Here’s the Call to Order.
See
separate post
for details of the Army Corps of Engineers flooding study.
The Work Session continued after that, but Gretchena and I both
had to go to other events, so there’s no video of the rest.
If Valdosta videoed its own meetings, Continue reading
In these videos of
the initial flooding study
by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at the Valdosta City Council Work Session,
you can see they’re the Corps, all right: they want to build a levee.
They did emphasize that this was just an initial study on
what could be done inside Valdosta, and their main conclusion
was that there was enough need to indicate federal interest,
as in possibilities of getting federal funding for solutions.
City Manager Larry Hanson got the Corps to confirm (several times)
that Valdosta alone couldn’t stop the flooding, since the vast
majority of floodwaters comes from upstream
on the Withlacoochee and Little Rivers.
Later that same evening in response to citizen questions
at the Valdosta City Hall Annex, the Corps clarified more that
they did understand there were issues of impervious surfaces
and development and loss of wetlands and they wanted to
do a much larger study of the entire watershed,
which could take several years to accomplish.
They kept emphasizing that the Suwannee River watershed
is one of the largest in the country, and there are also
flooding problems on the Suwannee River, which could be important
for obtaining federal dollars.
As we already knew, Valdosta has funded projects already started to move the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) uphill and to add a force main to prevent manhole overflows. People downstream in Florida may be relieved to hear something is being done.
Here’s a video playlist, followed by images of the Corp’s slides and of the City Council, and some notes.
Continue reading
Apartments are expensive to local governments, developers don’t sue
unless there is actual discrimination (which there isn’t in this case),
water use is a big issue,
and the primary responsibility of elected officials is to the citizens
who elect them:
Judge Wayne Ellerbee made these and other points relevant to many
rezoning requests as he spoke for some of the opponents at
the
Lake Park Brookhaven rezoning.
He pointing out that the question before the Lake Park City Council was the rezoning, but the developers needed to take into account the effects on the entire city of Lake Park. He mentioned studies from the University of Georgia saying that the most expensive zoning Continue reading
“A molehill to cover up an eyesore” pretty much summed up the neighbors’
opinions.
Some of the usual local lawyers seemed surprised at the number
and sophistication of the rezoning opponents, as you can see in
these videos of the public hearing for the
Brookhaven apartment building proposed rezoning.
The Lake Park City Council took its duties to its citizens seriously,
holding a separate zoning meeting just for this one subject.
Here’s a video playlist:
Citizens, lawyers, and developers
Rezoning Public Hearing, Lake Park City Council (Lake Park),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Lake Park, Lowndes County, Georgia, 28 April 2014.
Attorney Tom Kurrie’s apparent suggestion that the neighbors wanted to discriminate against the elderly and children Continue reading
One
Lowndes County
ULDC variance, for
lot access and road frontage.
The could be interesting, since, according to the
Lowndes County Tax Assessors’ maps,
3041 Touchton Road doesn’t actually touch Touchton Road,
or any other road, for that matter.
Here’s the agenda. The City of Valdosta puts ZBOA agendas and minutes online in real PDFs. Continue reading
North Valdosta Church of God came to a decision.
Plus
a house variance in
Lowndes County was approved unanimously,
and
a gas station variance got its building variance approved, but its other variance requests denided, all on a split vote.
in
Valdosta.
See
the Meeting Results Summary,
which also lists all of ZBOA members as present.
Here’s the agenda, with links to the videos and a few notes. The City of Valdosta puts ZBOA agendas and minutes online in real PDFs. Continue reading
9AM to 1PM
Valdosta Farm Days at the old Lowndes County Courthouse,
first and third Saturdays, starting today.
City of Valdosta Pr 24 April 2014, Downtown Valdosta Welcomes Back Farm Days,
On market Saturdays, vendors offer a variety of goods for sale such as locally-grown, locally-raised, locally-produced fruits and vegetables, plants, herbs, meats, farm-fresh eggs and dairy products, organic produce, baked and prepared foods, snacks and coffee. Patrons will also find a variety of artisan and natural products including products made from recycled goods, birdhouses, handmade soaps and body products, candles, and honey products. Those who arrive early to shop have the advantage of beating the heat and getting the best picks of the season.
The market also serves as a venue to educate the community on healthy local options. Cooking demonstrations and Continue reading
Just in case it might work, I sent an Open Records Request to the
Lowndes County Clerk before Monday’s Planning Commission meeting.
The result just arrived, two days later, 47 hours after the meeting started.
It is in electronic form, as I requested, but it’s a
PDF of a scanned
image, so turning it into HTML would require OCRing it or transcribing it,
unlike
the real PDF I got by another means before the meeting
and posted Monday.
If the agendas and minutes for the Planning Commission were posted
on the web like the Lowndes County Commissions own agendas
and minutes already are, this problem wouldn’t arise,
and there would also be less work for county staff.
-jsq
“People would have a lot more confidence in the government
if they understood it and they could see it happen,”
said Gretchen Quarterman this morning on drive-time radio.
She used last night’s
Brookhaven apartment building rezoning public hearing in
Lake Park to illustrate: local landowners have property rights and
there was a lack of communication between the developers
of a proposed apartment building, the Lake Park city government,
and the neighbors.
She also talked about jobs, including in local agriculture.
For example, she ran the
2014 South Georgia Growing Local Conference.
Money spent on local agriculture supports the local economy,
not companies far away.
She talked about stewardship of resources,
including preserving local property and environment from
the Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline.
She advocated Continue reading
A scheduled guest
didn’t show up
and an unscheduled guest
did,
about
broadband.
Perhaps 250 jobs from a prospective logistics distribution
Project Royal
and a potential agriculture-related
Project Orange.
Express Scripts
brought 135 jobs last year and now are adding 175 jobs.
Executive Director Andrea Schruijer
emphasized the importance of existing industries in generating
jobs and capital investment.
She’s also discovered
agriculture is 13% of Georgia GDP and 10% of that is grown in our region.
Next VLCIA meeting will be noon Thursday May 20th because of a trip to Atlanta later that same day. They may be in their “new digs” by then, and Building-Committee-UpdateChairman Mary Gooding promised an open house once they were moved in.
Here’s the agenda, with links to the videos, and a few notes.
Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial AuthorityContinue reading
Thursday, April 15, 2014 5:30 p.m.
Industrial Authority Conference Room
2110 N. Patterson Street