Author Archives: John S. Quarterman

Subdivisions subsidized by roads, EV charging, VAWA, Soccer complex, Courtroom AV @ LCC 2022-04-11

Update 2022-04-12: Videos.

Thanks to Joe Brownlee of Georgia Power for getting Lowndes County to agree to Electric Vehicle Charging Stations at the county palace.

REZ-2022-06 Kinderlou Forest aims to go pretty close to Spring Branch and the Withlacoochee River.

[Rezonings, Val Del Road traffic, Electric Vehicle Charging]
Rezonings, Val Del Road traffic, Electric Vehicle Charging

The agenda item for REZ-2022-07 Hayden Park, Camelot Crossing & Val Del Rd says “BUDGET IMPACT: N/A” for “a mixture of residential and commercial sites for development in various stages.” Yet the Lowndes County Commission board packet contains 52 pages of traffic study for the intersection of Val Del Road and North Valdosta Road. Staff notes “Plans for two left-turn lanes from Val Del to North Valdosta Road are anticipated to be complete by 2023.” The applicant’s Letter of intent says, “Lowndes County has been wise to pro-actively invest in infrastructure here, anticipating and preparing for new growth.” Continue reading →

Videos: Trash collection, drainage, reports, candidate @ LCC 2022-03-22

A rare split vote on a bid, in 7.a. ENG 2021-02: Repairing 3 Box Culverts.

ADS wants to raise its trash colleciton rates but can’t do that without an ordinance change, which was not on the table this time.

Ashley Tye gave a weather report as part of the County Manager Reports.

A candidate for Superior Court Judge spoke in Citizens Wishing to Be Heard, which is an interesting change of policy; previously the Commission didn’t allow candidates for office to speak in CWTBH.

[Trash, Drainage, Reports, CWTBH]
Trash, Drainage, Reports, CWTBH

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, with a few notes, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the Continue reading →

Packet: 0.277 acres for a county detention pond @ LCC 2022-03-21

Update 2022-03-22: Videos: Trash collection, drainage, reports, candidate @ LCC 2022-03-22.

The replacement for the built-on detention pond on Little Viking Road turns out to be 0.277 acres horse-shoed around it. That’s what was quit-claimed to Lowndes County Tuesday.

[Waste collection and water retention]
Waste collection and water retention

[EASEMENT]
EASEMENT

This is at the request of Rubber Tire, LLC, Franklin Bailey, Member/Manager.

[Signed, sealed,* and delivered]
Signed, sealed,* and delivered

The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request, is on the LAKE website. See also the Continue reading →

Videos: Delinquency, water, roads, and subdivisions @ LCC 2022-03-21

Update 2022-03-22: Packet: 0.277 acres for a county detention pond @ LCC 2022-03-21.

Update 2022-03-23: Three LAKE videos inadvertently omitted are added back to this blog post and the LAKE playlist: 6.d. Advanced Disposal Services Residential Solid Waste Franchise Renewal (9,500 customers), 6.e. Deep South Sanitation, LLC, Residential Solid Waste Franchise Renewal (6,200 customers), and 6.f. Little Viking Road Drainage Easement and Quit Claim Deed.

Yesterday morning they read out the items with almost no discussion, at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session, which lasted 13 minutes. They vote this evening at 5:30 PM.

The only item to get more than one question was 6.c. FY2022 Delinquency Prevention Grant.

The audio feed in the room is still not working, thus the second or so of no sound at the start. For the thousands of dollars they have spent on the system, it would be nice if the sound in the room worked.

[Lighting, TIA, Juvenile delinquency, box culverts]
Lighting, TIA, Juvenile delinquency, box culverts

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the agenda.

Road paving TIA agreements, ADS ands DSS waste renewawals, 3 water items, street lighting @ LCC 2022-03-21

Update 2022-03-22: Videos: Delinquency, water, roads, and subdivisions @ LCC 2022-03-21.

More road building TIA projects to promote more sprawl, a redot to let a developer off the hook for not doing drainage as required, a subdivision special tax lighting district, several water projects in already-developed areas, a grant to prevent juvenile delinquency, and the annual renewal of permits for both waste collection companies, all on the agenda for this morning’s Lowndes County Work Session, for voting Tuesday evening.

Funny how they never count the later cost of box culverts and water main extensions when they approve rezonings for subdivisions, but here some of those are later.

Cost What
$448,621.14Exit 22 Water Main Extension
$296,726.73ENG 2021-02: Repairing 3 Box Culverts
$0.00 Deep South Sanitation, LLC, Residential Solid Waste Franchise Renewal, March 31, 2023
$0.00Advanced Disposal Services Residential Solid Waste Franchise Renewal
$-41,500.00 FY2022 Delinquency Prevention Grant
$703,847.87Total

That former detention pond site is actually parcel 0144 205A now, and it’s at 4115 Little Viking Road. They also don’t tell we the taxpayers and voters where the new detention area is.

HISTORY, FACTS AND ISSUES: Map 0144 Parcel 205 owned by Rubber Tire, LLC was originally designed for the entire lot to be one of the detention areas for Roswell Place Subdivision and has been the detention area since the subdivision was built. Rubber Tire, LLC had the detention area redesigned, approved, and constructed so the lot could become a buildable lot. Lowndes County will need to Quit Claim the existing detention area back to Rubber Tire, LLC and accept a drainage easement for the new detention area from Rubber Tire, LLC.

The agenda is below. The board packet will follow when LAKE gets it. My fault this time: I didn’t send the open records request. Although it is still mysterious why Lowndes County doesn’t put the board packet on its own website like many counties larger and smaller have been doing for years in Georgia and Florida. The rudimentary expanded agenda with one-sheet agenda items is on the LAKE website.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2022, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2022, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Unanimously voted down: Miller Bridge Road subdivision @ LCC 2022-02-08

The Commissioners unanimously denied the rezoning for the subdivision on Miller Bridge Road. Applicants spoke a minute over their time, yet did not present the slides they said the previous morning they were going to present; we include scans of those slides here for historical reference, for when the next subdivision like this comes up, next week or next year.

Commissioners unanimously approved the other two rezonings.

They also unanimously approved 6.a. Transportation Investment Act (TIA) Local Project – Coleman Road NW and 6.b. Transportation Investment Act (TIA) Local Project Kinderlou-Clyattville Rd. Road building and improvement projects attract subdivisions. But the opponents to the Miller Bridge Road subdivision had already left after that one item. Chairman Bill Slaughter mentioned that the crowd was gone in 6.c. Internal Network Firewalls.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, with a few notes, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the LAKE videos of the previous morning’s Work Session, the agenda and board packet and the LAKE videos of the preceding Planning Commission meeting, as well as Secrecy of Lowndes County Commission and Staff.

Here’s a LAKE video playlist:


Unanimously voted down: Miller Bridge Road subdivision @ LCC 2022-02-08
Lowndes County Commission Regular Session, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),

Applicant Slides REZ-2022-03 Miller Bridge Road

How did we get them? The County Manager handed them to LAKE’s Gretchen Quarterman at the previous morning’s Work Session.

Images below (apologies for the accidental cropping of the right side), and the whole thing as PDF.

The developer’s last point in their Justification for Zoning Request does identify a widespread problem:

7. Almost every subdivision built in Lowndes County is adjacent to some form of agriculture or timber production

However, there is no need to make it worse.

Another point in that same slide is plain wrong:

5. There will be minimal impact to County facilities or services, while increasing the taxes of the county approximately $70k per year

The Dorfman Report

sprawl The Local Government Fiscal Impacts of Land Use in Lowndes County: Revenue and Expenditure Streams by Land Use Category, Jeffrey H. Dorfman, Ph.D., Dorfman Consulting, December 2007.

As Dr. Dorfman summarized in a different presentation,

Local governments must ensure balanced growth, as
sprawling residential growth is a certain ticket to fiscal ruin*
* Or at least big tax increases.

It’s interesting that the developers put Groundwater Recharge Area first in their OPPOSITION POINTS ADDRESSED:

  1. Groundwater Recharge Area:
    1. Lowndes County adheres to Local and State standards when in the Groundwater Recharge Area
    2. Notable Developments in Recharge Area in Lowndes County)
      1. Landfill
      2. Kinderlou Forest and Foxborough Subdivisions
      3. Valdosta Regional Airport
      4. Moody Airforce Base
      5. City of Dasher
      6. City of Lake Park and surrounding area
      7. Lake Park Industrial Park

While probably all these points are true (I haven’t checked each location), most of them precede current concerns about groundwater recharge, and there is no need to make the problem worse.

[WINDY HILL SUBDIVISION, Lowndes County Rezoning Application, REZ-2022-03]
WINDY HILL SUBDIVISION, Lowndes County Rezoning Application, REZ-2022-03

-jsq

Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!

Packet: Rezonings and Backup Lift Station Generators @ VCC 2022-03-10

In a milestone for Valdosta’s ongoing upgrades to its sewer system, tonight the Mayor and Council will approve the last two of 37 emergency standby generators for lift stations.

[Rezonings and Generators]
Rezonings and Generators

Plus three small rezonings, recommended by staff and the Planning Commission, some with conditions. Another rezoning and annexation were withdrawn by applicant because his sale fell through.

About Item 5.a. Consideration of bids for the purchase of two emergency standby Generators for Lift Stations located at Dillard’s and the Second Harvest Food Bank.

[Photograph]
Photograph

BUDGET IMPACT/FUNDING SOURCE: User Fees

HISTORY: To ensure continued sewage lift station operations during power outages and to satisfy the Georgia Environmental Protection Division requirements, the Utilities Department developed a scope of work to purchase two emergency standby generators. These generators are needed to prevent lift station failures due to power outages from storms or other unexpected causes. Several years ago, the City initiated a program to purchase standby generators or emergency standby diesel pumps for all of its existing sewage lift stations. These are the final two generators needed to complete the Program. Once they are installed, all 37 of our lift stations will have some form of dedicated emergency backup capability from generators and/or backup diesel pumps. Additionally, this will complete Condition 18 of the EPD Consent Order which requires the installation of fixed generators and/or backup pumps at all lift stations by September, 2023. Moving forward, all new City lift stations will include a dedicated emergency backup capability as part of their construction.

See below for the agenda, which does not appear to be on the City of Valdosta’s website. The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request, is on the LAKE website.
http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/valdosta/2022-03-10–vcc-packet

See also the LAKE videos of the preceding Planning Commission meeting, at which the same rezonings were considered.

AGENDA OF THE VALDOSTA CITY COUNCIL
5:30 PM Thursday, March 10, 2022
CITY HALL, COUNCIL CHAMBERS

Continue reading →

Videos: rezonings on Long Pond Road & Lakeland Highway, Land Bank appointment, Public Defender, Public Works @ LCC Work Session 2022-03-07

At this morning’s Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission, they still had no applicants for the 5.a. Valdosta-Lowndes County Land Bank Authority.

[Rezonings, Public Defender, Public Works]
Rezonings, Public Defender, Public Works

The county is making this one too complicated: 6.a. REZ-2022-04 Radney, 5761 Long Pond Road, R-10 w/conditions to R-10.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman who took the videos, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the agenda and board packet, and the LAKE videos of the preceding Planning Commission meeting.

Hahira, Valdosta, Lowndes County rezonings @ GLPC 2022-02-28

At the February 28, 2022, Regular Session of the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission, the Valdosta annexation and rezoning requests, 10. VA-2022-02 11. VA-2022-02 Murray Staten Farms, LLC, were both withdrawn by applicant.

All the other requests were unanimously recommended for approval, some with conditions. The various elected bodies will decide.

[Radney]
Radney

In the longest time at nineteen minutes, Four citizens spoke against 5. REZ-2022-04 Radney, 5761 Long Pond Road. Donna Weldon, the President of the Long Pond Property Owners Association, agreed that with the revised conditions accepted by the applicant, the rezoning would be acceptable. Glenn Gregory, the last speaker, emphasized that still more duplexes could be built in that heavy traffic hazardous area. GLPC modified the conditions to retain the conditions prohibiting mobile homes and duplexes, and to add a minimum heated size. Unanimous recommendation for approval with conditions.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the agenda. LAKE will publish the board packet as soon as we get the Hahira and Valdosta items from Matt Martin. It is now well over the statutory three days since LAKE sent the GORA request.

Two small rezonings, Land Bank Authority appointment, Public Defender contract, Public Works truck @ LCC 2022-03-07

Update 2022-03-07: LAKE videos.

A slack agenda for this morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session, with voting Tuesday evening at 5:30 PM. Two small rezonings, plus an appointment to the Valdosta-Lowndes County Land Bank Authority with no candidates thus far, annual unchanged reapproval of Public Defender Contracts, and a Bid for Vehicle Lift for Mechanical Shop at Public Works.

[Rezonings]
Rezonings

They only admit one thing as affecting the budget.

Cost What
$44,900.00Bid for Vehicle Lift for Mechanical Shop at Public Works
$44,900.00Total

Here is the agenda and the LAKE videos of the preceding Planning Commission meeting. The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request, is on the LAKE website. Continue reading →