Val Del rezoning, Appointments 3 Boards, Road abandonment, additions, and paving, fire dept. bids @ LCC 2020-03-09

The Val Del Road rezoning for a subdivision on the Wetherington Property near Nelson Hill is on the agenda for this morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session, to be voted on Tuesday evening at the Regular Session.

Probably not coincidentally, Right of way purchase for Clyattstone Road is also on the agenda.

[Wetherington watershed]
Lowndes County Property Appraiser, Wetherington watershed

The Bids for Fire Department equipment previously tabled and discussed at length in the recent all-day planning sessions are back on the agenda.

Frank Morman doesn’t want to be reappointed to the Continue reading →

QuickTrip signs and law office parking @ ZBOA 2020-03-03

At the Valdosta-Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBOA) this Tuesday afternoon, QuickTrip on GA 133 wants a variety of sign variances.

[Sign placement plat]
Sign placement plat

Law firm Dover Miller Karras Langdale & Brantley wants a parking variance for their building addition on North Patterson Street.

[Parking Site Plan]
Parking Site Plan

A couple of ZBOA members will have to recuse themselves from that second item.

Staff recommend finding both items inconsistent and for ZBOA to deny them.

Here is the agenda. See also the ZBOA board packet, on the LAKE website courtesy of ZBOA member Gretchen Quarterman.

Valdosta – Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals

Continue reading →

Videos: Appointment Development Authority, Mutual Aid, Quit Claim White Water Road @ LCC 2020-01-28

The Lowndes County Commission approved all items in four and a quarter minutes, at its Regular Session a month ago, including reappointing Teri Lupo to the Valdosta-Lowndes Development Authority. There were no other nominees.

The longest item at less than a minute was 6.a. 2020 Statewide Mutual Aid Agreement. Commissioners had no questions about that or any other item.

Lowndes County Emergency Management Director Ashley Tye

Below are LAKE videos for each agenda item, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also Continue reading →

Videos: Appointment Development Authority, Mutual Aid, Quit Claim White Water Road @ LCC 2020-01-27

One month ago, the entire Lowndes County Commission Regular Work Session took eight and a half minutes. Plus an Executive Session for Real Estate.

Lowndes County Attorney Walter G. Elliott

Below are LAKE videos for each agenda item, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the agenda. The board packet is on the LAKE website.

Val Del Wetherington, Baytree Nijem, Pregnancy Clinic @ GLPC 2020-02-24

Neither of the two Valdosta cases at Monday evening’s Planning Commission Regular Session looks controversial, although you never know. Jon Nijem wants to rezone and then get approval for a Planned Development at 406 & 410 Baytree Road. And Pregnancy Support Clinic of Valdosta wants to rezone for office space at 2203 N. Oak St.

In Lowndes County, yet another Val Del Road subdivision, REZ-2020-03 Wetherington Property, is proposed diagonally northeast across the road from Nelson Hill, which makes even clearer why the county wants to pave Clyattstone Road, going from Val Del Road between those two west to Old US 41 North (see below).

[Wetherington property]
Lowndes County Property Appraiser, Wetherington property, WETHERINGTON FRANK L LIVING TRUST, parcels 0071 055, 056, 056A (not 55A), at 4154 and 4424 Val Del Road.

The subject property is in the watershed of Bay Branch, but apparently Continue reading →

Rezonings, Right of Way, Software, Health Insurance, Deannexation, and Road Repairs @ LCC 2020-02-24

The two rezonings on the Lowndes County Commission agenda for this week seem to cancel each other out, since one wants to go “back” to Estate Agriculture (E-A), while the other wants to rezone from E-A to R-A, both on about ten acres.

[Future Development Map]
Future Development Map

Because by an open records request we got the agenda packet, we know how much the agenda items costs, even though dollar amounts are not listed in the agenda.

The Request to Accept Hamm Estates Dr. into the County Road Inventory for Maintenance is listed as “BUDGET IMPACT: N/A”. What if those subdivision roads need repairs, like Knights Academy Road?

The unusual Deannexation of Ganas Property by Lake Park apparently costs the county nothing. Not even legal fees?

