Viral Internet video of a human-caused sinkhole swallowing a clump of trees whole, in Bayou Corne, Assumption Parish, Louisiana.
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WCTV posted 22 August 2013, Sinkhole Swallows Trees In Seconds
Assumption Parish, LA – Cameras were rolling just as a sinkhole swallowed a group of trees….
CBS News reports that the sinkhole now covers 25 acres, and is expected to keep growing.
Video from NOLA.com of another tree going in: Continue reading
Traffic and taxes were discussed by Commissioners about REZ-2013-09 Moody Family
Housing on Val Del Road,
but none of them thought those topics important enough to make them conditions,
and they didn’t even discuss
use of local contractors
or
sinkholes
like the one in the Phase II site,
or the missing
geotechnical study
mentioned in the
USAF Draft Environmental Assessment whose comment period wasn’t even ended
when they voted
at
the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
As he had at the previous morning’s
Work Session,
Commissioner John Page wanted to know if that traffic study
was going to be required before the development could start.
Planning Commissioner Tommy Willis had also asked about that
back in July.
This time Page didn’t ask about GA 122 or anywhere other than
“Val Del and that area”.
Answer from County Engineer Mike Fletcher: Continue reading
Received yesterday on Florida sinkholes spreading real estate effects in same Aquifer as under Lowndes County. -jsq
John — Thank you for pressing forward on this important issue for the airmen and their families at Moody AFB as well as for all citizens of Lowndes County. My colleagues and I are also concerned and hope that we can eventually obtain the Phase I geotechnical study. Of course, we have our own research agendas as well as a desire to see our students working on these problems close to their own university campus. In particular, one of my undergraduate students just completed his thesis on karst subsidence beneath a house in Lowndes County. Here is a link to a poster where he presented those finding to our undergraduate research conference: GPR Investigation of Subsidence.
-Don Thieme
Ground-Penetrating Radar Investigation of Subsidence
Benjamin Davis, Department of Physics, Astronomy, and Geosciences
in Covered Karst near Valdosta
Faculty Sponsor: Donald M. ThiemeAbstract
Continue reading
Gretchen Quarterman said she was concerned not just about traffic on Val Del Road, but
Once they leave Val Del, how will they get to the base safely?
Also what happened at Nelson Hill, just up Val Del Road, even though she was neither for nor against REZ-2013-09, at the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
She specifically expressed concerns about GA 122, Hambrick Road
and Radar Site Road, among others,
as she had done
at the Planning Commission.
The previous morning at the Work Session,
Commissioner John Page had asked about
McMillan Road and GA 122
and had gotten an answer from County Engineer Mike Fletcher
which only addressed Val Del Road.
Gretchen Quarterman also expressed concern about another development
out in the county going bad like Nelson Hill did,
with many of its 13 conditions not being met.
Here’s the video:
Continue readingNo geotechnical study was seen from the developer before drawing the sinkhole buffers shown in the the Air Force Draft Environmental Assessment for the proposed Moody Housing on Val Del Road, just rezoned as REZ-2013-09, PDF courtesy of Prof. Michael Noll of VSU. You can see sinkholes and wetlands in its maps:
Most of the site area, including all of the Phase I area subject of REZ-2013-09, is colored for medium wetland habitat quality: Continue reading
A VSU professor
said he was in favor of the economic benefits,
but geotechnical issues should determine whether
the new Moody Housing on Val Del Road
(REZ-2013-09)
should be built, and those were still unclear,
at
the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
Dr. Michael Noll of VSU said he was speaking because he had been referred to by previous speakers (Jason Davenport and Tom Kurrie), and he was neither for nor against REZ-2013-09. Dr. Noll’s neither-in-favor-nor-against position seemed to puzzle County Engineer Mike Fletcher. Noll said he and his colleagues had looked at the Environmental Assessment (EA) which has been available at the public library and concluded that they had a number of questions they’d like answered, and he was sure the developers had similar concerns for safety of the project.
Dr. Noll said they’d been trying to get a copy of the geotechnical analysis Continue reading
“Officers can’t even entertain guests at the houses they are living in”
said a Hahira business man,
at
the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session,
speaking in favor of
REZ-2013-09 for proposed new Moody Housing on Val Del Road.
Previously at the Planning Commission Coombs had
asked for use of local contractors
at this new Moody Family Housing project.
Both at GLPC and at this County Commission meeting Coombs
expressed concern about what he called that “botched” previous housing
project.
(Much more detail on Magnolia Grove
here.)
This time he said he thought the new project would be
“of great economic impact in a time when it is really needed”.
What happened to his concerns about use of local contractors?
Here’s the video:
Continue readingAll about public-private partnerships (PPP) and military rank waterfalls by an Atlanta and K Street lawyer at the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session. about REZ-2013-09, introduced by local lawyer Tom Kurrie to answer a question by Commissioner John Page.
G. Scott Rafshoon of
McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP
of Atlanta and K Street in DC spoke for.
His law firm bio says in part:
G. Scott Rafshoon has a diverse legal practice that includes corporate law, government affairs and project finance. Combining these disciplines, Mr. Rafshoon is a leader in the Firm’s public-private partnership (“P3”) practice….
Manages the Firm’s representation of Balfour Beatty Communities, a subsidiary of Balfour Beatty plc, in the privatization of family and unaccompanied personnel housing at military installations around the country. To-date, Mr. Rafshoon has assisted Balfour Beatty with privatizing facilities at 48 Army, Navy and Air Force installations in 23 states and the District of Columbia, in separate transactions valued at more than $4 billion.
This is apparently the same Continue reading
Tom Kurrie said Phase I has a structural issue and Phase II of the proposed Moody Housing has a sinkhole, at the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
Tom Kurrie spoke for
the rezoning for Phase I,
REZ-2013-09,
first giving something unknown to the County Clerk,
and then saying:
Bill Holland and I are the applicants, we represent the owner of the property, the Howard Dasher Company, as well as the developers of the property, Balfour Beatty Communities.
The ubiquitous Bill Holland had spoken the previous morning in the Work Session.
This time, Kurrie said the project had been in the makings for over two years. (Funny how the county didn’t tell us about it until they were ready to rush it through.) He said it was for “prestige housing” for base personnel. He said it was unusual in being 8 miles west of Moody AFB. He introduced Ron Nestor, Senior Vice President of Balfour Beatty, and said it was a public-private partnership. And use would be restricted to Air Force personnel. We’d already heard about such restrictions at the Planning Commission. He said it would be a “gated community”. We’ll see if that actually happens this time, unlike at Nelson Hill just up Val Del Road; you can see both locations on this map:
Kurrie also mentioned professor Noll and geotechnical issues such as sinkholes, Continue reading
County Planner Jason Davenport said he had heard concerns there could be
sinkholes under the proposed new military housing on Val Del Road,
but he recommended approval anyway,
at
the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
6.a. REZ-2013-09 Moody Housing, Val Del Rd R-1 to Residential PD, LC Water & Sewer, ~64 acres
See
Work Session video
for context.
This time, County Planner Jason Davenport said “we have an updated copy on the screen” of the site plan.
He mentioned:
…there has been some communications between the applicant’s agents and really professor Noll and possibly some other colleagues at VSU about some of the geotechnical aspects of this site plan I believe they might speak on the soils and possibly the karst features in this area or the sinkholes or potential for that.
Pictured here is the older site plan, because County Clerk still hadn’t responded to Gretchen’s Open Records Request of the previous morning. State law says the county can take three days to respond, which is great for developers, but not so good for the public.
Here’s the video:
Continue reading