Tag Archives: Georgia

Videos: CAC on Skipper Bridge, 3 board appointments, lots of alcohol @ LCC 2016-03-07

See also the previous post for LAKE videos of the preceding Planning Commission Work Session and Regular Session. County Manager Joe Pritchard brought up in his Report yesterday morning the annexation request that is part of the Valdosta proposed rezoning for a development on Bemiss Road; see the packet materials for that item obtained by LAKE through open records request. They heard the long-awaited animal tethering ordinance, and will vote on it this evening, as part of an Animal Welfare Ordinance. See agenda posting for the three board appointments, the two Copeland Road items related to water, sewer, pavement, and Lowndes Middle School students, the two Tax Assessor items, others, and, last but not least, the four alcohol items. See also the previous post for LAKE videos of the preceding Planning Commission Work Session and Regular Session including the CAC item on Skipper Bridge Road, with a link to the board packet materials for that item that LAKE obtained by open records request.

Below are Continue reading →

Videos: CAC office on Skipper Bridge Rd. + a Wal-Mart on Bemiss Rd? @ GLPC 2016-02-29

LAKE videos of the Planning Commission Regular Session recommendations for the CAC office, also heard yesterday morning at Lowndes County Commission Work Session and to be voted on tonight at LCC Regular Session. At the same GLPC meeting, the Valdosta rezoning for (with small annexation) for the grocery store and gas station; See notes on the GLPC agenda for why that could be a Wal-Mart. See also the LAKE videos of the previous week’s GLPC Work Session, and the board packet materials for REZ-2016-06 CAC on Skipper Bridge Road and “Gusto Development Corp” on Bemiss Road. The LAKE videos of the GLPC Regular Session of 29 February 2016 are linked in below, followed by a video playlist.

Here’s a video playlist:


Videos: CAC office on Skipper Bridge Rd. + a Wal-Mart on Bemiss Rd?
Regular Session, Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 29 February 2016.

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CAC on Skipper Bridge, 3 board appointments, lots of alcohol @ LCC 2016-03-07

The long-awaited animal tethering ordinance will be heard Monday morning and voted on Tuesday evening, as part of an Animal Welfare Ordinance. They’re going to reappoint Joyce Evans and Frank Morman to the Landbank Authority. They last reappointed those two 27 March 2012, so apparently they serve four-year terms.

Despite the public not knowing there was an opening on the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Board, they’ve already picked who they’re going to appoint: Chris Yarbrough. What he sent in his application, we don’t know, but his LinkedIn profile says he’s a “Community Supervision Officer III Mental Health Specialist, Georgia Department of Community Supervision, May 1996 – Present (19 years 11 months) Valdosta, Ga.”

Per LAKE open record request, here are the packet items for the Children’s Activity Center (CAC) rezoning on Skipper Bridge Road, REZ-2016-06, as sent to the Continue reading →

Voting machine irregularities in Lowndes County?

After seeing reports of Democrats being required to vote provisionally in three different polling places (Clyattville, Hahira, and Trinity Baptist Church), I called Lowndes County Elections Supervisor Deb Cox at 229-671-2850.

She said the problem was in creating the cards for voting, not in the actual voting machines. A separate machine called an Express Poll creates the cards. She said it was in the program on the Express Poll machines, which was uploaded improperly. The result was that some people couldn’t get cards. Meanwhile, people could still vote using provisional ballots. She says it’s been fixed, and nobody has reported any problems since early this morning. This is the same thing she told Valdosta Today.

When I told her people had also been reporting that they got a card and found that they were marked as Republican when they asked for a Democratic ballot. Deb Cox said nobody has reported that to her. She asks for anybody who sees that or any other voting problems to please call her office, 229-671-2850.

If you have any difficulties, ask for a provisional ballot and call that number. Continue reading →

APP-2016-01, Crunk Engineering for Greenleaf Hospital, Valdosta, GA @ ZBOA 2016-03-01

One case at ZBOA today at 2:30 PM, a variance on parking spaces for Greenleaf Hospital so it can add a new wing. Tax Parcels Aerial A ZBOA member (Gretchen) provided the packet materials, which are all on the LAKE website.

Here’s the agenda, followed by the summary by city staff.

Valdosta-Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals

Carmella Braswell,
Lowndes County Zoning Administrator
327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, Georgia
(229) 671-2430

Matt Martin,
Valdosta Planning and Zoning Administrator
300 North Lee Street, Valdosta, Georgia
(229) 259-3563

AGENDA
March 1, 2016
2:30 p.m.

  1. Call to Order

    CITY OF VALDOSTA CASE:

  2. APP-2016-01 Crunk Engineering (2209 Pineview Drive)
    Variance to LDR Section 222-2(A)     as it pertains to the minimum required number of parking spaces for a hospital use
  3. OTHER BUSINESS:
  4. Approval of Minutes: January 5, 2016 & February 2, 2016
  5. Adjournment

Here’s the staff summary:

ZBOA Agenda Item #2
MARCH 1, 2016

Variance Request by Crunk Engineering
File #: APP-2016411

Crunk Engineering, on behalf of Greenleaf Hospital, is requesting a variance to LDFl Section 222-2 as it pertains to the number of spaces for a hospital. The subject property is zoned Residential Professional (RP) and consists of 6.35 acres located at 2209 Pineview Drive. The subject property contains a 36,968 psychiatric/substance abuse hospital.

