The entire board packet for the November 2021 Greater Lowndes Planning Commission meeting is on the LAKE website now, received in response to a LAKE open records request.
For the six county rezonings, there is more in the board packet for the Lowndes County Commission December meetings.
See also Continue reading
Withdrawn as R-1 (1-acre lots) from tomorrow’s Lowndes County Commission agenda,
but to be resubmitted as R-A (2.5-acre lots):
REZ-2021-28 Windy Hill S/D, 7532 Miller Bridge Road, ~34 acres, E-A to R-1, Community Well & Septic (WITHDRAWN).
At the Planning Commission meeting end of November, staff said it did not match the Comprehensive Plan, and the Planning Commission unanimously recommended denial.
However, Planning Commissioner Franklin Bailey said, as he made the motion to disapprove, that he would be comfortable with 2.5-acre lots instead of 1-acre lots. The developer took him up on that idea with a written letter to the County Planner saying they would be back in January to ask for R-A rezoning, which will permit 2.5-acre lots.
Plus staff has dug up a 1999 rezoning nearby for 3-acre lots which could serve as a precedent. Yet almost none of those 3-acre lots have sold in the past two decades, so why is there any need for any more such lots “very deep in the Rural Service Area”?
That withdrawal letter says: Continue reading
Here are LAKE videos of (most of) yesterday’s Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC) Council meeting yesterday in Pearson, Georgia.
For some of the items, I have included photographs of the first sheet of the relevant handout(s). For the rest of each handout, please contact SGRC.
Thanks to SGRC Council Chair Joyce Evans and Assistant Director Chris Strom for inviting me to come speak about the Okefenokee Swamp in my other hat as Suwannee Riverkeeper; see the WWALS blog post.
![[Collage]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/sgrc/2021-12-09--sgrc/many.jpg)
Collage: Audit; New member John Clayton (Nashville); DCA Small Cities Conference; Okefenokee Swamp Resolutions –Suwannee Riverkeeper; Jody Redding, GA Gov. Field Rep.
Here is the complete agenda. Continue reading
Update 2021-12-12: Packet: Four big + 2 small county rezonings, four Valdosta rezonings, 3 of them CUP @ GLPC 2021-11-29.
The Greater Lowndes Planning Commission unanimously recommended denial of rezoning for a rezoning on Miller Bridge Road, outside any appropriate character area, but one of them frequently suggested trying 2.5-acre lots instead of 1-acre lots.
Another subdivision, on Rocky Ford Road, which was opposed by the Development Authority, got a split recommendation for denial, with that same Commissioner abstaining.
All the other items got unanimous approval.
One of the rezonings was actually to agricultural so the owner can farm it.
![[Two rezonings recommended against]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/glpc/2021-11-29--glpc-videos/many.jpg)
Two rezonings recommended against
The owners spoke for REZ-2021-28 on Miller Bridge Road, with the usual insistence that everybody wants to live in the north part of the county and you just can’t stop growth and sprawl. Continue reading
Update 2021-12-01: Videos: An inappropriate rezoning unanimously opposed, but beware return with different acreage @ GLPC 2021-11-29
There’s been alarm in the northwest part of Lowndes County for a month about the 34-acre Miller Bridge Road rezoning. And there are three more big rezonings on the agenda tonight for the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission, on Rocky Ford Road, Val Tech Road, and Seminole Drive.
Those are Lowndes County cases, plus two more small rezonings.
The four Valdosta cases include one “CUP for very high density MultiFamily residential in C-C zoning” on West Hill Avenue, which sounds like a better idea than more sprawl out into the county.
Below is the agenda plus some maps from the Lowndes County Tax Assessors.
Greater Lowndes Planning Commission
Continue reading
~ Lowndes County ~ City of Valdosta ~ City of Dasher ~
~ City of Hahira ~ City of Lake Park ~ City of Remerton ~
Monday, November 22, 2021 5:30 P.M. Work Session
Monday, November 29, 2021 5:30 P.M. Regular Session
Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue, Valdosta, Georgia
All the main items breezed by unanimously, including the Comprehensive Plan and the Hospital Authority re-appointment of Ben Copeland, at the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session, November 9, 2021.
The only things taking longer than three minutes were the County Manager’s Report and Citizens Wishing to Be Heard about how the Board of Elections is appointed and funded.
![[Comprehensive Plan, Communications Tower, Manager's Report, Electios]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2021-11-09--lcc-videos/many.jpg)
Comprehensive Plan, Communications Tower, Manager’s Report, Electios
Below are LAKE videos of each agenda item with a few notes, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the LAKE videos of the previous morning’s Work Session, the agenda and Board packet, and, for the rezonings and the tower, the LAKE videos of the preceding Planning Commission meeting.
