Category Archives: Lowndes County Commission

TRC and GLPC recommended subdivision that doesn’t improve traffic or safety, REZ-2013-09

What is so important about yet another subdivision
of
360,910 square feet in 173 houses

when we have

a glut of houses that the TRC unanimously
recommended it despite significant defects and omissions?
According to

Technical Review Committee (TRC) analysis,
REZ-2013-09 Moody Family will not lessen congestion in the streets
or secure safety from fire, panic, and other dangers.
TRC also said the application didn’t meet ULDC standards and

in somewhat tortured language:
“although not a proposed condition, it should be
noted on this request that a future traffic study will be required.”
Why not require these things before even sending the application
to the Planning Commission?

In email to the Greater Lowndes Planning Commissioners of 23 July 2013,
forwarded to the applicants 29 July 2013,

July 29th GLPC Lowndes County Rezoning Materials,

2) REZ-2013-09 Moody Family, 0072 191, Val Del Rd, 64.92 ac., 2
lots, R-1 to Residential PD, County Utilities

a) The TRC recommended approval of the request unanimously.

b) Additionally, although not a proposed condition, it should be
noted on this request that a future traffic study will be required.
Acceleration lanes/Deceleration lanes and/or a dedicated left turn lane
may be required.

Rumor has it that this development is being pushed not by Moody AFB,
rather by Continue reading →

Planning Commission on subdivision next to Moody AFB, REZ-2013-08 MFH Tract A @ GLPC 2013-07-29

Now you can see what they were looking at:

those documents are on the LAKE website
for

REZ-2013-08 MFH, for a subdivision on Roberts Road immediately next to Moody AFB.

First

County Planner Jason Davenport said a few words about

the TRC recommendation.

Commissioner Ted Raker (Hahira) wanted clarification about

this application would require additional changes to meet
the requirements of the Unified Land Development Code (ULDC),
specifically that it would not help with safety, fire, health, general welfare,
etc.
“In fact seven out of the eleven were negative.”

Davenport confirmed that that was correct, and that was

staff’s analysis.
Staff paid by your tax dollars, so you shouldn’t have to file an open
records request and pay ten dollars when staff could just put it on
the web with the

GLPC agenda, which they also don’t now but could easily put on the web.

Nobody spoke for the request.
Numerous people spoke in opposition.

Tom Kurrie said in 38 years of practicing law Continue reading →

Documents for REZ-2013-08 MFH Tract A on Roberts Road

What the TRC recommended, who the TRC is, the parcel numbers, the
Planning Commission board packet, and other related documents are

on the LAKE web server
for REZ-2013-08 MFH Tract A, 0181 025B & 0181 027, Roberts Rd, 123.45 ac., MAZ I to Residential PD, 184 lots, County Utilities,
the rezoning next to Moody AFB that

has been withdrawn.
The parcel numbers above were not in

the GLPC agenda
but are in the recommendations of the Technical Review Committee (TRC).

Lowndes County Planner Jason Davenport to TRC 23 July 103,

July 29th GLPC Lowndes County Rezoning Update,

Good afternoon Planning Commissioners.

Based on the TRC meeting this morning please find this month’s TRC rezoning recommendations and current analysis below or attached to this e-mail. Continue reading →

Proposed development next to Moody AFB has been withdrawn (REZ-2013-08)

Received in response to an open records request to Lowndes County,
here is the developer’s withdrawal letter,

and correspondence between Lowndes County Zoning and Planning with
Moody AFB confirming that this was indeed

REZ-2013-08 MFH Tract A on Roberts Road that was withdrawn.
It seems the U.S. Air Force would also like to see GLPC minutes online;
that request came from Deputy, Housing Division,
Air Force Civil Engineering Center, located in

San Antonio, Texas..
Also, doesn’t Georgia open meetings law require a summary of
actions taken within a few days of a Planning Commission meeting?
-jsq

Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2013 19:56:40 -0400

Subject: MAZ-1

From: Roger Sevigny <rsevigny@alleneng.net>

To: Jason Davenport <jdavenport@lowndescounty.com>,
<bslaughter@lowndescounty.com>

Cc: Mike Fletcher <mfletcher@lowndescounty.com>, Joe Pritchard
<JPritchard@lowndescounty.com>

Gentlemen,

I had no idea of the county anger with MFH LLC. I thought Continue reading →

Path of proposed pipeline through Lowndes County

That pipeline that starts in
PCB-polluted Anniston, Alabama, where would it cross Lowndes County?

Two routes, one north to south, another from Brooks County southeast
to the Florida line.

