Category Archives: Valdosta City Council

ADS fails to recycle, appeals DSS ruling anyway

Why is Lowndes County leaving the City of Valdosta to subsidize the county’s failed “exclusive franchise”? And is ADS’ failure to recycle recyling a breach of its contract with the county?

Adam Floyd wrote on the front page of the VDT today, Advanced Disposal appeals Deep South decision,

Requests made to Advanced Disposal Service’s corporate office and Robert Norman, the lawyer who filed the appeal, to learn the company’s reasoning behind the appeal were not returned by press time.

Meanwhile, the City of Valdosta’s recycling center has denied Advanced Disposal further access to its facilities, citing concerns about volume.

John Whitehead III, deputy city manager for operations, said that the center could not process the company’s deliveries fast enough, and material was beginning to pile up. The suspension is temporary, Whitehead said, and was done to ensure that the city could process its recycling which increases during the holidays.

“We had been taking our recycling to the City of Valdosta, and Monday they cut us off without any notice,” said Greg Walk, local general manager for Advanced Disposal. “We’ve constructed a bunker at the landfill, and the material that is being collected in that bunker will be taken to a processing plant in Milledgeville.”

The company had to dispose of recycled materials collected Monday and Tuesday but continued recycling service Wednesday.

“It was the last thing we wanted to do to our recyclables, but we responded as quickly as possible,” said Walk.

Does that mean the city of Valdosta sent the recycling to the landfill? And is that a violation of the county’s contract with ADS?

-jsq

Tybee Island will not scan tourist license plates

Maybe Lowndes County could also welcome tourists instead of using them as a ticketing revenue stream that’s costing us $200,000 to process. And maybe both Lowndes County and Valdosta could put their agenda packets online like tiny (population 3,067) Tybee Island does.

Jim Galloway wrote for the AJC today, Your daily jolt: Tybee Island nixes license plate surveillance,

Tybee Island has decided that the National Security Agency isn’t a model worth following. On Monday, The coastal city’s council retracted its approval of a pair of license plate scanners intended to greet tourists. From the Savannah Morning News:
Citing mostly negative feedback from the public and concerns over how the information from the scanners would translate to a tourism study being conducted by a local professor, the council instead voted to purchase a higher quality model of the current hose-like vehicle counter the city has stretched over U.S. 80.

Meanwhile, the Lowndes County Sheriff’s office last year was Continue reading →

Agenda! yes Nottinghill and new chair and vice-chair, 1 Hahira, 4 Valdosta @ GLPC 2013-11-25

Agenda page 2 @ GLPC 2013-11-25 How would you as a citizen have known Nottinghill is on the real agenda they’re using right now in the Planning Commission meeting? What if you wanted to speak for or against in that public hearing? The one in the last post wasn’t the real agenda, and even some people who work for local governments didn’t know that.

Here is the real agenda, photographed by Gretchen just now, followed by text version. It also contains an additional item about election of a new Chair and Vice Chair.

Agenda page 1 @ GLPC 2013-11-25

Update: I had the date of this meeting wrong in the transcription; fixed now to November 25, 2013. If the county published the agendas and minutes of the Planning Commission, nobody would have to be transcribing by hand….

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

Monday, November 25, 2013* 5:30 P.M. * Public Hearing

CALL TO ORDER, INVOCATION, PLEDGE

  1. Approval of the Minutes: October 28, 2013

CITY OF HAHIRA CASE:

FINAL ACTION by the City of Hahira Mayor-Council
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Hahira City Hall, 102 S. Church Street, Hahira, Georgia
7:30 p.m.
  1. HA-2013-05 Wendy Black
    Property Location: 7495 Union Road
    Request for Variance from Section 10-6 of the Hahira Zoning Ordinance pertaining to size requirements for signs

CITY OF VALDOSTA CASES:

FINAL ACTION by the City of Valdosta Mayor-Council
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Valdosta City Hall, 216 E. Central Avenue, Valdosta, Georgia
Council Chambers, 2nd Floor
5:30 p.m.
  1. CU-2013-04 Cynthia McDougle
    Property Location: 808 Bethune Street
    Request for a Conditional Use Permit to establish a personal care home for 4-6 residents in a Single-Family Residential (R10) zoning district
  2. CU-2013-05 Jessie Marshall, III
    Property Location: 625 East Gordon Street
    Request for a Conditional Use Permit to establish a church in a Single-Family Residential (R-6) zoning district
  3. CU-2013-06 Theresa Patterson
    Property Location: 108 East Adair Street
    Request for a Conditional Use Permit to establish a personal care home for 4-6 residents in a Residential Professional (R-P) zoning district
  4. VA-2013-16 Mac Mackey
    Property Location: 103 B Avenue
    Request to rezone 2.2 acres from Manufacturing/Distribution (M-2) to Wholesale Light Industrial (M-1)

Agenda page 2 @ GLPC 2013-11-25

LOWNDES COUNTY CASES:

FINAL ACTION by the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Lowndes County Judicial and Administrative Complex
Commission Chambers, 2nd Floor
327 North Ashley Strcet, Valdosta, Georgia
5:30 p.m.
  1. REZ-2013-11 Nottinghill
    Location: Orr Road, Valdosta, Georgia
    Request to rezone 14.99 acres from R-A (Residential Agricultural) to R-21 (Medium Density Residential)
    *Note: This case was tabled from the GLPC’s September 29th and October 28th, 2013, regular mtg.

    REZ-2013-11 Nottinghill was tabled by GLPC 30 September 2013 and again 28 October 2013. REZ-2013-11 was also tabled by the Lowndes County Commission 8 October 2013 and 12 November 2013, specifically until the County Commission’s 10 December 2013 meeting.

OTHER BUSINESS

  1. Attendance policy for appointed Boards
  2. Election of 2014 GLPC Chair and Vice Chair
  3. GLPC 2014 Meeting Schedule

ADJOURNMENT

-jsq

Agenda: No Nottinghill and no county cases, 1 Hahira, 4 Valdosta @ GLPC 2013-11-25

I guessed wrong: Nottinghill is not on the agenda. Yet the County Commission decided at its November meeting to hear Nottinghill at its 10 December 2013 meeting, which will be without the Planning Commission ever having discussed this item. How is that right? If Planning Commission agendas were made public some days before the meetings, the public could point out things like this in time for them to be fixed.

REZ-2013-11 Nottinghill was tabled by GLPC 30 September 2013 and again 28 October 2013. REZ-2013-11 was also tabled by the Lowndes County Commission 8 October 2013 and 12 November 2013, specifically until the County Commission’s 10 December 2013 meeting. So if the Planning Commission doesn’t discuss Nottinghill tonight, the County Commission can vote on it in December without the Planning Commission ever having discussed it.

Here’s the agenda for tonight, supplied by an informant about an hour ago. Will anyone from the county even show up, since without Nottinghill there are no county cases on the agenda? Continue reading →

No public agenda for Planning Commission today @ GLPC 2013-11-25

Why so secretive, planning board that recommends on issues that affect citizens all over Lowndes County? Where is your agenda for your meeting at 5:30 PM today? Sure, Gretchen only asked for it today, but why does LAKE have to wheedle it out of somebody? Why don’t you or the county publish it so the public can see? Do you, the affected public, agree with Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter that transparency is not a problem?

We can guess the proposed Nottinghill subdivision will be back, since it got tabled (again) at GLPC’s October meeting. Also probably the attendance policy, since last time the GLPC Chairman wasn’t there and only 6 of 11 Commissioners showed up. But what else? And why should have to guess what public business a public board is taking up tonight? Why do we have this Planning Commission if it doesn’t take its responsibilities to the citizens of this county seriously enough to show up or to tell us what it’s doing?

Lowndes County doesn’t even have today’s meeting on its public calendar. The City of Valdosta does; here’s Valdosta’s GLPC listing for today: Continue reading →

Why south Georgia actions start in Lowndes County and Valdosta

The biggest population center for 80 miles around is Valdosta and Lowndes County.

Map of population around Valdosta and Lowndes County Albany to the northwest actually has more people than Valdosta, but Dougherty County has fewer than Lowndes County. Beyond Albany it’s Columbus and then Auburn is about the same size as Valdosta.

Farther north it’s Warner Robins and Macon. Due west Dothan it’s Dothan. The closest bigger place is Tallahassee and Leon County, Florida to the southwest. Farther south it’s Gainesville, then Orlando and Tampa. East it’s Savannah, and of course Jacksonville.

History of population around Valdosta and Lowndes County

On this handy interactive google population comparison chart, you can see in the 3-6,000 range: Adel, Ashburn, and Lakeland.

14-20,000: Americus, Brunswick, Moultrie, Thomasville, Tifton, and Waycross.

55-60,000: Auburn and Valdosta.

67-80,000: Continue reading →

Valdosta force main GEFA loan awarded

Valdosta city PR today, City Receives $36.7 million GEFA Loan to Move Forward with Force Main Project,

The City of Valdosta was awarded a $36.7 million Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) loan by the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA), on Nov. 14, 2013.

The city will use the low-interest loan to finance the construction of two major pump stations, two minor pump stations, a 6-mile 32-inch and 40-inch force main, a headworks structure with grit removal and bar screens, and a 6-million gallon equalization basin. Wastewater will be gravity fed to the existing site of the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) for final treatment and discharged utilizing the existing plant outfall, until the relocation of the plant is completed in November 2015.

Easement Exhibit Context

This project will Continue reading →

We desperately need your help –Carol Singletary @ VCC 2013-11-07

A local mom said she was one of many landowners being bullied by a pipeline company and asked for help from local leaders, at the 7 November 2013 Valdosta City Council Regular Session.

Carol Singletary @ VCC 2013-11-07

Here’s Part 1 of 2:

Carol Singletary’s impassioned and reasoned plea got a response from Mayor John Gayle, even if it was only Continue reading →

All the rest of you are new –Sidney Blanton on SPLOST @ LCC 2013-10-22

A citizen expressed concerns about lack of transparency in SPLOST, at the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session 2013-10-22.

Video. He remarked that Commissioner Joyce Evans was the only one he knew, all the rest were new.

He said he would also talk to the Valdosta City Council that Thursday. (Later I told him they had cancelled that meeting due to lack of agenda items; he did speak at the following Valdosta City Council meeting.) He said he wanted the city to say the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant was their first priority, and he attested that when he used to crop tobacco on that site it was underwater then when it flooded.

He especially didn’t like that the county didn’t list what projects it was going to fund with SPLOST. I agree with him about that part.

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

Videos: Steward, Chancy, VLCIA, Nottinghill, and Teramore @ GLPC 2013-10-28

Prequel of the bogus VLMPO maps! Maybe the Valdosta City Council tonight will clarify why the Industrial Authority is asking it to annex and rezone a parcel it apparently does not own. Here’s what the Planning Commission said about that, plus rezonings in Dasher (no speakers and approved unanimously) and Hahira (tabled at request of applicant; see separate post for more on that one), plus two in Lowndes County: Teramore (yes, it’s Dollar General again, and they unanimously recommended it), and Nottinghill is back and got tabled again.

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

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

Monday, October 28, 2013* 5:30 P.M. * Public Hearing

Continue reading →