Mayor Scott James added two council members each as observers to each of the
ARPA fund disbursment committees, for
non-profits
and for
for-profit businesses.
The Hahira rezoning was withdrawn by the applicant, but all the other
rezonings were heard by the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission last month, including the contentious
REZ-2022-07 Hayden Park, Camelot Crossing and Val Del Road,
which has already come before the Lowndes County Commission
once
and is back again today.
Here is the
agenda.
The board packet is
on the LAKE website,
The Valdosta rezoning items were sent by City Planner Matt Martin.
The Lowndes County rezoning items were received in response to a LAKE open records request.
The county did not send the agenda nor the minutes of the previous meeting, both of which LAKE got off the county website.
The county also did not send the Valdosta items, in apparent violation of the Georgia Open Records Act (GORA).
Greater Lowndes Planning Commission
~ Lowndes County ~ City of Valdosta ~ City of Dasher ~
~ City of Hahira ~ City of Lake Park ~ City of Remerton ~
Monday, March 21, 2022 5:30 P.M. Work Session
Monday, March 28, 2022 5:30 P.M. Regular Session
Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue, Valdosta, Georgia
The Camelot Crossing subdivision, with no currently-planned outlet on Val Del Road,
was tabled for two weeks at the request of the opponents, who filled the room.
The county also still has an issue with a chokepoint through which both exits route,
as mentioned by Commissioner Clay Griner, who made the motion to table, seconded by Demarcus Marshall.
Commissioner Mark Wisenbaker said there was an outlet onto Old US 41 North, and he voted against tabling.
An updated plan that no longer has any egress onto Val Del Road arrived Friday for
6.b. REZ-2022-07 Hayden Park.
Nonetheless, the turn lanes on Val Del Road were already scheduled as a T-SPLOST project, expected to be completed in 2023.
Not clear whether there are two egress points in the current plan.
The agenda item
for
REZ-2022-07 Hayden Park, Camelot Crossing & Val Del Rd
says “BUDGET IMPACT: N/A” for “a mixture of residential and commercial sites for development in various stages.”
Yet the Lowndes County Commission board packet contains 52 pages of traffic study for the intersection of Val Del Road and North Valdosta Road.
Staff notes “Plans for two left-turn lanes from Val Del to North Valdosta Road are anticipated to be complete by 2023.”
The applicant’s Letter of intent says, “Lowndes County has been wise to pro-actively invest in infrastructure here, anticipating and preparing for new growth.” Continue reading →
A candidate for Superior Court Judge spoke in
Citizens Wishing to Be Heard,
which is an interesting change of policy; previously the Commission
didn’t allow candidates for office to speak in CWTBH.
The replacement for the built-on detention pond on Little Viking Road turns out to be 0.277 acres horse-shoed around it.
That’s what was quit-claimed to Lowndes County Tuesday.
Yesterday morning they read out the items with almost no discussion,
at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session,
which lasted 13 minutes.
They vote this evening at 5:30 PM.
The audio feed in the room is still not working, thus the second or so of no sound at the start. For the thousands of dollars they have spent on the system, it would be nice if the sound in the room worked.
More road building TIA projects to promote more sprawl,
a redot to
let a developer off the hook for not doing drainage as required,
a subdivision special tax lighting district,
several water projects in already-developed areas,
a grant to prevent juvenile delinquency,
and the annual renewal of permits for both waste collection companies,
all on
the agenda
for this morning’s Lowndes County Work Session, for voting Tuesday evening.
Funny how they never count the later cost of box culverts and water main extensions when they approve rezonings for subdivisions,
but here some of those are later.
That
former detention pond site is actually parcel 0144 205A now,
and it’s at
4115 Little Viking Road.
They also don’t tell we the taxpayers and voters where the new detention area is.
HISTORY, FACTS AND ISSUES: Map 0144 Parcel 205 owned by Rubber Tire,
LLC was originally designed for the entire lot to be one of the
detention areas for Roswell Place Subdivision and has been the
detention area since the subdivision was built. Rubber Tire, LLC had
the detention area redesigned, approved, and constructed so the lot
could become a buildable lot. Lowndes County will need to Quit Claim
the existing detention area back to Rubber Tire, LLC and accept a
drainage easement for the new detention area from Rubber Tire, LLC.
The agenda is below.
The board packet will follow when LAKE gets it.
My fault this time: I didn’t send the open records request.
Although it is still mysterious why Lowndes County doesn’t put the board packet
on its own website like many counties larger and smaller have been doing for years in Georgia and Florida.
The rudimentary expanded agenda with one-sheet agenda items is on the LAKE website.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2022, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2022, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
The Commissioners unanimously denied the rezoning for the
subdivision on Miller Bridge Road.
Applicants spoke a minute over their time, yet did not present the slides
they said the previous morning they were going to present;
we include scans of those slides here for historical reference,
for when the next subdivision like this comes up, next week or next year.
Commissioners unanimously approved the other two rezonings.
Commissioner Mark Wisenbaker wanted to know if this was for private wells.
County Planner JD Dillard said the application was for a community well,
and while the lots were big enough for private wells, the soils had
not been tested for that.
Don Powell spoke for the applicant.
Jesse Bush also spoke for, listing many things they were not there to talk about,
including aquifer recharge or community wells.
He said the only question was six homes (which the landowner can do by right anyway) or twelve homes.
Chairman Bill Slaughter cut them off saying he’d given them an extra minute,
and he’d give the other side an extra minute.
Brad Folsom spoke against on behalf of a room full and a 360-signer petition of opponents.
He reminded the Commissioners that the subject property was in an Agricultural and Forestry Character Area.
While R-A was permissible in such an Area, it was not appropriate.
He discussed nearby zonings and lots that had been brought up by staff previously.
Among the many other points he brought up was flooding would be exacerbated by tree cutting and paving for a subdivision.
He reminded the Commissioners that they had told him they did not want any more community well systems.
Somebody else (unnamed, but see below) speaking against said it would be spot zoning.
He said he owned 320 acres and had been there for more than a hundred years.
This rezoning would change the character of the community and would be
a precedent for other rezonings.
He said he owed this community a debt and he would like to repay it.
Elton D. Redding, 7649 Webb Road, representing the Redding property,
John L. Redding his brother.
Demarcus Marshall moved to deny, Mark Wisenbaker seconded, unanimous vote to deny.
Unanimously voted down: Miller Bridge Road subdivision @ LCC 2022-02-08
Lowndes County Commission Regular Session, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Lowndes County adheres to Local and State standards when in the Groundwater Recharge Area
Notable Developments in Recharge Area in Lowndes County)
Landfill
Kinderlou Forest and Foxborough Subdivisions
Valdosta Regional Airport
Moody Airforce Base
City of Dasher
City of Lake Park and surrounding area
Lake Park Industrial Park
While probably all these points are true (I haven’t checked each location),
most of them precede current concerns about groundwater recharge,
and there is no need to make the problem worse.
Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!
![[Collage]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/valdosta/2022-05-19--vcc-videos/many.jpg)
![[Example rezonings]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/glpc/2022-03-28--glpc-packet/many.jpg)
![[Presentation and rezonings]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-04-12--lcc-videos/many.jpg)
![[Rezoning, EV, VAWA, Quit claim]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-04-11--lcc-videos/many.jpg)
![[Rezonings, Val Del Road traffic, Electric Vehicle Charging]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-04-11--lcc-packet/many.jpg)
![[Trash, Drainage, Reports, CWTBH]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-03-22--lcc-videos/many.jpg)
![[Waste collection and water retention]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-03-21--lcc-packet/many.jpg)
![[EASEMENT]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-03-21--lcc-packet/March-22-2022-Meeting-Packet-2-0041.jpg)
![[Signed, sealed,* and delivered]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-03-21--lcc-packet/March-22-2022-Meeting-Packet-2-0042.jpg)
![[Lighting, TIA, Juvenile delinquency, box culverts]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-03-21--lcc-videos/many.jpg)
![[WINDY HILL SUBDIVISION, Lowndes County Rezoning Application, REZ-2022-03]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-02-08--lcc-videos/REZ-2022-03-applicant-slides-0001.jpg)
![[Requested Zoning Change]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-02-08--lcc-videos/small/REZ-2022-03-applicant-slides-0002.jpg)
![[WINDY HILL SUBDIVISION CHARACTERISTICS]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-02-08--lcc-videos/small/REZ-2022-03-applicant-slides-0003.jpg)
![[Location of Property]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-02-08--lcc-videos/small/REZ-2022-03-applicant-slides-0004.jpg)
![[Justification for Zoning Request]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-02-08--lcc-videos/small/REZ-2022-03-applicant-slides-0005.jpg)
![[Zoning map]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-02-08--lcc-videos/small/REZ-2022-03-applicant-slides-0006.jpg)
![[OPPOSITION POINTS ADDRESSED (1 of 3)]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-02-08--lcc-videos/small/REZ-2022-03-applicant-slides-0007.jpg)
![[OPPOSITION POINTS ADDRESSED (2 of 3)]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-02-08--lcc-videos/small/REZ-2022-03-applicant-slides-0008.jpg)
![[OPPOSITION POINTS ADDRESSED (3 of 3)]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-02-08--lcc-videos/small/REZ-2022-03-applicant-slides-0009.jpg)