Category Archives: Planning

Videos: ZBOA approved UHS Pruitt variance at Two Mile Branch on Lee Street @ ZBOA 2013-09-10

The Zoning Board of Appeals approved a variance on stream buffers for the medical expansion across Two Mile Branch, as promised at the Planning Commission and Valdosta City Council.

Here’s the agenda with a few links and notes.

Valdosta – Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals
AGENDA
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
2:30 p.m.
  1. Call to Order

CITY OF VALDOSTA CASES:

  1. APP-2013-09 – RREMC Restaurants LLC (Denny’s; 1328 N St Augustine Road)
    Variance to LDR Section 214-7 as it pertains to exterior building materials

    Approved unanimously, plus some after-discussion about sheet metal.

  2. APP-2013-10 — UHS-Pruitt Corporation (Parkwood Developmental Center; 1501 N Lee St.)
    Variance to LDR Section 214-1 Table 2 as it pertains to rear yard setbacks in O-P Zoning and to LDR Section 310-112(A)(1) as it pertains to stream buffers

    Approved with two dissenting votes, by Nancy Hobby and Gretchen Quarterman.

OTHER BUSINESS:

Continue reading →

New Nottinghill tabled @ GLPC 2013-09-30

The new Nottinghill development on Orr Road (instead of Cat Creek Road) has been tabled at request of the developer and county staff; something about signature collection, Gretchen reports from the GLPC meeting. More later.

GLPC didn’t list any street numbers of parcel numbers, but there’s only one property on Orr Road that’s 14.99 acres, owned by William Henry Wright, backing up to his property on Stafford Wright Road.

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Orr, Barrington, Whitewater, New Statenville + VLD * 2 + Dasher + Hahira variance @ GLPC 2013-09-30

A county developer has moved roads, plus 3 out of 5 local cities at the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission tonight, plus “Attendance policy for appointed Boards”: are we going to expect them to show up now? A Hahira variance, a Valdosta conditional use permit and a rezoning, a Dasher zoning text amendment, and rezonings on four Lowndes County roads, including New Statenville Highway, Whitewater Road @ Williams Road, Barrington Drive @ Bemiss Road, and Orr Road.

That Orr Road one uses the same name, Nottinghill, as one that on Cat Creek Road that previously got tabled and never came back. GLPC didn’t list any street numbers of parcel numbers, but there’s only one property on Orr Road that’s 14.99 acres, owned by William Henry Wright, backing up to his property on Stafford Wright Road. Have the Nottinghill developers made a deal with him for Orr Road since the neighbors didn’t want them on Cat Creek Road?

Here’s the agenda. Continue reading →

Common Community Vision for Lowndes County

What do you the citizens want Lowndes County to be? Here’s a chance to speak up, so when somebody asks where were you when the decisions were being made, you don’t have to answer “lying on the couch watching television.” (Thanks to Nolen Cox for that phrase.)

Corey Hull wrote on facebook today, Help Spread the Word for the Future of Lowndes County,

My office is conducting a survey and gathering public input on Facebook (go to www.facebook.com/valdostalowndesmpo) about what they want the Lowndes County Common Community Vision to be ( www.bit.ly/LowndesCCV). So far our participation has been low. I am calling on all of you to encourage your friends, family and colleagues to spread the word and let us know what you think about the future of Lowndes County and its cities.

Over the next two months there will be future opportunities for public input so stay tuned.

Thanks for your help.

On the Southern Georgia Regional Commission’s website, Lowndes County Common Community Vision, Continue reading →

Divest VSU of fossil fuels –petition

The divestment movement has come to VSU, thanks to Danielle Jordan and SAVE! -jsq

Petition: Divest Valdosta State From Fossil Fuels

To: VSU Administration and VSU Board of Trustees

We are asking Valdosta State University to:

  1. Disclose information on its investments
  2. To divest its holdings from fossil fuels within 5 years
  3. Freeze any new investments in the fossil fuel industry immediately

Why is this important?

As climate change progresses, we become more aware of the hazardous consequences that manifest in relation to a warming planet. We understand that in order to combat the issue, we have to alter our daily practices. However. the lobbying power of the major fuel companies has diminished the voices and power of individuals within our political system. Subsequently, policy has been written to favor the interests of the companies benefiting from the exploitation of our environment.

We are asking Valdosta State to distance itself from this industry and pursue alternatives, knowing that if we wish to address climate change, a collaborative effort must be made. By joining this movement, we can create a more ethical campus and move in the direction of sustainability.

ZBOA considers UHS Pruitt variance at Two Mile Branch on Lee Street @ ZBOA 2013-09-10

Right about now the Zoning Board of Appeals is considering a variance on stream buffers for the medical expansion across Two Mile Branch, as promised at the Planning Commission and Valdosta City Council. It never flooded there before, right? Nevermind that flood control measures encourage settling too close and provoke severe flooding events and just yesterday I heard people complaining about water running over Lee Street just downstream from the subject location. How will adding more impervious cover right next to the creek help that flooding?

Here’s the agenda.