On

this google map,
A is the land mentioned in

Massive pipeline project may cross Lowndes, by Jason Schaeffer, VDT, 30 June 2013,
B, C, and D several of the parcels listed in the

letters Sabal Trail Transmission LLC sent Lowndes County
(another is very near D).
They all form pretty much a straight line north to south.
The actual route probably Continue reading →

Thanks for a boat ramp & a new community center –Kristofer Graham, Naylor

Received yesterday. -jsq

I just want to take a min of my time & thank you all the Lowndes county
commissioners for Consideration of Proposed List for a boat ramp & a new
community center in our community. This mean a lot to our community &
our surrounding counties. It’s a good asset to Lowndes county. Lowndes
County needs public access to the beautiful scenic Alapaha River as
residents have enjoyed the river for generations. Now our community will
have something to cherish for generations & more generations to come. I
hope the community will come together. Continue reading →

Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline letters to Lowndes County

No letters from Lowndes County back to Sabal Trail were included in
the open records response of last week, so should we conclude
the county has not authorized surveys on any of its properties?

The request to Lowndes County was for correspondence with Sabal Trail Transmission LLC about the proposed
natural gas pipeline from Anniston, Alabama to Orlando, Florida,
and the response included
survey authorization forms for a list of
parcels owned by Lowndes County, plus assorted descriptions and
maps with very little detail.
Sabal Trail still didn’t have a contract with Florida Power and Light,

yet expected:

“Field survey work is scheduled to begin in September 2013.”

It looks like Sabal Trail sent letters about a bunch of parcels and then more about another one later.
First they sent
an introduction 19 June 2013 listing
parcels 0146A-074-A, 0171 178, 0172 119, 0204 001,
including a map.
This appears to be the same map

we’ve seen before posted by various news media:

Map: 36" Greenfield Pipeline Approx. 465 Miles

Then they sent

a letter 22 June 2013 with

a survey authorization form
for the same parcels.
Then they sent separate letters 25 June 2013 for parcels
0146A-074-A,
0171 178,
and
0172 119, 0204 001.

Also on 25 June 2013

Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter informed us:

Lowndes County does not benefit from this proposal and has no
responsibility for the approval other than that of a property owner
potentially impacted by the proposed route as any other property owner
in Lowndes County would be.

Apparently Sabal Trail thought of another one, because a few weeks later
they sent

a cover letter 15 July 2013
for Parcels 0098 003, 0098 004 with
a slightly more detailed map,
followed a few days later by
a survey authorization form 19 July 2013.

Map of Options A and B

Scans of all these letters are

on the LAKE website.

-jsq

County setting parks legacy –April Huntley

LTE in the VDT today. -jsq

I would like to inform the community that the Lowndes County Board
of Commissioners has announced their “Consideration of Proposed
List” for Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax VII on July 22-23,
2013. It can be viewed on LowndesCounty.com.

The part of the budget that is most impressive to me is the
allocation to Parks & Recreation. Its allocation is 3.5 million
dollars. We need good recreation for our families in Lowndes County
and to me this number sounds like our county commissioners take it
serious.

I would also like to send out a big thank you to the commissioners
for putting a Community Center in Naylor and a boat ramp on the
Alapaha River as part of the purpose for the Parks and Recreation
allocation.

Lowndes County needs public access to the beautiful Alapaha River as
residents have enjoyed the river for generations. I hope the
community will come together over this project and create a legacy
for generations to come. Please send thank yous, ideas and comments
to the commission about the Naylor project:

Continue reading →

Directors and Officers Insurance: ACCG IRMA for Lowndes County

With
almost $22 million in liability coverage,
why do Lowndes County Commissioners and staff express such apprehension about lawsuits?
This is what Lowndes County returned in response to an open records
request for its contract for Directors and Officers insurance:

paperwork about its ACCG IRMA subscription.

IRMA is Interlocal Risk Management Agency,
and

ACCG is Association of County Commissioners of Georgia.

ACCG IRMA as D&O Insurance for Lowndes County
Open Records Request	Summary of Insurance	Contribution Breakdown	Contributions by Coverage	Renewal Contribution Worksheet

Copies of these documents are

on the LAKE website.

-jsq

Planning Commission considers huge subdivision near Moody AFB @ GLPC 2013-07-29

Remember last year when the Chamber helped mobilize opposition to

a subdivision outside Moody’s front gate and
won?

Well, here’s another, and it’s not 23.49 acres this time, it’s
123.45 acres even closer to the runways,
and from MAZ-I to P-D.
Plus a proposed
64.92 acre development on
(apparently

4958)
Val Del Road for
“Moody Family”.
That’s always the excuse, isn’t it?
More houses for Moody, nevermind whether Moody wants or needs them.
With all the vacant houses already in the county, we don’t need them.

Here’s

the agenda:

Greater Lowndes Planning Commission

Lowndes County City of Valdosta City of Dasher City of Hahira City of Lake Park

REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING

AGENDA

Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office

325 West Savannah Avenue

Tuesday, July 29, 2013* 5:30 P.M. * Public Hearing

Continue reading →

On the LAKE front

Citizen dialog for transparent process by the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange