Category Archives: Lake Park

Family Dollar on Roger Budd property near Francis Lake in Lake Park? @ GLPC 2014-07-28

Opposition started arising to Roger Budd’s request to rezone to put another Family Dollar near Francis Lake in Lake Park, at the 28 July 2014 Planning Commission meeting, which voted 5 to 2 with one abstention to recommend a compromise solution.

6. REZ-2014-14 Roger Budd Jr

Video. County Planner Jason Davenport said he had received no indications of any opposition. And one GLPC member asked the developer’s presenter whether residents of Francis Lake had been notified.

Yet J.D. Carroll spoke against, Continue reading →

Precincts changed yet again for May 2014 Special Election and Primary

Where can you vote on Tuesday May 20th, Election Day for the Special Election for Lowndes County Commission District 5, for the Lowndes County Board of Education, for the elections for judges, and for the primaries for the Georgia statehouse, statewide offices, and U.S. Congress? Yes, precincts have changed yet again, but you can find your polling place in My Voter Page by the Georgia Secretary of State. Or you can zoom and pan on the VALOR GIS Election Boundary Map.

Whichever way you find your polling place, it’s time to get out and vote. If we don’t, why should Atlanta pay any attention to us poor rural stepchildren?

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Local elections affect you most: time to vote

It’s time to vote, today and tomorrow in early voting at the Board of Elections, 2808 North Oak Street, Valdosta, or Tuesday May 20th at your polling place. Turnout is very low for elections that will affect everyone in Lowndes County and beyond.

Two of the Lowndes County Commission districts will be decided May 20th (District 5 is a Special Election and District 2 has only candidates in one party): they will affect your water, sewer, trash, rezoning, road building, and taxes. All the Lowndes County School Board elections Continue reading →

No to Brookhaven rezoning @ Lake Park 2014-05-06

After the Planning Commission meeting of 31 March 2014 and the Lake Park City Council meeting of 1 April 2014, and a special public hearing, the Lake Park City Council voted 3 to 1 to deny the Brookhaven apartment building rezoning.

Mayor Eric Schindler’s statement about how the hornet’s nest of the Brookhaven rezoning LP-2014-02-26, or any rezoning, is a process and not a snap decision is well worth watching.

The City of Lake Park does not appear to have posted an agenda, or at least where I expected to find it there are no details. Below are links to the videos in the order items appeared at the Lake Park City Council Regular Session of May 6th 2014, with a few notes.

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Follow the law and be aware what the citizens want –Judge Ellerbee @ Lake Park 2014-04-28

Apartments are expensive to local governments, developers don’t sue unless there is actual discrimination (which there isn’t in this case), water use is a big issue, and the primary responsibility of elected officials is to the citizens who elect them: Judge Wayne Ellerbee made these and other points relevant to many rezoning requests as he spoke for some of the opponents at the Lake Park Brookhaven rezoning.

He pointing out that the question before the Lake Park City Council was the rezoning, but the developers needed to take into account the effects on the entire city of Lake Park. He mentioned studies from the University of Georgia saying that the most expensive zoning Continue reading →

Citizens, lawyers, and developers @ Lake Park 2014-04-28

“A molehill to cover up an eyesore” pretty much summed up the neighbors’ opinions. Some of the usual local lawyers seemed surprised at the number and sophistication of the rezoning opponents, as you can see in these videos of the public hearing for the Brookhaven apartment building proposed rezoning. The Lake Park City Council took its duties to its citizens seriously, holding a separate zoning meeting just for this one subject.

Here’s a video playlist:


Citizens, lawyers, and developers
Rezoning Public Hearing, Lake Park City Council (Lake Park),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Lake Park, Lowndes County, Georgia, 28 April 2014.

Attorney Tom Kurrie’s apparent suggestion that the neighbors wanted to discriminate against the elderly and children Continue reading →

Gretchen Quarterman on Chris Beckham radio show 2014-04-29

“People would have a lot more confidence in the government if they understood it and they could see it happen,” said Gretchen Quarterman this morning on drive-time radio. She used last night’s Brookhaven apartment building rezoning public hearing in Lake Park to illustrate: local landowners have property rights and there was a lack of communication between the developers of a proposed apartment building, the Lake Park city government, and the neighbors.

She also talked about jobs, including in local agriculture. For example, she ran the 2014 South Georgia Growing Local Conference. Money spent on local agriculture supports the local economy, not companies far away.

She talked about stewardship of resources, including preserving local property and environment from the Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline. She advocated Continue reading →

Brookhaven apartment building rezoning public hearing 7PM tonight in Lake Park

Gretchen will be there with the LAKE video camera.

Stuart Taylor wrote for the VDT today, Zoning on the agenda tonight at Lake Park hearing,

City officials host a public hearing today at the Lake Park Elementary School cafeteria concerning a rezoning request for an apartment complex.

This is for LP-2014-02-26 Brookhaven III, Continue reading →

Videos: Brookhaven rezoning, road closing, text amendments @ Lake Park 2014-04-01

Opponents to the Brookhaven apartment building rezoning packed the room, like they did at the Planning Commission meeting the previous night. The Lake Park City Council tabled it, asking the developers to go talk to the citizens.

The annexation request discussed at length at the 10 March 2014 Lowndes County Commission Work Session was on the agenda for last night’s Planning Commission but was withdrawn. It’s still on this agenda.

And they have Citizens’ Concerns not once but twice, which resulted in several citizens praising the City Council and staff, especially for the Lake Park Rodeo parade.

Here’s a link to the agenda for the 1 April 2014 Lake Park City Council Regular Session, followed by links to the videos in the order they actually discussed things, plus a few notes. Continue reading →

Videos: Lake Park annexation dropped and apartment rezoning unpopular @ GLPC 2014-03-31

The annexation request for The Gardens was withdrawn (perhaps because the Lowndes County Commission had already explored options for modifying it or just not annexing it), and the rezoning for the Brookhaven apartments was very unpopular, both for Lake Park, plus a Zoning Ordinance change. The twin Hahira cases to rezone and then annex a lot on the east edge of town sailed through. No city of Valdosta cases this time.

Here’s the agenda, with links to the videos.

Continue reading →