No geotechnical study was seen from the developer before drawing the sinkhole buffers shown in the the Air Force Draft Environmental Assessment for the proposed Moody Housing on Val Del Road, just rezoned as REZ-2013-09, PDF courtesy of Prof. Michael Noll of VSU. You can see sinkholes and wetlands in its maps:
Most of the site area, including all of the Phase I area subject of REZ-2013-09, is colored for medium wetland habitat quality: Continue reading
A VSU professor
said he was in favor of the economic benefits,
but geotechnical issues should determine whether
the new Moody Housing on Val Del Road
(REZ-2013-09)
should be built, and those were still unclear,
at
the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
Dr. Michael Noll of VSU said he was speaking because he had been referred to by previous speakers (Jason Davenport and Tom Kurrie), and he was neither for nor against REZ-2013-09. Dr. Noll’s neither-in-favor-nor-against position seemed to puzzle County Engineer Mike Fletcher. Noll said he and his colleagues had looked at the Environmental Assessment (EA) which has been available at the public library and concluded that they had a number of questions they’d like answered, and he was sure the developers had similar concerns for safety of the project.
Dr. Noll said they’d been trying to get a copy of the geotechnical analysis Continue reading
“Officers can’t even entertain guests at the houses they are living in”
said a Hahira business man,
at
the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session,
speaking in favor of
REZ-2013-09 for proposed new Moody Housing on Val Del Road.
Previously at the Planning Commission Coombs had
asked for use of local contractors
at this new Moody Family Housing project.
Both at GLPC and at this County Commission meeting Coombs
expressed concern about what he called that “botched” previous housing
project.
(Much more detail on Magnolia Grove
here.)
This time he said he thought the new project would be
“of great economic impact in a time when it is really needed”.
What happened to his concerns about use of local contractors?
Here’s the video:
Continue readingAll about public-private partnerships (PPP) and military rank waterfalls by an Atlanta and K Street lawyer at the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session. about REZ-2013-09, introduced by local lawyer Tom Kurrie to answer a question by Commissioner John Page.
G. Scott Rafshoon of
McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP
of Atlanta and K Street in DC spoke for.
His law firm bio says in part:
G. Scott Rafshoon has a diverse legal practice that includes corporate law, government affairs and project finance. Combining these disciplines, Mr. Rafshoon is a leader in the Firm’s public-private partnership (“P3”) practice….
Manages the Firm’s representation of Balfour Beatty Communities, a subsidiary of Balfour Beatty plc, in the privatization of family and unaccompanied personnel housing at military installations around the country. To-date, Mr. Rafshoon has assisted Balfour Beatty with privatizing facilities at 48 Army, Navy and Air Force installations in 23 states and the District of Columbia, in separate transactions valued at more than $4 billion.
This is apparently the same Continue reading
Tom Kurrie said Phase I has a structural issue and Phase II of the proposed Moody Housing has a sinkhole, at the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
Tom Kurrie spoke for
the rezoning for Phase I,
REZ-2013-09,
first giving something unknown to the County Clerk,
and then saying:
Bill Holland and I are the applicants, we represent the owner of the property, the Howard Dasher Company, as well as the developers of the property, Balfour Beatty Communities.
The ubiquitous Bill Holland had spoken the previous morning in the Work Session.
This time, Kurrie said the project had been in the makings for over two years. (Funny how the county didn’t tell us about it until they were ready to rush it through.) He said it was for “prestige housing” for base personnel. He said it was unusual in being 8 miles west of Moody AFB. He introduced Ron Nestor, Senior Vice President of Balfour Beatty, and said it was a public-private partnership. And use would be restricted to Air Force personnel. We’d already heard about such restrictions at the Planning Commission. He said it would be a “gated community”. We’ll see if that actually happens this time, unlike at Nelson Hill just up Val Del Road; you can see both locations on this map:
Kurrie also mentioned professor Noll and geotechnical issues such as sinkholes, Continue reading
County Planner Jason Davenport said he had heard concerns there could be
sinkholes under the proposed new military housing on Val Del Road,
but he recommended approval anyway,
at
the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
6.a. REZ-2013-09 Moody Housing, Val Del Rd R-1 to Residential PD, LC Water & Sewer, ~64 acres
See
Work Session video
for context.
This time, County Planner Jason Davenport said “we have an updated copy on the screen” of the site plan.
He mentioned:
…there has been some communications between the applicant’s agents and really professor Noll and possibly some other colleagues at VSU about some of the geotechnical aspects of this site plan I believe they might speak on the soils and possibly the karst features in this area or the sinkholes or potential for that.