[Survey]
Survey

The high-dollar item is $290,000.00 for health insurance administration. Employees pay their Continue reading →

Videos: Verizon Country Club tower, halfway house, and Providence Missionary Baptist Church @ GLPC 2020-01-27

Surprisingly the longest item on this (possibly) longest-ever Planning Commission agenda was 5. CU-2020-01 Verizon Wireless, conditional use cell tower at Country Club, clocking in at almost an hour, accounting for almost a third of the more than three-hour meeting, and getting a denial recommendation on a split vote of 6:3:1.

VZ Country Club tower

Second longest at more than forty-two minutes was 6. CU-2020-02 Natalie Bailey, 4019 Forrest Run Circle – Halfway House, resulting in a very unusual unanimous recommendation for denial. The actual decision will be made at the Valdosta City Council meeting tonight.

Usually church requests sail through, but 13. HA-2020-01 Providence Missionary Baptist Church, 707 West Park Street, took more than sixteen minutes, largely to everyhone acting as a committee designing an access ramp which turned out to already be there.

Pete’s Otto had it pretty easy at nine minutes Pete’s Otto was previously at GLPC in January 2017 about establishing its business, and at the Valdosta-Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBOA) in in July 2019 about setbacks.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the GLPC agenda. And the Valdosta City Council agenda for the meeting where they will decide the half-way house and other Valdosta items.

Videos: Lake Park Annexation, Jail software, Public Defender, Beer, Road Abandonment, Arglass Road @ LCC 2020-02-10

For unknown reasons, the Lowndes County Commission votes tonight at 5:30 PM.

By far the longest at this morning’s Work Session was 5.d. Lake Park Annexation and Rezoning of Register Property, running 14 and a half minutes.

Lake Park Annexation

Second at almost three minutes was the $99,700 jail software change order.

The 2020 Public Defender Contracts got a minute and a half, even though they are unchanged from last year.

The $789,567.21 Arglass Road Paving item didn’t even get a minute.

County Chairman Bill Slaughter took about a minute thanking the Commissioners for the recent Retreat; LAKE video to come of that.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item for this morning’s Work Session. See also the Continue reading →

Half-way house for ex-offenders, Country Club tower, six Appointments @ VCC 2020-02-10

Postponed from last Thursday due to weather, the Valdosta City Council meets tonight, to consider some rather contentious cases from the Planning Commission, and to make a bunch of appointments, plus some bids for equipment.

CU-2020-02 Natalie Bailey, 4019 Forrest Run Circle - Halfway House @ GLPC 2020-01-27
Photo: Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, CU-2020-02 Natalie Bailey, 4019 Forrest Run Circle – Halfway House @ GLPC 2020-01-27.

This Valdosta City Council bid item is interesting:

4.d) Consideration of bids for a Trailer-Mounted Mobile Televising Unit for the Utilities Department (Bid No. 27-19-20 A).

Maybe with that Valdosta Utilities can see what’s happening with equipment they leave in a park overnight, for example maybe in McKey Park after today’s 200-gallon sewage spill.

Here is the agenda. It says February 6, but the Valdosta calendar entry for today says “RESCHEDULED – Valdosta City Council Meeting, Monday, February 10, 2020 – 5:30pm” See also Continue reading →

Videos: New Valdosta Mayor, Mayor Pro-Tem, and $2 million budget surplus while record raw sewage was spilling @ VCC 2020-01-09

A month ago at the Valdosta City Council we learned that Valdosta has a $2,410,000 budget surplus.

Valdosta municipal audit and budget surplus
5b) Presentation of the Municipal Audit for Fiscal Year 2019

Maybe they could spend some of that to help fix the well and river testing costs downstream on the Withlacoochee River of Valdosta’s record 7.5 million gallons of raw sewage spill into Sugar Creek, which has taken two months to maybe finally get diluted down the Withlacoochee River, twice entering Florida, with three Florida river advisories, and with Georgia warning signs on the Withlacoochee River downstream of Sugar Creek by Lowndes County and by WWALS (but not by Valdosta).

One City Council member tells me that audit doesn’t mean Valdosta has $2 million cash lying around. But they do have several hundred thousand unspent.

Maybe they could also budget some of that surplus to help fix the stigma, the decades-long reputational damage to all our rivers, caused by Valdosta’s chronic sewage spills. That would involve for example water quality testing or paying for testing downstream on the Withlacoochee River and doing marketing.

Four Citizens spoke at the end of the meeting: Continue reading →