WWALS adds some water issues about that
Turner Brooks rezoning,
and there are appointments to the
Hospital
and
Authorities
at tonight’s Valdosta City Council meeting.
Here’s the agenda.
AGENDAContinue reading
REGULAR MEETING OF THE VALDOSTA CITY COUNCIL
5:30 PM Thursday, September 11, 2014
COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL
Agriculture is Georgia’s biggest industry, and USDA is holding a workshop on that in Douglas at the end of May.
On Team Agriculture Georgia‘s blog, Team Ag Georgia is coming to Douglas!
The Spring 2014 TAG workshop will be held at the City of Douglas Central Square Complex in Douglas, GA (click here for directions) on Thursday, May 29, 2014.
Courses being offered during the Spring Workshop include:
Organic/Naturally Grown Certification
- Financing Small Farms – Ag Aware
- Olive Production
Continue reading
The
rezoning
and
annexation
previously recommended by
the Planning Commission
and
discussed by the Lowndes County Commission.
And there’s a Proposal for Long-term Watershed Monitoring from TTL, which may or may not be related to the flood risk management study or flood mapping previously discussed by the city of Valdosta and the Lowndes County Commission.
Curiously, both Wikipedia and the Hahira City Council’s own web page seem to think Wayne Bullard is still mayor. I read in the VDT that Bruce Cain was sworn in as mayor in January.
Thanks to City Manager Jonathan Sumner for the agenda.
Hahira City CouncilContinue reading
April 3, 2014
Agenda
7:30 pm-Hahira Courthouse
Multiple people reported clearing work at the site of the
Moody Family Housing project on Val Del Road,
with its
sinkhole next to an aquifer recharge zone,
that
not even
Moody Air Force Base can get in to inspect.
So we went out to look. There is clear cutting happening on Val Del Road (both sides) but it does not appear to be happening on the property slated for Moody Family Housing.
There has been clear cutting going on in the north of Lowndes County
for some time on large tracts near Skipper Bridge Road, Staten Road (near the
new river bridge) and on Val Del Road immediately south of the Moody Family
Housing tract.
It appears that most of those properties are owned by Natco LLC: Continue reading
“We have broadband”, said Bill Slaughter, while other people had different opinions on that and other topics Wednesday night at the Mildred Hunter Community Center.
Corey Hull introduced the session and a small but vocal group of citizens
discussed all
the main topic headings.
He noted that there are more than twelve plans already in place
in the various cities and counties in the Valdosta Lowndes Metropolitan
Planning Area.
Yet there were many common themes in those plans, and VLMPO was looking
for other common areas in these meetings and online,
and more specifically strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
If you have a community group of any size, VLMPO can come talk to it.
They’ve been to the Chamber, to Rotary, to churches, etc.
They expect to wrap this process up in December,
with common vision and goals for the next ten or twenty years.
Local officials present included Matt Martin,
Planning and Zoning Administrator for the City of Valdosta,
and Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter.
Martin didn’t say much, but Bill Slaughter was quite vocal.
I thanked him for speaking up, even though I didn’t agree with everything he said.
He helped clarify current county codes for stormwater retention,
and Martin helped clarify the city’s codes.
As a long-time participant in local development (he’s CEO of Waller Heating and Air) Slaughter said when people are buying houses all they look at is Continue reading
What do you the citizens want Lowndes County to be?
Here’s a chance to speak up, so when somebody asks where were you when
the decisions were being made, you don’t have to answer “lying on the couch
watching television.” (Thanks to Nolen Cox for that phrase.)
Corey Hull wrote on facebook today, Help Spread the Word for the Future of Lowndes County,
My office is conducting a survey and gathering public input on Facebook (go to www.facebook.com/valdostalowndesmpo) about what they want the Lowndes County Common Community Vision to be
( www.bit.ly/LowndesCCV). So far our participation has been low. I am calling on all of you to encourage your friends, family and colleagues to spread the word and let us know what you think about the future of Lowndes County and its cities.
Over the next two months there will be future opportunities for public input so stay tuned.
Thanks for your help.
On the Southern Georgia Regional Commission’s website, Lowndes County Common Community Vision, Continue reading
Explosions in Tilbury, England, explosions in Waycross: south Georgia wood pellet dust blowing up here and there and producing CO2 when burned there. Why is “the world’s largest wood pellet plant” a better use of Georgia foresters’ resources than solar farms, which don’t pollute and don’t explode?
Josh Schlossberg wrote for The Biomass Monitor 24 May 2013,
Biomass Industry Plays With Fire, Gets Burned,
A massive fire raged inside wood pellet silos for RWE’s Tilbury Power Station in Essex, UK, on February 27, 2012. The biomass incinerator—the largest in the world at 750 megawatts—had just been converted from coal to woody biomass a month earlier. RWE claims no single cause can be attributed to the fire, but suspects that smoldering wood pellets triggered the dust fire.
In a recent editorial (apparently not online),
Robert Farris
Executive Director of the
Georgia Forestry Commission,
wrote that Georgia has nine wood pellet plants.
He didn’t name them, but
Biomass Magazine has
a list of U.S. wood pellet plants,
including these in Georgia (I added the City column): Continue reading
Seen Monday. Seems to me that instead of burning trees tree farmers should start growing solar farms on some of their less useful land.
Forest Bioenergy Conference —GFA
Deadline for early registration is Sunday, February 10…register today to save money!
It’s 21 February 2013 in Forsyth.
Interest in forest biomass as a potential feedstock for renewable energy facilities has been especially keen for the past several years and much of the activity has been centered in Georgia. GFA and UGA are excited about hosting our fourth biennial conference to examine where we are with forest bioenergy development in Georgia and where we may be going in the near future. While many issues are becoming clearer, much uncertainty remains with regard to government policy and market prices for fossil fuels. This conference is an excellent opportunity to hear from some of the players on the front lines of developing markets, influencing government policies, and conducting research on how these changes may impact our wood supply system.
These are some of the topics that will be addressed during this conference by many of the people directly involved with these changes that are taking place in our state. Join us and stay abreast of these significant changes taking place in our forest industry.
The talk I think they should pay attention to is:
What does Low-Cost Natural Gas Mean for Future Biomass Use?Continue reading
I spoke to Karan Rawlins of the
Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health
(bugwood.org)
at the
SoGa Growing Local & Sustainable Conference
in Tattnall County 26 January 2013 (coming to Lowndes County next year).
At the mention of
Chaste Tree, she picked up a copy of
A Homeowner’s Guide to Preventing the Introduction and Spread of Invasive Plants in Georgia,
and turned to page 6, which says:
The Valdosta Tree Commission is offering Chaste trees
“to citizens at wholesale prices with the hopes of planting 100 trees in the city limits”, but this may actually be a bad idea, since this
species is exotic, does not support local insects and birds,
and in Texas has become invasive.
The Tree Commission’s writeup says this tree:
“has no serious pest problems and attract butterflies to the garden.”
That first phrase is a red flag after reading
Dr. Douglas Tallamy’s book, Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants.
Local insects mostly cannot eat exotic plants,
and local birds eat local insects, so planting exotic trees
may look good, but is not helpful to native insects and birds.
Yes, Chaste trees may attract some butterflies,
but how many, compared to native trees?
And “no serious pest problems” means not many native insects munching
on the leaves or stems of the tree.
So what to plant instead? See next post.
The City of Valdosta posted PR 3 January 2013, VTC Offers Chaste Trees at Wholesale Prices to Encourage Tree Planting,
Continue reading