For the Comprehensive Plan, see also the LAKE videos of the preceding Comprehensive Plan Update Meeting 2 and the Character Area Maps for it, the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session before that, and the quite lengthy first Comprehensive Plan Public Hearing.
With a packed agenda, the Valdosta City Council passed eight resolutions, approved five bids or purchases, and appointed people to four boards, yet the longest discussion was after all that.
![[Mayor, Howard, Gibbs, WWTP, Manager & Tooley, Suwannee Riverkeeper]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/valdosta/2021-11-11--vcc-videos/many.jpg)
Mayor, Howard, Gibbs, WWTP, Manager & Tooley, Suwannee Riverkeeper
Perhaps the most far-reaching item was one of the briefest, presented by Mayor Scott James Matheson: 3.f. Resolution in Opposition to a proposed strip mine near the Okefenokee Swamp, opposing the proposed Twin Pines Minerals (TPM) strip mine or any others within ten miles of the Swamp, asking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reverse its abdication of oversight, asking GA-EPD for a moratorium on all mining permits until effects are settled of the recent court overruling of 2020 Clean Water Act changes, as well as to reject the TPM permits, or at least to review those applications as thoroughly as the Army Corps would, and asking the Georgia legislature to prevent such strip mines near the Swamp or any blackwater rivers in the Suwannee River Basin. Continue reading
By far the longest item at 33 minutes at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session was a presentation about One Valdosta-Lowndes (OVL).
![[OVL River Camp, Hospital Authority appointment, Godfrey rezoning, VAWA staffing]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2021-11-08--lcc-videos/many.jpg)
OVL River Camp, Hospital Authority appointment, Godfrey rezoning, VAWA staffing
Second longest at almost five minutes was 8.e. Request For Cash Match Increase For VAWA ASG Salary Supplement, about the Violence Against Women Act. Third at four minutes was 7.c. REZ-2021-24 Barry Godfrey, Mt. Zion Church Road.
The likely re-appointee to the Hospital Authority did attend.
Everything else got little discussion, including the final approval of the Comprehensive Plan Update.
They voted the following Tuesday evening.
Below are LAKE videos of each agenda item, with a few notes, followed by
Only one citizen showed up to speak: David Houtz, who asked Commissioners not to change the Character Area Maps, and said he had not seen the latest plan. SGRC’s Elizabeth Backe handed him a copy; she also presented a summary of the process at the beginning of the meeting, and clarified process later.
You can see in this LAKE video a discussion between Valdosta and Hahira City Planner Matt Martin and Lowndes County Commissioner Scottie Orenstein about changes to the Hahira Character Area map is not recorded in the minutes, as well as the rest of the 17-minute meeting.
Commissioners discussed the Comprehensive Plan Update again this morning in their Work Session, and they will approve it tomorrow afternoon at 5:30 PM in their Regular Session. Continue reading
The Lowndes County Commission will probably re-appoint Ben Copeland to the Hospital Authority, and approve three rezonings, only one (REZ-2021-24 Barry Godfrey) apparently controversial, as well as an AT&T telecommunications tower, Tuesday evening after hearing them Monday morning.
The item with the biggest effect is the 2021 Comprehensive Plan Adoption.
The big ticket near-term item is for roads, 2021 LMIG Safety Action Plan Restriping.
| Cost | What |
|---|---|
| $281,529.50 | 2021 LMIG Safety Action Plan Restriping |
| $32,266.00 | Request for Cash Match Increase for VAWA ASG Salary Supplement |
| $31,500.00 | Code Red Annual Renewal |
| $345,295.50 | Total |
See the agenda. The board packet is on the LAKE website, received in response to a LAKE open records request.
For the Comprehensive Plan, see the LAKE videos of the preceding Comprehensive Plan Update Meeting 2 and the Character Area Maps for it, the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session before that, and the quite lengthy first Comprehensive Plan Public Hearing.
For the rezonings and the telecommunications tower, see also the LAKE videos of the preceding Planning Commission meeting.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2021, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2021, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
![[Rezonings with LAKE logo]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/glpc/2021-11-29--glpc-packet/packet.jpg)
![[Rezonings]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2021-12-13--lcc-packet/many.jpg)
![[Four big rezonings]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/glpc/2021-11-29--glpc-packet/many.jpg)
![[Citizen David Houtz, Elizabeth Backe of SGRC, Houtz receives plan, Sparse audience, City Planner Matt Martin, Commissioners Orenstein and Marshall, Commissioners and VDT reporter]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2021-10-26--public-hearing-videos-comprehensive-plan/many.jpg)
![[REZ-2021-24 Barry Godfrey, Mt. Zion Church Road; TWR-2021-01 CitySwitch II, LLC, Bemiss Road, New 265' Telecommunications Tower]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2021-11-08--lcc-packet/many.jpg)