Category Archives: Lowndes County Commission

Put Planning Commission agendas and minutes on web like for ZBOA? –Gretchen Quarterman @ LCC 2013-12-10

It’s curious how the City of Valdosta manages to put agendas and minutes
for the Zoning Board of Appeals online, but Lowndes County doesn’t put
agendas and minutes for the Planning Commission online.
Gretchen Quarterman asked the County Commission to fix that, at the

10 December 2013 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

She noted that to get the minutes of the Planning Commission she
had to file an open records request, and what she got was paper.



And I’ll show you one here.
I’m relatively certain this wasn’t typed on a typewriter.
It was typed on a computer.
And I’d really like to get a computer copy of it;
an electronic copy.
I always just get a paper copy.
So, my request would be:
could I please get open records requests in electronic form
when they’re available?
And, even better, could the county
put these minutes on the website somewhere?

Here’s

the video: Continue reading →

New Nottinghill subvivision finally resolved @ LCC 2013-12-10



The long-deferred rezoning for the Orr Road version of the Nottinghill subdivision
was finally resolved at the

10 December 2013 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

6.a. REZ-2013-11 Nottinghill, Orr Rd R-A to R-21



County Planner Jason Davenport said
“staff has laid out for you background information”, etc.
and staff recommended approval.

Commissioner John Page pointed out that there was still
some question of the land being purchased by applicant,
and not all the signatures were yet ready.

Davenport said some were word of mouth, others were power of attorney,
etc.



The
alleged County Attorney Walter G. Elliott
said Continue reading →

2 interagency agreements, education, jail, alcohol, and a health care presentation @ LCC 2014-01-13

We can probably guess who

“Dr. Grow” is
and the general topic of his presentation,
but why does the county make us guess?


The county wants

an architect for a new roof and shower in one jail pod;
it’s considering two interagency agreements,
one for

Valdosta Inspections for Lake Park
and the other for

the county extension,
plus

setting election qualifying fees
and

a Special Assessment Rate for 2014.
There’s a

beer license
and acceptance of

infrastructure for part of Grove Pointe Subdivision.

Here’s

the agenda: Continue reading →

District 2 is open seat for Lowndes County Commission election



The incumbent is not running for election for the northern district of Lowndes
County, so it’s an open seat.
Here are

district maps; District 2 is mostly west of Bemiss Road and north of Valdosta.
To see which districts you’re in, go to

VALOR GIS Election Boundary Map,
in Layers On-Off turn on Lowndes County Commision Districts,
and zoom in on your address.
The appended letter was
received Monday via Commissioner Demarcus Marshall. -jsq

From: Richard Raines

Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2014 11:06 PM

To: Bill Slaughter; Joyce Evans; Crawford Powell; John Page; Demarcus Marshall; Joe Pritchard; Paige Dukes

Cc: kay.harris@gaflnews.com

Subject: Announcement Continue reading →

Flood mapping and modeling @ VCC 2014-01-09

The Valdosta City Council votes Thursday on
a contract for flood mapping
related to the

series of secretive Army Corps of Engineers meetings,


plus bids for water and sewer and smoke testing sewers.
They’re also swearing in winners of the recent
election and electing a mayor pro-tem (probably the same one),
along with
a change to the
Entertainment Ordinance
and
public hearings to close an alley
and
abandon part of a street,
and the usual

City Manager’s Report,

Council Comments,
and

Citizens to be Heard.



No detail in the city’s agenda about the flood mapping, but
at the Lowndes County Commission

Work Session 11 November 2013
Emergency Services Director Ashley Tye said
the current agreement wouldn’t obligate any payment, merely to reserve the right to contract at a later date if that seemed to be in the county’s best interests,
and at the

Regular Session 12 November 2013

the county approved getting

LIDAR
data from

NOAA Coastal Services Center.
Neither the county nor the city has published this agreement.

Here’s

the agenda: Continue reading →

Nash County, NC has agendas and minutes for many local boards online



A county

no bigger than Lowndes County has

agendas and minutes online for
its Board of Commissioners, Board of Health, Local Emergency Planning Committee,
Board of Adjustment,
Board of Elections,
Social Services Board,
and yes, its Planning Board.

Why can Nash County, NC afford this yet Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter
says Lowndes County can’t afford to put agendas and minutes online for
the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission?


And if a county can require a solar farm to follow stormwater management
and numerous other regulations, why can’t a county require a natural
gas pipeline to follow local regulations?

It can, if its elected officials actually stand up for their citizens.
And why can Nash County, quite a bit north of Lowndes County,
install solar farm after solar farm while there are none in Lowndes County?

