlin

  Video. Motion to recommend approval by (?), second by Wildes, passed unanimously.

• REZ-2014-19 Danny E. Edwards

  Video. County Planner Jason Davenport said this was for Bemiss Road Baptist Church in “Central Lowndes County”. That’s at 3307 Bemiss Rd, Valdosta, GA 31605, which is a bit north of Inner Perimeter. They want a lighted sports field out back.

  Motion by Willis, second by Hall to recommend approval with one condition that all lights be directed and shielded to avoid illumination of neighboring properties, explicitly not including existing lighting. Passed 5 to 1.

  Nobody mentioned preventing lighting from shining up and causing even more skyglow than already makes Valdosta visible for fifty miles around.

• CU-2014-11 Normal Life of Georgia

  Video. City Planner Matt Martin remarked:

  At the Work Session we had all maps and things to show you, but between then and now the digital copies have vanished off of both laptops. And we are sort of at a loss as to where they went but they’re gone. So if you’ll use the maps that are in your packet and perhaps some memory from the Work Session discussion….

  That’s right, staff lost the digital copies of an agenda item, CU-2014-11 Normal Life of Georgia. Board packets on the county’s website would serve as a backup for copies on planners’ laptops.

  Motion by McClendon, second by Wildes, to recommend approval with two staff-recommended conditions; passed unanimously.

• Other Business – Election of the Vice Chair

  Video. Next meetings 20 and 26 January 2015 at which Bailey will be Chair. Vice-Chair was vacant; chair Ball asked for nominations. After a long pause and a mention of “normal protocol” that the Vice-Chair would later be Chair, plus more than one person saying they’d already been both, somebody suggested “why don’t you put that woman on”. They did get a motion and a second to nominate “Celine” without her being there. Then Jody Hall volunteered, so they elected him instead.

• Other Business – Adoption of the 2015 Calendar

  Video.

• Meeting Adjournment

  Video.

Here’s a video playlist:

Videos: Lost Maps, New Vice, Lake Park R-P, Lowndes County C-G, Valdosta R-M
Regular Session, Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 24 November 2014.

-jsq

Short Link: