Update 2022-09-12: Packet: redo 2 rezonings, 3 extraterritorial water & sewer, $438,537 RR crossing, $2,542,586 Griner Park @ LCC 2022-09-12.

Nobody seems to remember the Lowndes County Commission ever redoing a rezoning public hearing. Possibly this is what they’ve been holding Executive Sessions about lately.

Thanks to Jane Fleming Osborn for spotting this pair of public notices about redoing the same rezoning that appeared in the Valdosta Daily Times, apparently on August 29, 2022.

Both notices

One is to consider the validity of the previous vote. Then they previously rezoned this property on June 16, 2022, one Commissioner was absent, and the Chairman decided a split vote.

The Public Notice is about the rezoning itself, with a prominent warning tacked on the end that it’s for a halfway house for drug rehabilitation. Apparently lack of that last bit was a legal problem

About the validity of the vote

Validity of the previous vote

Notice of Public Hearing

The Board of Commissioners of Lowndes County will hold a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 13, 2022, in the Lowndes County Judicial and Administrative Complex, Commission Chambers, 2nd Floor, 327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, Georgia, to consider the validity of its June 16, 2022, vote in Case Number REZ-2022-10, regarding all or part of Tax Map 0186 Parcel 107 and Tax Map 0187 Parcel 082, on the application by Redeemed Living, c/o Charles B. Moore Jr. on behalf of Parkerson Properties, LLC/ Thoomas A. Parkerson, to amend the Zoning Map of Lowndes County, Georgia to rezone 23 acres located at 2193 Howell Road, Valdosta, Georgia, from E-A (Estate Agriculture) zoning district to PD (Planned Development) zoning district for uses to include a Transitional Care Facility. The Lowndes County Unified Land Development Code defines Transitional Care Facility to mean: “A building or buildings in which is provided long-term but not permanent living accommodations for one or more persons who are in need of short term or long-term housing assistance, and in which may also be provided meals and social services including physical therapy, social therapy, emotional therapy, counseling, rehabilitation, or substance abuse recovery assistance.”

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About the rezoning itself

With added legal definition and boldfaced warning about halfway house for drug rehabilitation.

Prominent statement about halfway house for drug rehabilitation

Notice of Public Hearing

The Board of Commissioners of Lowndes County will hold a public hearing pursuant to OCGA § 36-66-4(f) at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 13, 2022, in the Lowndes County Judicial and Administrative Complex, Commission Chambers, 2nd Floor, 327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, Georgia, in Case Number REZ-2022-10, regarding all or part of Tax Map 0186 Parcel 107 and Tax Map 0187 Parcel 082, on the application by Redeemed Living, c/o Charles B. Moore Jr. on behalf of Parkerson Properties, LLC/ Thoomas A. Parkerson, to amend the Zoning Map of Lowndes County, Georgia to rezone 23 acres located at 2193 Howell Road, Valdosta, Georgia, from E-A (Estate Agriculture) zoning district to PD (Planned Development) zoning district for uses to include a Transitional Care Facility. The Lowndes County Unified Land Development Code defines Transitional Care Facility to mean: “A building or buildings in which is provided long-term but not permanent living accommodations for one or more persons who are in need of short term or long-term housing assistance, and in which may also be provided meals and social services including physical therapy, social therapy, emotional therapy, counseling, rehabilitation, or substance abuse recovery assistance.” The legal dictionary definition of halfway house is “A transitional housing facility designed to rehabilitate people who have recently left a prison or medical-care facility, or who otherwise need help in adjusting to unsupervised living.” The proposed zoning decision relates to or will allow the location or relocation of a halfway house, drug rehabilitation center, or other facility for the treatment of drug dependency.

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The Law

Apparently the lack of that warning is one source of this rehearing.

O.C.G.A. 36-66-4 (2010)

36-66-4. Hearings on proposed zoning decisions; notice of hearing; nongovernmental initiated actions; reconsideration of defeated actions; procedure on zoning for property annexed into municipality.

…

(f) When a proposed zoning decision relates to or will allow the location or relocation of a halfway house, drug rehabilitation center, or other facility for treatment of drug dependency, a public hearing shall be held on the proposed action. Such public hearing shall be held at least six months and not more than nine months prior to the date of final action on the zoning decision. The hearing required by this subsection shall be in addition to any hearing required under subsection (a) of this Code section. The local government shall give notice of such hearing by:

(1) Posting notice on the affected premises in the manner prescribed by subsection (b) of this Code section; and

(2) Publishing in a newspaper of general circulation within the territorial boundaries of the local government a notice of the hearing at least 15 days and not more than 45 days prior to the date of the hearing.

Both the posted notice and the published notice shall include a prominent statement that the proposed zoning decision relates to or will allow the location or relocation of a halfway house, drug rehabilitation center, or other facility for treatment of drug dependency. The published notice shall be at least six column inches in size and shall not be located in the classified advertising section of the newspaper.

-jsq

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