No agenda available to the public,
not on county’s website,
and not available at the door at Monday’s Planning Commission Work Session.
They didn’t even say the rezoning case numbers.
Apparently the Planning Commissioners had a board packet with some materials,
but the citizens and taxpayers did not get to see it,
and the City Planner said the electronic version would be much different.
They haven’t even put a sign up on
the Lowndes County property.
The
Valdosta rezoning
is a pretty big deal, with a grocery store and a gas station
for the unnamed applicant, who apparently is Continue reading
Tag Archives: Government
Videos: Rivers and Pipeline, Rehab homes, LAMP Lease, Rezonings, Alcohol, public defender, paving Stafford Wright Road @ LCC 2016-02-09
Gretchen
thanked them for putting most of the response to her open records request
on CDs, shortly after they had said at their recent planning session that
they wanted to promote interaction with the community.
Still nothing from the county attorney about the Sabal Trail documents, and it’s been well over three days.
I
invited them on behalf of WWALS to a workshop and a movie;
there’s more below.
See also the contested rezoning
5.d. REZ-2016-05 Union Rd Subdivision, E-A to R-A, ~114 acres
for more water issues.
Three citizens spoke explicitly about the pipeline, Jim Parker, Michael Noll, and Dr. Mario Bartoletti, as also noted in Jason Stewart, VDT, 11 February 2016, Sabal protests continue. As I noted in another post,
I go to a lot of county commission meetings in Georgia and Florida. Nowhere but Lowndes County do I see Continue reading
Lack of site plan disconcerting and unacceptable –Glenn Gregory about cemetery rezoning @ GLPC 2016-01-25
For an item
also on the Valdosta agenda tonight,
lack of transparency and concern for trees perplexed a prominent local citizen at the Planning Commission,
as you can see in
the LAKE video of the
25 January 2016 GLPC Regular Session.
Glenn Gregory said:
I think y’all might have a site plan, but the public does not have a site plan.
Commissioner Celine Godwin recommended Gregory take his transparency recommendation to the Valdosta City Council. We shall see, at 5:30 PM tonight. Gretchen will be there with the LAKE video camera.
Jason Stewart, VDT, 29 January 2016, Gregory opposes cemetery proposal, Continue reading
Cemetery, residence, parking, housing, appointments to 5 boards @ VCC 2016-02-11
For the Valdosta
four public hearings tonight at 5:30 PM,
see first the LAKE videos of the Planning Commission Work Session and Regular Session.
That
cemetery rezoning is quite controversial.
The housing resolution may be related to proposed joint city-county nonprofit for rehab housing in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity.
Also, Valdosta has a new website, apparently as of yesterday; follow this link for more about that and an online survey.
Here’s the agenda. Continue reading
Videos: Rehab homes, LAMP Lease, Rezonings, Alcohol, public defender, and paving Stafford Wright Road @ LCC 2016-02-08
They vote tonight at 5:30 PM.
At yesterday’s Work Session, there were two unscheduled reports.
Mark Stalvey of the county Housing Authority
said they’re working together with Habitat for Humanity
to form a nonprofit for collecting funds for rehabilitating
housing, and they’re asking for $5,000 each from Valdosta and Lowndes County
to get the nonprofit up and running, in return for which each would get
to appoint some board members; the rest would be elected by the nonprofit board.
Last, Tina Folsom with Lowndes Associated Ministries to People (LAMP) said their executive director left, so they don’t need their space in the Leila Ellis building. They’d like to be let out of their lease and have the funds applied to another county building they’re also renting space in.
See previous post for context and the agenda. Below are links to each LAKE video of the Work Session, followed by a video playlist. Continue reading
Videos: Video: Comprehensive Plan @ GLPC 2016-01-19
Following
the email announcement about the Comprehensive Plan,
I showed up late, expecting no formal presentation and
a typical SGRC tables-and-easels mill-about meeting,
and found the Planning Commission and staff in their usual seats.
Turns out they were there for their
Work Session agenda;
see the
LAKE videos.
As you can see in this video of the first part of the meeting,
there were citizen questions from Valdosta City Council Sandra Tooley and from me. Continue reading
Videos: Chancy R6M, Stallings Road Cemetery, 4 County cases, one to E-A @ GLPC 2016-01-25
The Lowndes County cases
are the ones the County Commission is reviewing
this morning in their Work Session.
GLPC recommended approval for all of them, with conditions on one,
REZ-2016-03 Jacob Eckwahl on US 41 South.
See also the GLPC agenda and the LAKE videos of the 19 Jan 2016 GLPC Work Session. Below are the LAKE videos of the 25 Jan 2016 GLPC Regular Session, followed by a video playlist. Continue reading
Videos: Chancy R6M, Stallings Road Cemetery, 4 County cases, one to E-A @ GLPC 2016-01-19
Not on
the agenda,
they started with
a public hearing on the Comprehensive Plan.
Expecting from
the email announcement about the Comprehensive Plan
that this would be a typical SGRC tables-and-easels mill-about meeting,
I didn’t show up on the dot and was quite surprised to find
the Planning Commission and staff in their usual spots.
See separate post.
Here are the LAKE videos with some notes, followed by a video playlist. Continue reading
Rezonings, Alcohol, public defender, and paving Stafford Wright Road @ LCC 2016-02-08
Monday morning 8:30 AM, the Lowndes County Commission
will hear about
(they vote Tuesday evening)
four well and septic rezoning cases,
one of them
from R-10 to E-A,
and another
of 114 acres from E-A to R-A.
The usual wine, beer, and liquor licenses,
a
County Purchasing Card and Credit Card Ordinance,
a
2016 Public Defender Contract Renewal
and
Proposal from Lovell Engineering for Stafford Wright Road Paving Project.
I remember residents of that road asking years ago for it to be paved;
instead the county paved Quarterman Road.
Here’s
the agenda.
See also the LAKE videos of the Planning Commission Work Session and Regular Session.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Continue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2016, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2016, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Videos: Planning Meeting, Lowndes County Commission @ LCC 2016-02-04
Suing local businesses
helps run up fees to the county attorney, says County Manager Joe Pritchard.
He didn’t mention that continuing to promote sprawl for example through the county’s thoroughfare plan also runs up fees that property taxes will never meet.
Commissioners seemed
very concerned about “stakeholders” whom they said were “the development community, the real estate community” and “the construction and homebuilder industries”.
Maybe somewhere they mentioned the agricultural and forestry industries,
or sales tax payers even if they don’t own real estate; if so I missed it.
At least they’re thinking about the Comprehensive Plan
and the general direction of the county in a public forum.
And the County Planner did talk about quality of life.
Plus it seems business prospects bringing that up got the attention of the County Manager.
They said they have a responsiblity to set the direction of the county.
How about instead of continuing to drive sprawl outwards,
which is a fiscally (and environmentally) irresponsible path,
turn to directing development to be more dense in already-developed areas?
They continue this morning at 8:30 AM, and Gretchen is there again with the LAKE video camera.
Here’s the agenda followed by links to each LAKE video with a few notes. See also two previous pictures.
We are looking forward to the improved communication that was touted in the VDT headline. Jason Stewart, VDT, 4 February 2016, Slaughter wants to strengthen communication, Continue reading