Tag Archives: Economy

Bottled water, prisoner details, board appointees, and Easter Seals @ LCC 2015-05-11

Picture by Michael Rivera, CC

Why is the county accepting Bids for Bottled Water Service? If its own water, or Valdosta’s, is good enough for the taxpayers, shouldn’t it be good enough for Commission and staff? They’ve also got a Bid for Coffee Service, but we don’t grow coffee here, as far as I know, so that’s not the same issue.

With many local people needing jobs, why does the county continue to renew an Annual Contract Renewal for Prison Work Details?

Looks like Joseph G. Stevens will be reappointed to the Lowndes County Public Facilities Authority. Both G. Norman Bennett and incumbent Anthony Payton want to be appointed to the one slot opening on the Valdosta-Lowndes County Airport Authority. Their applications were not included with the agenda, so who can say which one is most qualified?

I guess they didn’t decide to relocate the Public Defender’s Office into the historic Lowndes County Courthouse, since on the agenda is a three-year Lease Agreement for the Public Defender’s Office at its present location.

Looks like J. Glenn Gregory will provide the Architectural Services for the Lowndes County Civic Center Renovations and the Architectural Services for the Naylor Community Center, both funded via SPLOST VII. Both apparently without competitive bids.

Here’s the agenda, which also has Declaration of Surplus Items and Authorization for Sale/Disposal and Easter Seals Southern Georgia Presentation (Work Session Only).

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MAY 11, 2015 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Billboard and building locations @ ZBOA 2015-05-05

Today at 2:30 PM, Fairway wants to put its billboard back up at the new overpass: way up. Will ZBOA approve a 60-foot-high billboard? Plus in the county, a building location variance and a Family Ties variance.

Here’s the agenda, from the City of Valdosta website.

Valdosta-Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals

Matt Martin, Valdosta Planning and Zoning Administrator
300 North Lee Street, Valdosta, Georgia
(229) 259-3563
Carmella Braswell, Lowndes County Zoning Administrator
327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, Georgia
(229) 671-2430
AGENDA
May 5, 2015
2:30 p.m.
Continue reading →

Tesla announces prices for home battery

Power generation for both traditional electricity uses and transportation is changing.

Michael Liedtke and Jonathan Fahey wrote for AP and Inc. 1 May 2015, Elon Musk Unveils Tesla’s Ambitious New Home Battery System: “Our goal here is to fundamentally change the way the world uses energy,” Musk told reporters gathered in Hawthorne, California.

The batteries are likely to become more useful if, as expected, more utilities and regulators allow Continue reading →

Highway-Commercial and Planned Development in Valdosta @ GLPC 2015-04-27

One case on St. Augustine Road and the other on Slater Street due east of VSU and a block north of Drexel Park and One Mile Creek. Here’s the agenda.

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, April 27, 2015 * 5:30 P.M. * Public Hearing

CALL TO ORDER, INVOCATION, PLEDGE

Approval of the Minutes: February 23, 2014

CITY OF VALDOSTA CASE:
FINAL ACTION by the City of Valdosta Mayor-Council
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Valdosta City Hall, 216 E. Central Street, Valdosta, Georgia
Council Chambers, 2^nd Floor
5:30 p.m. Continue reading →

Videos: Trash, Vallotton agriculture, animals, body armor, HEAT, water, and a canopy road @ LCC 2015-04-14

ADS trash collection price and performance wasn’t on the agenda, but even former Commissioner Richard Lee stood up to speak about it two weeks ago at the April 14th 2015 Regular Session, along with two other citizens David Eaton and me. See also VDT trash story. The VDT didn’t pick up on Ann Swayze’s smoot and soot concerns also being related, because nobody stood up to complain about burning in Foxborough before the collection centers closed.

Commissioners did the right thing and unanimously rezoned Vallotton Farms back to Estate Agriculture, like it was before county-wide rezoning happened. It wasn’t like the County Planner said, “it has developed around it in an urban way”. The subject land and landowners didn’t do that: other people have built subdivisions around it the the county’s active promotion. And for once agriculture won, after landowner attorney Bill Langdale, Commissioner Demarcus Marshall, and I spoke up for it.

They’re even going to preserve the canopy on Boring Pond Road and I thanked the County Engineer for that.

The two Sheriff’s requests for Continue reading →

Videos: Going to Georgia Logistics Summit and retreating @ VLCIA 2015-03-17

CJB and Hunt Industries received plaques with copies of Valdosta Daily Times articles about them. Their meeting tonight is cancelled; their next meeting is 19 May 2015, according to their website.