The Nash County online documents also include the details of what the
various boards were considering, such as in the

Agenda and Minutes of the Nash County Planning Board 21 October 2013,
which include this item:



  1. Conditional Use Permit Request CU-130901 (Previously Tabled Item).


    Made by Chris Killenberg With Community Energy Solar on Behalf of Castalia Solar LLC to
    Develop a Solar Farm on an Approximately 22.91 Acre Portion of Two Tracts Located on
    the West Side of N NC Highway 58 and South of NC Highway 56 in the A1 Agricultural
    Zoning District.

And not just the agenda item, also

extended discussion in the meeting, including: Continue reading →

Secret meeting of Lowndes County Commission and state reps @ LCC 2013-12-20


Dexter Sharper (District 177)
The VDT report doesn’t say when or where, and doesn’t say whether
Dexter Sharper (District 177) wasn’t invited or chose not to attend.

There’s nothing about this meeting in the online

agendas
or

calendar,
even though that calendar lists

Pictures with Santa at the Historical Courthouse (12/19/2013).

There is this undated

public notice with no agenda:


Paige Dukes, Lowndes County Clerk
The Lowndes County Board of Commissioners will meet with members of
Lowndes County’s Legislative Delegation on Friday, December 20,
2013, at 4:00 p.m. in the Commissioner’s Conference Room located on
the 3rd floor of the Judicial-Administrative Complex, 327 North
Ashley Street, Valdosta, Georgia.

K. Paige Dukes, County Clerk

pdukes@lowndescounty.com 229-671-2400


Tim Golden (District 8)
Matthew Woody wrote for the VDT 22 December 2013,

Commissioners host local delegation,
oddly omitting the when and where and much of the why from
the traditional

who, what, when, where, and why of journalism.


Amy Carter (District 175)
The Lowndes County Commission hosted Continue reading →

Larry Rodgers and Mindy Bland on Chris Beckham radio show right now



Lowndes County landowners Larry Rodgers and Mindy Bland on the

Chris Beckham radio show right now.
“Veiled threats” –Mindy Bland.
Larry Rodgers said:

These people do not have a customer in Georgia, so eminent domain
does not apply in Georgia.

His

attorney (Bill Langdale) responded to a

Sabal Trail lawyer letter
saying that, and as yet there is no response.

You continue paying taxes on that property forever.
They continue making profits on that property forever.

Chris Beckham remarked that there’s no other 36 inch pipeline
in Georgia, and Mindy is explaining Continue reading →

Spectra reps unfamiliar with Spectra fines @ LCC 2013-12-09



Both of Spectra’s principal representatives to the Lowndes County Commission
and the Dougherty County Commission claim not to be familiar
with Spectra’s well-known public record of safety violations,
and some of what they say contradicts the public record,
so how can we believe any of their safety assertions about
Spectra’s proposed Sabal Trail Transmission pipeline?

Update 3PM: more evidence from Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

As I’ve mentioned
before,
Spectra’s Andrea Grover told us that
everyone in Pennsylvania was happy now, after I asked her
about

the Steckman Ridge compressor station leak
in front of reporter Matthew Woody,
at the

16 October 2013 Spectra meeting at Wiregrass Tech in Valdosta.
There’s more beyond
the article about pipeline fines and incidents

Woody wrote 24 November 2013 for the Valdosta Daily Times (VDT), the local
newspaper of record.

Her excuse for the compressor leak, if I recall correctly,
was that Continue reading →

Sabal Trail answers: Commissioners did forward questions @ LCC 2013-12-09



Nobody said
last Monday
that Commissioners had asked for a written response from Sabal Trail.
All we knew was

the four questions Commissioners asked.
Maybe the county should hire a public information officer;
I see they no longer
have one listed on their website front page,
and the last
website public notice is from April.
Fortunately, Commissioner Demarcus Marshall forwarded Spectra’s answers
yesterday. He also copied the Valdosta Daily Times, with
attached PDF.
-jsq



From: Demarcus Marshall

Date: December 13, 2013, 3:01:32 PM CST

Subject: FW: Sabal Trail/Lowndes County Commissioner response FINAL 12122013.pdf

Concerned Citizens,

These are the responses from Sabal Trail regarding the questions
forwarded to me. Please forward to those in opposition of the
surveys and those that have agreed to them.

Commissioner Demarcus Marshall, M.P.A.



From: Fahrenthold, Brian C

Sent: Thursday, December 12, 2013 9:46 PM

To: Demarcus Marshall

Cc: Bill Slaughter; Joyce Evans; Richard Raines; Crawford Powell; John
Page; County Manager; Belinda Lovern

Subject: Sabal Trail/Lowndes County Commissioner response FINAL 12122013.pdf

Commissioner Marshall, Mr. Chairman, Commissioners and County
Manager Pritchard:

Attached is a more detailed summation to the questions posed to the
Commission by Ms. Singletary.

Should you need Continue reading →