Category Archives: Transportation

Lot size and code enforcement on Old Pine Road, 8 June 2010

Ashley Paulk said he is code enforcement! Let’s go back a year to the rezoning of Old Pine Road on 8 June 2010, as an example of how some things fit together around here. First a bit more about lot size, and then code enforcement and traffic.

Commissioner Richard Lee wanted to know if Coy Brightwell was the spokesperson for the people against. Brightwell said some others would also speak, but R-10 was the closest to a quarter acre lot, and that’s what they were for.

Here’s Part 1 of 3:


Lot size and code enforcement on Old Pine Road, 8 June 2010 Part 1 of 3:
Rezoning REZ-2010-06, Glen Laurel, Old Pine Rd,
Regular monthly meeting of the Lowndes County Commission (LCC)
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 8 June 2010,
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman and John S. Quarterman
for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

A Mr. Mulligan of Bemiss Road wanted to know A Mr. Mulligan of Bemiss Road wanted to know

Who develops these plans, the county, or the developer?
Continue reading →

Dear elected and appointed officals: please send us material —LAKE

LAKE welcomes all elected and appointed officials to comment on this blog, to send submissions to post, or to call us up. Please see our Submissions Policy.

While LAKE would be ecstatic if all elected and appointed bodies did their own PR so we didn’t have to, in the meantime, we’re here, and we do what we can, with a little help from everyone involved.

How much does it cost to pave a county road?

How much does it cost to pave 3.5 miles of dirt road? Apparently $1,413,097.92, or around a million dollars a mile, when the county insists on paving it like a state highway at the expense of safety:

How MuchTo WhomFromFor What
$7,200.00Lovell Engineering AssociatesValdostaDesign of Culvert
$48,010.00 Doyle Hancock & Sons Construc.Doerun Clearing and Grubbing
$1,357,887.92 The Scruggs CompanyValdosta Paving
$1,413,097.92 All contractors Total

This financial information comes from an open records request filed by Carolyn Selby more than a year ago and finally fulfilled 17 March 2011. Copies of all the pages received are in the flickr set.

How many other roads could have been paved for $1.4 million? If this road had been paved like a local rural road, instead of like a state highway (literally according to state highway standards) it would not have cost nearly as much and probably another shorter road could have been paved, too. And if other roads were paved like local roads instead of state highways, how many more of them could be paved? They still wait while this one got paved to the tune of $1.4 million.

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Special Called Meeting 27 April 2010 —VLMPO

When VLMPO has a special called meeting, it announces it well in advance on its facebook page and sends out messages to interested parties, which is how LAKE got the appended agenda for that meeting. Note the item “TIA Update”, where TIA is for the Transportation Investment Act of 2010 which implements T-SPLOST. There is a “Public Comment” item, as well. -jsq
Valdosta-Lowndes MPO

Policy Committee
Special Called Meeting Agenda
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
1:30 PM
Continue reading →

6.a) Four F-650 Trucks for Public Works, some from SPLOST @ VCC 7 April 2011

Do you ever wonder what your regular SPLOST 1% sales tax goes for? Some of it goes to buy vehicles for Valdosta Public Works.

Here’s the video:


6.a) Four F-650 Trucks for Public Works, some from SPLOST @ VCC 7 April 2011
Regular monthly meeting of the Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 April 2011,
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

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Comment Period for VLMPO Participation Plan

Want to keep track of the road and bridge projects proposed by the various cities and Lowndes County, including those submitted for T-SPLOST funding? The Valdosta-Lowndes County Metropolitan Planning Organization (VLMPO) compiles them all in one place and makes them available for public comment and review.

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Public Notice of a Public Comment and Review Period and Public Open House

In accordance with requirements set forth in 23 CFR 450.316, 42 USC 2000d, Executive Order 12898, and Executive Order 13166, and other laws and regulations; the Valdosta-Lowndes Metropolitan Planning Organization (VLMPO) has developed the Draft Public Participation Plan (PPP) which includes a Limited-English Proficiency Plan and Title VI Compliance Plan, for the Valdosta Metropolitan Planning Area which includes all of Lowndes County and portions of Berrien and Lanier Counties.

