Category Archives: Transportation

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 →

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 →

Green bonds for rooftop solar?

What if the Industrial Authority used its bond-issuing power to finance rooftop solar? And what if it combined that with utility-scale solar projects on its own industrial park lands, and for example at the airport, or at the new Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant?

Here’s the idea, in a report by Citi GPS, Energy Darwinism: The Evolution of the Energy Industry, October 2013, pages 48-49,

It is not just the technology that is evolving in the solar industry; the financing of solar projects, both residential and utility-scale is evolving quickly. The most notable development here has been in the form of solar leasing, whereby the rooftop panels are owned by a third party who effectively leases the rooftop from the home/factory/office owner, the latter receiving payment normally through a reduction in electricity bills paid for by the lessee. This provides the benefits of cheaper and cleaner solar electricity to the homeowner, whilst negating the need for the significant initial capital outlay. The panel owner or lessee earns their return via incentive mechanisms such as the U.S. Investment Tax Credit, and via the sale of the electricity back to the local utility. This financing mechanism has proved particularly successful in the U.S. and is gaining traction in the UK, with companies in other countries looking to follow suit.

This is what Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning suggested back in May that SO might do. But we don’t have to wait on Southern Company or Georgia Power.

At the utility scale level, the emergence of innovative financing vehicles such as green bonds Continue reading →

Inexpensive electric cars

Plug one into solar panels on your roof, and you’ve got a solar powered car.

Zachary Shahan wrote for evcentral.org today, 11 Electric Cars Priced Lower than the Average New Car, including a list of November prices starting less than $16,000 and no more than $30,000:

  1. Nissan Leaf – $21,300
  2. Chevy Volt – $26,685
  3. Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid – $27,490
  4. Ford C-Max Energi – $28,943
  5. smart electric drive – $12,490
  6. Ford Focus Electric – $27,700
  7. Chevy Spark EV – $19,995
  8. Mitsubishi i – $15,495
  9. Fiat 500e – $24,300
  10. Wheego Whip — $18,995
  11. Wheego LiFe — $25,495

-jsq

Check your Pipeline, Dollar General, 3 special tax lighting districts, and mosquitos @ LCC 2013-11-12

Sabal Trail pipeline presentation is December 9th like the front page of the VDT said. The online agenda is still incorrect a month later about Green Lane which is still listed as “For consideration” when it should be listed as a Public Hearing. Alapaha Water Treatment Plant was voted on this time, as was mysteriously appearing “Consideration of Back Pay for 911 Employees”.

Like the the Planning Commission, they tabled Nottinghill. With much less discussion than the Planning Commission, they approved yet another Dollar General. Plus three decorative special tax lighting districts, mosquito control, pump replacement, the annual MIDS bus service contract, a beer license, something about NOAA, and an agreement with the Lowndes County Board of Elections for paying employees.

Here’s the agenda. See also the videos of the previous morning’s Work Session.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
AMENDED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Check our work, esp. about the pipeline –Gretchen Quarterman @ LCC 2013-11-12

Fan of local government Gretchen suggested it “check our work” before whipsawing citizens in for items that didn’t happen or failing to schedule a public hearing even after the Chairman asked for it, plus failing do deliver what was promised in open records requests, at the 12 November 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session. Today she’s checking their work at their secretive Retreat Work Session.

At the Regular Session she noted that the Sabal Trail item that was misscheduled for the previous morning caused several citizens to take off work to come in for something that didn’t happen. (You can find out more about that pipeline Saturday morning at 10AM at the SpectraBusters Informational Meeting.

She mentioned the Green Lane item that the Chairman had asked Continue reading →

No Sabal Trail, Dollar General, 3 special tax lighting districts, and mosquitos @ LCC 2013-11-11

“We apologize for any inconvenience.” No Sabal Trail pipeline presentation this time; yes it really is December 9th like the front page of the VDT said. So the online agenda was incorrect, and it’s still incorrect about Green Lane which is still listed as “For consideration” when it should be listed as a Public Hearing. And another item was listed so obscurely on the agenda that a Commissioner had to ask “exactly where is this?” A report turned into an agenda item for the Alapaha Water Treatment Plant, and an item for “Consideration of Back Pay for 911 Employees” has appeared on the amended agenda with no public discussion. How are citizens to know what their elected officials are going to vote on tonight at 5:30 PM if the agenda changes all the time yet is still incorrect?

Plus they could take up Nottinghill even though the Planning Commission recommended tabling, there’s yet another Dollar General proposed (see Planning Commission video, three decorative special tax lighting districts, mosquito control, pump replacement, the annual MIDS bus service contract, a beer license, the return of Green Lane (why isn’t that one a pubic hearing as promised last time?) something about NOAA, and an agreement with the Lowndes County Board of Elections: will they stop changing the precincts every year?

Here’s the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
AMENDED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Sabal Trail, Dollar General, 3 special tax lighting districts, and mosquitos @ LCC 2013-11-11

Nevermind what the front page of the VDT said about December 9th: the Sabal Trail pipeline presentation is on the agenda for Monday morning, 8:30 AM. Or maybe Tuesday evening, 5:30 PM; it doesn’t say, but if they’re sticking to at least the Work Session part of the request from Demarcus Marshall, it’s tomorrow morning.

Plus they could take up Nottinghill even though the Planning Commission recommended tabling, there’s yet another Dollar General proposed (see Planning Commission video, three decorative special tax lighting districts, mosquito control, pump replacement, the annual MIDS bus service contract, a beer license, the return of Green Lane (why isn’t that one a pubic hearing as promised last time?) something about NOAA, and an agreement with the Lowndes County Board of Elections: will they stop changing the precincts every year?

Here’s the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
AMENDED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Videos: Pipeline, health, insurance, library, and alcohol @ LCC 2013-10-22

The big event was that citizens speaking about the pipeline got four of five Commissioners to come down and listen afterwards. And in a surprise addition to the agenda D.A. J. David Miller asked for and got approval for a victim assistance program. All this and insurance plan, health plan, a road closing, a grant proposal to renovate the Library (did the Commissioners get the whole board packet this time?) and let’s not forget a special performance on fire by Chairman Bill Slaughter, plus apparently the County Commission is in charge of rain like it’s in charge of alcohol.

Here’s the agenda with links to the videos, and a few notes. See also the previous morning’s Work Session.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Videos: VLMPO Policy Committee @ VLMPO 2013-10-29

I commend VLMPO for addressing real issues and getting a broad variety of organizations to show up. However, map after map on the consultant’s slides showed a straight-line highway going from Moody’s front gate to Hahira:

Highway straight line from Moody AFB to Hahira?

There is no such road. There better not be, since it would go straight through my property and would drive development right through agricultural and forestry areas that the Comprehensive Plan says aren’t supposed to be developed,. not to mention the Moody MAZ. I’m told the consultant is going to fix this.

I have my doubts, because Continue reading →