Valdosta – Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals
AGENDA
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
2:30 p.m.
  1. Call to Order

CITY OF VALDOSTA CASES:

  1. APP-2013-09 – RREMC Restaurants LLC (Denny’s; 1328 N St Augustine Road)
    Variance to LDR Section 214-7 as it pertains to exterior building materials
  2. APP-2013-10 — UHS-Pruitt Corporation (Parkwood Developmental Center; 1501 N Lee St.)
    Variance to LDR Section 214-1 Table 2 as it pertains to rear yard setbacks in O-P Zoning and to LDR Section 310-112(A)(1) as it pertains to stream buffers

OTHER BUSINESS:

  1. Attendance Policy
  2. Approval of Minutes:
    • August 6, 2013
    • July 9, 2013 (revised to correct Case # scriveners errors)
  3. Adjournment

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Flood control measures encourage settling too close and provoke severe flooding events

Flood control to keep water out of houses seems like a good idea, but it turns out that it causes the flood control measures to keep needing to be raised higher, and it encourages people to build too close to flooding areas, plus “rare and catastrophic events take place”. Like the 2009 “700 year flood” and the four or more floods this year that have overflowed the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant. In our case, there are also the issues of widespread clearcutting and buildings and streets with impervious cover. The local runoff containment requirements in the various local government zoning codes may be like levees: “flood control structures might even increase flood risk as protection from frequent flooding reduces perceptions of risk”.

This encourages human settlements in floodplain areas, which are then vulnerable to high-consequence and low-probability events.
Much simpler just not to give out building permits for flood zones. Or we could put medical buildings right next to a creek, assuming because it’s never flooded it never will….

Socio-hydrology: conceptualising human-flood interactions, G. Di Baldassarre, A. Viglione, G. Carr, L. Kuil, J. L. Salinas, and G. Bloschl, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 3295–3303, 2013 doi:10.5194/hess-17-3295-2013, © Author(s) 2013. CC Attribution 3.0 License.

Abstract. Over history, humankind has tended to settle near streams Continue reading →

Developing across Two Mile Branch and a sidewalk @ VCC 2013-09-05

Magaret Ellen Hill is Employee of the month, and they rejected the sidewalk bids putting them out for rebid, after they unanimously approved the medical development to span One Two Mile Branch at the Valdosta City Council Regular Session of 5 September 2013.

Here’s the agenda, with links to the videos, and a few notes.

AGENDA
REGULAR MEETING OF THE VALDOSTA CITY COUNCIL
5:30 PM Thursday, September 5, 2013
COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL
  1. Opening Ceremonies
    1. Call to Order
    2. Invocation
    3. Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag
  2. Awards and Presentations
    1. Consideration of the September, 2013 Employee of the Month Award (Margaret Ellen Hill, Main Street Department).

      She helped extend Downtown Valdosta Farm Days by two months.

  3. Minutes Approval
    1. Valdosta City Council – Regular Meeting – Aug 22, 2013 5:30 PM

      Approved unanimously with no changes.

  4. Public Hearings

    UHS Pruitt VA-2013-12 CU-2013-02 Continue reading →

Dollar General (Teramore Development) @ GLPC 2013-08-26

Commissioner Franklin Bailey summed up the Dollar General proposal for Hahira:

There’s just a lot here we don’t have.

Hahira City Council votes tonight on the Teramore Development items, which are for a Dollar General (like the one in Naylor), as we discovered at the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission Regular Session 26 August 2013, even though the agenda doesn’t say. GLPC recommended for it, even though engineering details hadn’t been done for water management, the site plan wasn’t finalized, and no solution was proposed for Dollar General’s corporate habit of using sidewalks for cart storage, among many other issues.

309 W Main, Hahira, Tax Assessors map

Planning Commission Agenda for 2013-08-26, with links to the videos: Continue reading →

Pruitt Corp. across One Mile Branch and a sidewalk @ VCC 2013-09-05

The medical development to span One Mile Branch recommended by the Planning Commission is up for a vote tonight, along with sidewalk bids elsewhere, by the Valdosta City Council.

Plus September, 2013 Employee of the Month is Margaret Ellen Hill, Main Street Department.

Here’s the agenda:

AGENDA
REGULAR MEETING OF THE VALDOSTA CITY COUNCIL
5:30 PM Thursday, September 5, 2013
COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL
  1. Opening Ceremonies
    1. Call to Order
    2. Invocation
    3. Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag
  2. Awards and Presentations
    1. Consideration of the September, 2013 Employee of the Month Award (Margaret Ellen Hill, Main Street Department).
  3. Minutes Approval
    1. Valdosta City Council – Regular Meeting – Aug 22, 2013 5:30 PM
  4. Public Hearings
    1. Consideration of an Ordinance to rezone 4.96 acres from Single-Family Residential (R- 6) and (R-10) to Office-Professional (O-P) as requested by UHS Pruitt Corporation (File No. VA-2013-12). The property is located at 1501 North Lee Street. The Greater Lowndes Planning Commission reviewed this request at their August Regular Meeting and recommended approval (7-0 vote).
    2. Consideration of an Ordinance for a Conditional Use Permit to allow a Residential Care Facility in Office-Professional (O-P) zoning as requested by UHS-Pruitt Corporation (File No. CU-2013-02). The property is located at 1501 North Lee Street. The Greater Lowndes Planning Commission reviewed this request at their August Regular Meeting and recommended approval with five conditions (7-0 vote).
  5. Bids, Contracts, Agreements and Expenditures
    1. Consideration of bids for the Sidewalk Installation Project on Lamar Street and North Oak Street.
  6. City Manager’s Report
  7. Council Comments
  8. Citizens to be Heard
  9. Adjournment

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