Apparently more was shown on the screen yesterday morning that we finally received this morning in the board packet, such as this picture of the Nelson Hill subdivision on Val Del Road.
They also added 7.b. Refunding Revenue Bonds by South Region Joint Development Authority for VSU ASRE, which makes no sense until you can see details in the board packet.
After the agenda items, the Chairman made unscheduled announcements of a Continue reading
After four days, but before the Commission votes at 5:30 PM in its Regular Session this evening, the county sent the packet, at 10:50 AM this morning. Three is more than the statutory 3 days in the Georgia Open Records Act (GORA). The packet is on the LAKE website.
Now we can see who are the applicants to the Planning Commission.
Now we can see where is the Val Del rezoning: from the trailer park south to the power line. There’s also this interesting flood map: Continue reading
Only one ZBOA case tomorrow, in the county: a setback variance so Applicant can put up a carport for his new truck, while avoiding mature trees.
The agenda is not on the City of Valdosta website, but it is on the LAKE website, courtesy of ZBOA member Gretchen Quarterman. Continue reading
Two months ago at ZBOA: setbacks, exterior buildings, parking, landscaping, buffers, and tree protection, in four county cases and four Valdosta cases.
There were split votes on VAR-2019-08 — Grace Baptist Church of South Georgia (6749 US Highway 84 East, Naylor) and APP-2019-04 Ian McTurk (1062 Ridge Road.)
Seven conditions were imposed on a unanimous vote on APP-2019-03 Pete’s Otto Shop (401 E. Ann St./1113 Marion St.)
I’m slow posting these videos, but not as slow as the City of Valdosta, where there’s no Summary of Actions for any meeting since May, and no Minutes since June. However, the minutes are on the LAKE website, in the packet for the next ZBOA meeting, courtesy of ZBOA member Gretchen Quarterman.
Below are links to each LAKE video, with Continue reading
Two new GLPC members, half a million dollars to Motorola for some unexplained acronym, and the Val Del Road rezoning, which breezed through the preceding Planning Commission meeting with no opposition, is on the agenda for the Work Session Monday morning and the voting session Tuesday evening of the Lowndes County Commission.
The Greater Lowndes Planning Commission will have two new members soon: Continue reading
The longest item was 5. Proclamation Presentation to Lowndes County Fire Rescue at two minutes. The longest actual business, one and a half minutes, was 6.f. South Regional Joint Development Authority Resolution, endorsing appointing Jason Shaw to an At Large slot. Do you ever get the feeling they already decided everything before they arrived?
And you wouldn’t know about the somewhat contentious proposed process for accepting private roads into the county road system if Gretchen hadn’t been there the previous morning to video it.
Below are Continue reading
Finance Director Stephanie Black said due to the Property Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, if the tax digest (total assessed property value in the county) goes up, the county has to reduce the millage (tax per $1,000 of property value), or announce the difference as a tax increase and hold three public hearings, so they’re rolling back the millage rate slightly: 0.126 mills, down from 11.064 for 2018 to 10.938 for 2019. That’s Georgia Senate Bill 177, Act 431, signed April 30, 1999, effective January 1, 2000. Here is the millage resolution they adopted half an hour later, in the board packet, which LAKE only received after this millage meeting and after the Commission voted on this millage change:
![[A RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING THE 2019 AD VALOREM TAX MILLAGES FOR LOWNDES COUNTY]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2019-08-26--lcc-packet/August-26--27-Meeting-Packet-0015.jpg)
A RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING THE 2019 AD VALOREM TAX MILLAGES FOR LOWNDES COUNTY
She showed some quite informative slides, which for unknown reasons do not seem to be on the Finance Department’s web page. For example, she had a nice summary slide of the five chunks of sales tax these days:
Billed on the lowndescounty.com calendar as Millage Meeting, 5PM, Tuesday, 27 August 2019, in Commission Chambers before the voting Regular Session, as usual almost nobody attended, and nobody from the public spoke.
But you can see the whole eight-minute meeting for yourself. Here’s a LAKE video playlist:
Lowering the Millage Rate
Millage Meeting, Lowndes County Commission (LCC Millage),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, August 27, 2019.
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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!
The Val Del Road rezoning breezed through unanimously in four minutes, with one Planning Commissioner wondering if Val Del Road could handle the traffic, and nobody speaking against. The Valdosta cases took almost half an hour, with three split votes (yes, three votes on two cases).
GLPC Chair Vicki Rountree
Final decisions will be made by the Lowndes County Commission on Tuesday, September 10, 2019 for REZ-2019-12 Val Del Rd., and by the Valdosta Mayor-Council on Thursday, September 5, 2019, for the paired Valdosta cases, as you can see in the agenda. The Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) is an advisory body only, with the actual decisions being made by those other bodies, as its Chair Vicki Rountree explained at the beginning of the session, before she had to vote thrice to resolve tied votes. You can hear Gretchen Quarterman of LAKE explaining it towards the end of the final LAKE video.
After they adjourned, they kept talking about a joint ordinance to the six governments, without saying what that was about. Since Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter was standing up there at the time, I would guess it’s the SPLOST VIII agreement.
Before it adjourned, the Planning Commission established the minutes on the county’s website as its official minutes.
Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, with a few notes, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the agenda. And come to the Lowndes County or Valdosta decision meetings if you care about one of those cases. Continue reading
Received Wednesday, after the Lowndes County Commission voted on it Tuesday evening, the board packet is on the LAKE website. Apparently the County Clerk’s office is going to wait the full three days after an open records request to press the button to forward the packet. So we’ll be sure to send requests more than three days before the Regular Session.
The drainage easement agreement with Lake Park did not have a map. The abandonment of part of Ivandale Circle did:
![[Survey Plat, Hammock Hill Heights]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2019-08-26--lcc-packet/August-26--27-Meeting-Packet-0018.jpg)
Survey Plat, Hammock Hill Heights
There was also a map with the copiously documented Beer, Wine, and Liquor license: Continue reading
“You’ll see on the attached drawing….” and “You will see in your packet….”, but you the taxpayers and voters cannot see, because the county has not put the packet on its website and has not yet returned it in response to an open records request by LAKE.
Did you know a rollback of 0.126 mills was scheduled for a 5PM meeting today, with adoption at the 5:30PM meeting?
Surprise eighteen minutes yesterday morning on procedures for taking private roads into the county road system.
Three Lowndes County Commission items are about water: Continue reading
![[Survey Plat]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2019-09-09--lcc-packet/Agenda-Packet-for-September-9-and-10-2019-0025.jpg)
![[WRPDO Site Map]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/zboa/2019-09-10--zboa-packet/VAR-2019-10XThomasXLeyX-XStaffXReport-0003.jpg)
![[Notice of Public Hearing]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2019-09-09--lcc-packet/20190906_172502.jpg)