Continue reading →

Bemiss and Guest Rd. VA-2016-03, VA-2016-04, VA-2016-05 @ GLPC 2016-02-29

The letters from “Gusto Development LLC” have an email address of kim@hutton.build, confirming that it’s really The Hutton Company Tax Parcels Aerial doing this work for Bassford Properties LLC; the same Hutton Company that recently did work on Wal-Marts in Chattanooga, TN and Athens, GA.

Received today at 4:17 PM EST, which was before the GLPC meeting started. However, as I told the City Clerk when she also called on the telephone, I was planting potatoes at that time. I recommended to her, as I did earlier that same day to the County Planner, that the agenda packet items go online so neither city nor county staff nor citizens have to go through this rigamarole just to see what Commissioners are looking at. The actual Planning Commission meeting was quite brief; they recommended everything; LAKE videos to come. Meanwhile, see the LAKE videos of the previous week’s Work Session.

The materials she sent are on the LAKE website. Continue reading →

GA House passes moratorium on eminent domain for petroleum pipelines in HB 1036 at last minute

A moratorium on eminent domain for petroleum pipelines until June 30, 2017 pending study of land use rights, Moratorium on eminent domain for petroleum pipelines a change throughout of right to power of eminent domain, and “natural resources, environment, and vital areas of the state” now mentioned first, in HB 1036, passed yesterday, the last day for either half of the Georgia legislature to adopt a bill before sending it to the other half. A small change from the Georgia Senate could also affect natural gas pipelines.

See also Walter C. Jones, jacksonville.com, 24 February 2016, Senate subcommittee approves moratorium on eminent domain for petroleum pipelines in Georgia, Continue reading →

Packet items for REZ-2016-03-06, CAC, Skipper Bridge Road @ GLPC 2016-02-29

Thanks to Lowndes County Planner Jason Davenport’s expeditious response to my open records request with the packet materials for REZ-2016-03-06, for tonight’s Planning Commission meetin, we now know this proposed CAC rezoning is at the NW corner of Skipper Bridge Road and Stafford Wright Road, about one acre of the 113.88 acre parcel 0106 232 owned by JEV Duck Pond LLC, in the watershed of Cherry Creek, which flows to the Withlacoochee River. Perhaps not coincidentally, the county recently approved plans to pave Stafford Wright Road. The County Planner mentioned that in the agenda sheet summary that county road classifications (local rural, minor collector, etc.) are stated in the Lowndes County Thoroughfare Plan. Back in 2009 when that plan was last updated, the County Engineer said it “…works as a guide for development and potential use changes in property.”

GREATER LOWNDES PLANNING COMMISSION
AGENDA ITEM

SUBJECT: Rezoning Case REZ—2016-06 Continue reading →

CAC office on Skipper Bridge Rd. + a Wal-Mart on Bemiss Rd? @ GLPC 2016-02-29

Finally with the agenda for tonight’s Planning Commission, case codes and an address for the 3-in-1 Bemiss Road rezoning, but still no address for the CAC Skipper Bridge Road rezoning, and none of the board packet: no maps, text, nothing else on Lowndes county’s website, for tonight’s 6PM Planning Commission Regular Session.

Center of three properties: 4196 Bemiss Rd. That Valdosta three-part case includes an annexation request. The agenda says it’s for Gusto Development, but no such company is registered with the Georgia Secretary of State. Maybe they mean Gusto GA Valdosta (Guest), LLC, registered “12/8/2015” with Principal Office Address: 736 Cherry St., Chattanooga, TN, 37402, USA. That’s the address of The Hutton Company, “We Know Dirt; Real Estate Development Construction”. The land is owned by Bassford Properties LLC, as noted in the previous post with the LAKE videos of the previous week’s Work Session, which shows what little the public was allowed to know, such as that it’s for a grocery store and a gas station. This might be a clue as to which company: Alex Green, timesfreepress.com, 9 November 2014, 3 new grocery stores coming to Chattanooga, and they may be Wal-Marts, Continue reading →

Southern Co. gets serious about smart grid: buys PowerSecure

While FPL wastes $3 billion on the 20th century Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline, Southern Company (SO) shows it’s serious about distributed energy by buying distributed grid infrastructure company PowerSecure (POWR) for $431 million. That announcement not only bumped POWR stock up by about 75%, the same day (yesterday) smart grid company EnerNOC (ENOC) shares went up 20%. That last could be coincidental, since ENOC announced earnings. But with two smart grid companies going up, the renewable solar and wind energy future is coming closer.

PRNewswire, 24 February 2016, Southern Company to Acquire PowerSecure International, Inc.: Addition of PowerSecure’s proven expertise positions Southern Company to advance distributed infrastructure development, Continue reading →