This PPP is available for public review and comment from April 15, 2011

Continue reading →

T-SPLOST Executive Committee —Ashley Paulk of LCC at LCDP (Part 2)

He says there’s a lot more to learn, T-SPLOST has got a good regional executive committee, etc., but:
Right now, I do not have a good or warm fuzzy feeling about this. That could change.
And previously he said if it did change, he would come back and tell us about it.

That was Ashley Paulk, Chairman of the Lowndes County Commission (LCC), talking at the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP) monthly meeting about T-SPLOST.

Here’s the video:


Ashley Paulk, Chairman of the Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
explains T-SPLOST (HB 277) and the Transportation Investment Act of 2010
at the monthly meeting of the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
Gretchen Quarterman (Chair), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Next: Questions.

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T-SPLOST has a stick —Ashley Paulk of LCC at LCDP (Part 1)

Gretchen Quarterman, Chair of the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP), thanks Corey Hull of VLMPO and says the next speaker will give us some inside knowledge about T-SPLOST. Ashley Paulk, Chairman of the Lowndes County Commission (LCC) is not a fan of T-SPLOST. He says:
Y’all know I’m on the executive committee, so I guess I should be a salesman. But I’m sorry. Y’all know me pretty well, I’ve got to really be not just a little bit correct, but it’s got to be good for the people. I think what disturbs me, is when you’ve got to put something in the law that’s a stick, carrot and stick, you don’t do what I’ve said you’re going to get punished.
He made that point at least three times.

He also doesn’t like Continue reading →

T-SPLOST Referendum in 2012 —Corey Hull (Part 6)

OK, so the regional executive committee selects from the T-SPLOST lists submitted by the local jurisdications and boomaranged through GDOT. Then what? Corey Hull of VLMPO says:

Public meetings will be held in August and September before the regional transportation roundtable meets before October 15th; that’s what their deadline is to vote….

The referendum will be in the summer of 2012 … July or August 2012….

Then the tax begins January 2013.

Here’s the video:


Corey Hull of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Metropolitan Planning Organization (VLMPO)
explains T-SPLOST (HB 277) and the Transportation Investment Act of 2010
at the monthly meeting of the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
Gretchen Quarterman (Chair), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

  • Part 1: T-SPLOST Explained —Corey Hull of VLMPO at LCDP
  • Part 2: T-SPLOST Business plan —Corey Hull of VLMPO at LCDP
  • Part 3: T-SPLOST Project Lists —Corey Hull of VLMPO at LCDP
  • Part 4: T-SPLOST Penalties and LMIG —Corey Hull of VLMPO at LCDP
  • Part 5: T-SPLOST Projects to GDOT —Corey Hull of VLMPO at LCDP
  • Part 6: T-SPLOST Referendum in 2012 —Corey Hull

Next: Ashley Paulk talks about the T-SPLOST executive committee.

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T-SPLOST Projects to GDOT —Corey Hull of VLMPO at LCDP (Part 5)

OK, so local jurisdictions have submitted their T-SPLOST project lists and if their regional roundtable doesn’t have a combined list ready for the voters in time, there are penalties. So what’s the next step?

Corey Hull of VLMPO explains that next they go to GDOT and then back.

On April 13th we have to turn those projects in to the Georgia Department of Transportation.

…

On June 1st or thereabouts, the executive committee that Chairman Paulk is on is gonna receive the unconstrained project list. It won’t be … constrained to the amount of money the economists say we will receive.

…

It is that executive committee’s responsibility to go through and select projects and select the projects off that we can afford for the region.

Here’s the video:


Corey Hull of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Metropolitan Planning Organization (VLMPO)
explains T-SPLOST (HB 277) and the Transportation Investment Act of 2010
at the monthly meeting of the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
Gretchen Quarterman (Chair), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Next: Referendum in 2012.

-jsq