Newsflash: Lowndes County Commission does right thing about rezoning!
Commissioner Raines expressed puzzlement as to what to do about rezoning for Nottinghill on Cat Creek since he thought the previous day that there was a deal between the developer and the neighbors, but it turned out there was not. Commissioner Powell recommended tabling until next meeting so the developer and the neighbors could try again to work something out.
Commissioner Powell made a motion Continue reading
Speaking for the Nottinghill rezoning request on Cat Creek Road,
Bill Nijem said it was nothing like
Glen Laurel.
Nothing like repudiating your work of last year….
Commissioner Richard Raines thanked Nijem for sitting down with the neighbors.
As David Rodock wrote in the VDT the next day, Citizens speak against Cat Creek crowding: Disapprove of the proposal to build residential areas
Bill Nijem, representative of the applicant, brought forward information demonstrating his client’s willingness to work with neighbors, in that lot sizes were increased by 20 percent and that the average lot size would range from a minimum of 12,000 square feet to 20,000 square feet. Nijem also reminded commissioners that the applicant was willing to install any necessary buffers or fences to prevent children from playing in the neighboring fields and would have water and sewer installed with his own financial resources.Carolyn Selby reminds me that Mr. Nijem didn’t say Continue reading
If somebody puts a subdivision next to your field, beware of trash,
and the same if you buy a lot in it.
For that matter, why do we need more houses?
Some of what I said:
To expand a little bit on that subdivision next to our west field, one of the builders continued to push trash into our field until I had to sue him for trespass in Superior Court to get him to stop.I meant to say in Magistrate’s Court.
I called code enforcement multiple times and they did nothing to help stop it. Now that there’s a new fire chief perhaps things are better, but anybody who’s got a field nearby might want to watch for that.You can see for yourself what happened in May of last year: Continue readingAnyone who hopes to buy houses in the subdivision might want to watch to see if there are any dumpsters in there, because the subdivision near us, the trash was buried in the yards; you can ask anyone who owns one of those lots.
As far as needing houses for Moody, there are usually ten houses for sale in that subdivision, and roughtly 10 or 15 more that are for rent. So it’s not clear we actually need more houses.
As far as lot size, this is the same issue as came up last year with Glen Laurel on Old Pine Road. … The room was filled with people for the same reasons that you’re hearing now. At that time the commission decided to say ….
David Rodock wrote in the VDT 13 July 2011,
Citizens speak against Cat Creek crowding:
Gretchen Quarterman also spoke against the proposition, citing that extending residential areas further out into undeveloped Lowndes County would create greater strain on an already tight fiscal operating budget.
She referred to a report County Planner Jason Davenport
commissioned from
Prof. Jeffrey H. Dorfman of UGA,
Local Government Fiscal Impacts of Land Use in Lowndes County,
December 2007,
in which he recommended development close in to existing services
for the most benefit to all parties.
As
Prof. Dorfman has said,
He noted“Local governments must ensure balanced growth, as sprawling residential growth is a certain ticket to fiscal ruin*
* Or at least big tax increases.”
“The same growth done more densely and contiguously saves both money, farmland, and provides environmental amenities.”Prof. Dorfman has even quantified national averages for Continue reading
Schoolchildren, safety, and farmland: three topics that often seem forgotten in discussions of development.
Opposing the
proposed rezoning for Notthinghill,
neighbor Thomas E. Stalvey Jr. noted
that traffic on Cat Creek Road
is already a problem, and adding a subdivision would make it worse.
He noted that it’s traffic routed down Cat Creek to Moody that
accounts for a lot of it.
He said school children stood out on the road and they were already in danger.
“If we put 49 more houses out there, it’s just going to up the risk.”
He explicitly linked road widening to development: Continue reading
Somebody finally called a developer’s bluff!
Answering Commissioners’ questions about
his opposition to rezoning for Nottinghill on Cat Creek Road,
Calvin Marshall did what I’ve never seen anyone do before in opposing a subdivision:
he upped the ante.
Commissioner Richard Raines said he would require Nottinghill lots to have:
“Not perhaps, but a fence around the edge of the property. … Need to make sure that bicycles and fourwheelers, that children are not playing in a field that is used to grow crops.”Seems fair, except that he seemed to be talking about each individual eventual property owner having to put up a fence, and I can tell you by experience that that won’t happen without the neighboring landowner personally insisting to each lot owner. Unless the Commission insists that county code enforcement actually enforce such a condition, which would be a good thing for a change.
Then Commissioner Raines asked Calvin Marshall:
“Is it still your position that 12-15,000 square foot lots are OK?”Calvin Marshall answered: Continue reading
Neighboring landowner Calvin Marshall,
speaking against rezoning for
REZ-2011-10 Nottinghill,
said neighbors,
“We’re not interested in a Bluepool, We’re not interested in a Chatham Place. And we’re certainly not interested in what they built out on Val Del Road. We’ve also looked at what they’ve done with Old Pine, and we’re definitely not interested in that, either. Too small lots, small homes.”That last one is presumably Glen Laurel, which had a roomful of neighbors opposing it last year.
Calvin Marshall asked for the Commissioners to deny the Nottinghill rezoning request.
He also asked:
“The other thing that we asked the developer … what you going to do about the neighbors that have got a farm on each side? What kind of buffer are you going to put there?
…
We farm that land, we grow crops, we run cows, we run goats, we run hogs, and we’re going to continue to do that.
…
We don’t have an answer as to what they’re going to do for a buffer.”
Calvin Marshall continued with the economic argument:
“There’s three or four generations of property owners in this room tonight. These people go back for three or four generations. And these people have worked hard.Continue reading
County Planner Jason Davenport introduced REZ-2011-10 Nottinghill, Cat Creek Rd, 0144 0255-0258, ~15.75 ac., 49 lots, Co W/S, R-1 to R-10.
He said the TRC recommended approval with a condition, the Planning Commission recommended approval with a different condition, and now staff preferred requiring a minimum lot size of 12,000 square feet.
Here’s the video:
Nottinghill, Cat Creek Road, rezoning —Jason Davenport
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 12 July 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
-jsq
It wasn’t
after the Commission meeting that Ashley Paulk said
“I was disinvited to be on Black Crow radio.”It was during the meeting, as in this video. I was confused because I left the room briefly and didn’t see it. Fortunately, Gretchen had a camera going.
Here’s the video:
I was disinvited to be on Black Crow radio —Ashley Paulk
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 12 July 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
-jsq