Pictured here is the older site plan, because County Clerk still hadn’t responded to Gretchen’s Open Records Request of the previous morning. State law says the county can take three days to respond, which is great for developers, but not so good for the public.
Here’s the video:
Continue readingThe Air Force prepared an Environmental Assessment about the Moody Housing parcel on Val Del Road, but hasn’t made it public. There was a comment period, but that’s expired now.
This announcement apparently has appeared in the VDT since July,
according to Michael Noll:
The EA is not available online anywhere I’ve looked. This would be the same Air Force that wondered if Lowndes County put stuff online.
To comment, or for more information, contact Mr. Allen Richmond, AFCEC NEPA Center of Excellence Program Manager, by mail at AFCEC/CZN, 2261 Hughes Ave., Lackland AFB, TX 78236-9853, or call (210) 395-8885.
No answer at that number when I called it just now.
The U.S. Air Force Civil Engineer Center (AFCEC) posted this 25 March 2013, NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT CENTER OF EXCELLENCE, Continue reading
Before
tonight’s vote on Moody Housing on Val Del Road,
maybe somebody should review
these administrative waivers from county staff for Nelson Hill,
one for the minimum lot size, and the other for setbacks for the lots along the “lake”.
I haven’t yet found who waived
the requirement for condominiums,
or for their fronts to be staggered,
or for them to be at least 1800 square feet,
or the traffic calming measures,
or how all this fits the submitted site plans,
nor for that matter what happened to
the gate or guards or the road connecting to Grove Point.
Maybe you can find those things in
the materials about Nelson Hill received in response to
an Open Records Request.
If staff can waive all these things without any of them coming up
again for a vote before the elected Commission in a public hearing,
why do we have the elected Commissioners vote in the first place?
Here’s a waiver for lot setbacks next to the pond
by Joe Pritchard “In my official capacity as County Manager”,
22 September 2009, for AAW-2009-06.
Here’s a waiver for minimum lot sizes by Jason Davenport, County Planner, 18 July 2011, for AAW-2011-16:
Good afternoon. Based on recent questions from multiple parties regarding Nelson Hill we thought it best to respond in writing to all. For us the question is “Will the County require a minimum lot size in Nelson Hill?” and our answer is Continue reading
The “SPLOST VII Agreement” has been drafted among the county and the local
cities, but it isn’t quite done yet,
you can’t see what they’re still considering,
and there was no mention of any public hearings.
A local engineering firm is apparently going to get two no-bid contracts,
one for the
Alapaha Water Treatment Plant
and one for
the county’s Land Application Site.
A local attorney represented both
a bond refinancing
and
Moody Housing.
Many renewal contracts were presented, and the long-running
juvenile justice item saw some progress.
They ended with an Executive Session
but didn’t say what for.
Chummy lot, those Commissioners and staff and attorneys and engineers.
Here’s the agenda, with links to the videos and a few notes, including a few links to related posts.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, AUGUST 12, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
- Call to Order
- Invocation
That’s only in the Regular Session, which is 5:30 PM Tuesday 13 August 2013.
- Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
That’s only in the Regular Session, which is 5:30 PM Tuesday 13 August 2013.
- Minutes for Approval
Chairman Bill Slaughter said: “Please take a look at those before tomorrow night.”
Continue reading
County Planner Jason Davenport said the proposed
Moody Family Housing was “in the Nelson Hill neighborhood”,
and there were at least 30 pages of updates, but the
County Clerk wouldn’t show them to LAKE without an Open Records
Request, which hadn’t yet been satisfied at the end of the day.
Commissioners had some questions about acreage and traffic,
some of which were answered by the ubiquitous Attorney Bill Holland,
and others of which were not answered very well by County Engineer
Mike Fletcher, at
this morning’s Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission.
6.b. REZ-2013-09 Moody Housing, Val Del Rd R-1 to Residential PD, LC Water & Sewer, ~64 acres
Davenport said:
As of last Friday we did receive an updated site plan as well as some elevations from the applicants to let us know exactly what the houses would look like, what they’re anticipating. The site plan did have four changes and I’ll hand these out to you in just one minute. We added some notes about the uses. We wanted to make them show us where their proposed signage was and we wanted to make them clarify who would be maintaining the open space and the green space….
He passed those updates out, but the County Clerk refused to supply copies for LAKE without an Open Records Request. Gretchen filed an ORR, but if the county takes the statutory three days, we won’t get copies, nor will you, before the Commission votes tomorrow evening..
Here’s Part 1 of 2: Continue reading