Tag Archives: Greater Lowndes Planning Commission

Six rezonings, Tourism Authority appointment, LMIG, Calendar, ULDC, VOCA, VAWA, Opioid, Land Bank Authority, Fire Dept. @ LCC 2021-12-13

Withdrawn as R-1 (1-acre lots) from tomorrow’s Lowndes County Commission agenda, but to be resubmitted as R-A (2.5-acre lots):
REZ-2021-28 Windy Hill S/D, 7532 Miller Bridge Road, ~34 acres, E-A to R-1, Community Well & Septic (WITHDRAWN).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.

[Rezonings]
Rezonings

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 →

An inappropriate rezoning unanimously opposed, but beware return with different acreage @ GLPC 2021-11-29

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]
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 →

Four big + 2 small county rezonings, four Valdosta rezonings, 3 of them CUP @ GLPC 2021-11-29

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.

[Four big rezonings]
Four big rezonings

Below is the agenda plus some maps from the Lowndes County Tax Assessors.

Greater Lowndes Planning Commission
~ 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

Continue reading →

Okefenokee resolution, Planning Commission, Airport, Sewer system, Road renaming moratorium @ VCC 2021-11-11

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]
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 →

Videos: Four Lowndes County rezonings, communications tower, Hahira office buildings @ GLPC 2021-10-25

Longest at 26 minutes was the rezoning for relocation of an “automobile inventory” to 3436 Mt. Zion Church Road.

Second at 19 minutes was the Hahira rezoning for office buildings in Hahira at 515 South Church Street, which got conditions.

Third at almost 13 minutes was the communications tower for CitySwitch at 5010 Bemiss Road, just north of the Lowndes County fire station.

The other two county rezonings were four minutes each.

[Godfrey, Hahira, Tower, Sineath]
Godfrey, Hahira, Tower, Sineath

Below are LAKE videos of each agenda item with a few notes, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the agenda and the Hahira agenda packet item. The packet items for the four Lowndes County cases are also on the LAKE website, received Wednesday, two days after the GLPC meeting, in response to a LAKE open records request. We look forward to the county putting its board packets online like many other counties in Georgia and Florida have been doing for years. Continue reading →

Hahira office buildings, 3 small county rezonings + telecommunications tower @ GLPC 2021-10-25

We do now have an agenda for the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission meeting tonight.

When: 5:30 PM, Monday, October 25, 2021

Where: South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue, Valdosta, GA 31601

[Agenda, Hahira case @ GLPC 2021-10-25]
Agenda, Hahira case @ GLPC 2021-10-25

Here is the agenda, thanks to Trinni Amiot. It also appeared online this morning. Thanks to Hahira City Planner Matt Martin for the board packet materials for the one Hahira case. We have no board packet materials for the Lowndes County cases; we have heard nothing from County Planner JD Dillard.

What we have is on the LAKE website:
http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/glpc/2021-10-25–glpc-packet Continue reading →

No agenda for tomorrow’s Planning Commission meeting @ GLPC 2021-10-25

Update 2021-10-25: Agenda and Hahira case.

According to its schedule on the City of Valdosta website, the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) meets as usual tomorrow, the last Monday of the month.

When: 5:30pm to 6:30pm, Monday, October 25, 2021

Where: South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue, Valdosta, GA 31601

[GLPC Schedule]
GLPC Schedule

That’s at the exact same time as the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session, which normally would be Tuesday at 5:30 PM, but that time slot is taken by the Public Hearing to Review and Transmit the 2021 Comprehensive Plan Update.

Lowndes County’s website has nothing in its calendar for this meeting, and no agenda is posted.

I have sent a request for agenda and board packet to the city and county Clerks and Planners. While the other four cities in Lowndes County may also have items on the agenda, Valdosta and Lowndes County traditionally handle the agenda.

If I get anything in time before the meeting tomorrow evening, I will post it.

-jsq

Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!

Update: rezonings w. Tiger Creek, whose communications tower? @ LCC 2020-09-08

Here are the answers to these questions from Saturday:

  1. Why is the owner of the planned 300-foot communications tower off US 84 a secret?
  2. Why does the agenda sheet for REZ-2020-11 Bella Mill Plantation, 8450 Ousley Rd., next to Tiger Creek and a short distance upstream from the Withlacoochee River, make no mention of sewage or the size of the septic system relative to the number of expected attendees at the planned event facility?

[Proposed interior sketch]
Proposed interior sketch

  1. TWR 2020-02 is by Diamond Communications and AT&T.
  2. REZ-2020-11: the Department of Public Health determines septic system sizes. That Department won’t issue a septic system permit until they are satisfied.

These answers came from JD Dillard, Lowndes County Planning and Zoning Director. I called him yesterday before the Regular Session Tuesday, and he called back with the answers.

How does the Department of Health determine septic system sizes? Partly by Continue reading →

Reappointment to GLPC, three rezonings w. Tiger Creek, whose communications tower? @ LCC 2020-09-07

Update 2020-09-09: Update: rezonings w. Tiger Creek, whose communications tower? @ LCC 2020-09-08

Why is the owner of the planned 300-foot communications tower off US 84 a secret? The Lowndes County Commission will deliberate on that rezoning and three more Monday morning at 8:30 AM and vote on it Tuesday at 5:30 PM, after these rezonings were heard Monday at the Planning Commission.

Why does the agenda sheet for REZ-2020-11 Bella Mill Plantation, 8450 Ousley Rd., next to Tiger Creek and a short distance upstream from the Withlacoochee River, make no mention of sewage or the size of the septic system relative to the number of expected attendees at the planned event facility? Why is there no mention of any speakers against this rezoning, even though there was at least one at the Planning Commission?

[Conceptual Plan]
Conceptual Plan
PDF

In addition to two other rezonings, the County Commission will most likely reappoint Tommy Willis to the Planning Commission.

Here is the agenda. The entire board packet for Monday and Tuesday is on the LAKE website, along with the minutes for the previous meetings two weeks ago, in response to a LAKE open records request. Thanks to new County Clerk Belinda Lovern and Sabrina Denson for speedy responses to such requests.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2020, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2020, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

  1. Call to Order Continue reading →

Event facility on Tiger Creek, mystery communications tower @ GLPC 2020-08-31

Update 2020-09-05: Added to the LAKE website the files on late arrival Southern Tractor.

Lowndes County and Valdosta will hear several rezoning cases this week that were before the Planning Commission Monday. The County has a a family children partition case, an event center for weddings and such next to Tiger Creek, for which staff recommends four conditions, a 43.8 acre rezoning for Southern Tractor & Outdoors Valdosta Facility, and a 300′ communications tower for an unnamed company.

[Tiger Creek and Parcel 0017 096, Tax Assessors Map]
Tiger Creek and Parcel 0017 096, Tax Assessors Map

The GLPC board packet materials for the Lowndes County cases are on the LAKE website, thanks to new Lowndes County Clerk Belinda Lovern, in response to an open records request from LAKE.

The Lake Park and Hahira cases were already heard this week by their Councils and Mayors.

Here is the agenda. I’ve interpolated the WRPDO Site Map where I’ve got it (the county didn’t send anything for REZ-2020-12), and a Tax Assessors’ map otherwise. Continue reading →