Their retreat was April 10th after the Georgia Logistics Summit March 31st – April 1st. The Summit is in Atlanta, according to its own website. If they said during their regular March meeting where their retreat was to be, I didn’t catch it. Here’s the agenda with links to the LAKE videos and a couple of still pictures.

Valdosta-Lowndes Development Authority
Tuesday, March 17, 2015 5:30 p.m.
Development Authority Conference Room
103 Roosevelt Drive
Monthly Meeting Agenda

Continue reading →

Southern Company Annual Stockholder Meeting @ SO 2015-05-27

Solar power made much of SO’s increased energy revenues for 2013 and 2014. What else will we learn at the Southern Company 2015 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, Wednesday, May 27, 2015? Has Southern Company finally looked up, and will it say, like Thomas Alva Edison in 1931, “I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy”?

To attend the SO shareholder meeting you have to have owned stock by Monday, March 30, 2015, or you’ll need to get somebody to appoint you their proxy. Since I’m an SO stockholder, I got the 216-page Southern Company Notice of 2015 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, Proxy Statement and 2014 Annual Report, page D-8:

In 2014, wholesale revenues increased $329 million, or 17.7%, as compared to the prior year due to a $326 million increase in energy revenues and a $3 million increase in capacity revenues. The increase in energy revenues was primarily related to increased revenue under existing contracts as well as new solar PPAs and requirements contracts primarily at Southern Power, Continue reading →

Videos: Vallotton agriculture, animals, body armor, HEAT, water, waste, and a canopy road @ LCC 2015-04-13

The County Planner said “I can’t tell you anything beyond that” about why Vallotton Farms is requesting rezoning to Estate Agriculture, which is mysterious, since he (and the County Chairman) sat through the entire Planning Commission explanation by attorney Bill Langdale, several Planning Commissioners, and me: see the LAKE video of that GLPC item. The County Planner did say “we expect development” in that area. They vote on their expectations tonight at 5:30 PM, although they have to listen to citizens for and against first.

I’d like to commend County Engineer Mike Fletcher for preserving the canopy in the plans for Boring Pond Road Phase III.

The Vickers rezoning item was withdrawn by applicant, and the County Planner yesterday morning explained that was because they’d worked out a way for the property to count as five acres so no rezoning was necessary. The ~~Vickers~~ Jennings rezoning to commercial is still being considered. Also discussed yesterday morning and to be voted on tonight at 5:30 PM are three water-related items, a Georgia Department of Agriculture Spay/Neuter Grant Request, two Sheriff’s requests ( body armor, and High Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic (HEAT) Team grant), another paving items (Resurfacing of 3 County Roads (Howell Road, Whitewater Road and Ousley)) a Fuel Island Upgrade. The Execution of the Resolution for the Hazardous Waste Trust Fund is about reimbursement for monitoring of the closed Clyattville landfill about which the county chooses to reveal very little. Last I heard, the Sabal Trail methane pipeline was still proposed to go through there with its hundred-foot right of way and 36-inch pipe. I wonder how that would affect monitoring?

Here’s the agenda and below are links to the videos, followed by a video playlist. Continue reading →

Why Vallotton wants to rezone back to agricultural @ GLPC 2015-03-30

Yesterday morning the County Planner seemed perplexed about the Vallotton family request to go back to the most agricultural zoning, E-A. Yet he was there when Bill Langdale explained that at the Planning Commission 30 March 2015, aided by multiple Planning Commissioners, plus a few words from me.

He didn’t bring agriculture to the city; the city come to him….
I think it’s going to be real hard one day trying to eat this concrete.
–Tommy Willis

See for yourself. And remember the County Commission votes on this case this evening at 5:30 PM; maybe you’d like to come speak for. Continue reading →

Videos: Vallotton agriculture on Bemiss Road, historic preservation, personal services @ GLPC 2015-03-30

They took the Lake Park personal services case first and recommended it 8:0. REZ-2015-06 Vickers was withdrawn by applicant. Vallotton Farms‘ reversion to Estate Agricultural was recommended 8:0 after an explanation by attorney Bill Langdale (and yours truly chimed in). Denser zoning for Edward Jennings LLC was recommended 5:4 with a rare example of the Chairman voting, this time in favor. And the Valdosta historic preservation LDR changes were recommended 8:0. Those two Lowndes County cases have already been heard at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session yesterday morning and will be voted on tonight at the Regular Session. The Vallotton case greatly puzzled the County Planner and at least one of the Commissioners.

Here’s the agenda, reordered according to how they actually considered the cases, with links to the videos, results of the votes, and a few notes. Continue reading →

On the LAKE front

Citizen dialog for transparent process by the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange