Tag Archives: halfway house

Halfway house rezoning has Public Hearing date 2023-03-28

Update 2023-03-27: Agenda: Howell Road Halfway House @ LCC 2023-03-27.

The halfway house rezoning on Howell Road is back for its final Public Hearing, on March 28, 2023.

[Second Public Re-Hearing, Zoning Location Map]
Second Public Re-Hearing, Zoning Location Map

Back in May 23, 2022, the Greater Lowndes Planning recommended denial by 7:2. Nonetheless, the Lowndes County Commission approved this rezoning on 2022-06-16 with the Chairman breaking a tie.

After an attorney for opponents dug in, that vote was determined invalid, because the county had not advertised the Public Hearing according to state law specific to Transitional Care Facilities. The first of two new Public Hearings was held 2022-09-13.

See also the Lowndes County Commission board packet 2022-06-16, the board packet 2022-09-12, and the GLPC board packet 2022-05-23.

In the Valdosta Daily Times, March 5, 2023:

PUBLIC NOTICE TO THE CITIZENS OF LOWNDES COUNTY

[Public Notice of Second Public Re-Hearing]

Lowndes County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing to consider the following rezoning request. The location, date and time of the public hearing are as follows:

Tuesday, March 28, 2023 – 5:30 p.m.

Lowndes County Board of Commissioners (official public hearing) Lowndes County Judicial and Administrative Complex Commission Chambers, 2nd Floor 327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, Georgia

The Board of Commissioners of Lowndes County will hold a public hearing pursuant to OCGA § 36-66-4(A) at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 28, 2023, in the Lowndes County Judicial and Administrative Complex, Commission Chambers, 2nd Floor, 327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, Georgia, in Case Number REZ-2022-10 regarding all or part of Tax Map 0186 Parcel 107 and Tax Map 0187 Parcel 082 on the application by Redeemed Living, c/o Charles B. Moore, Jr., on behalf of Parkerson Properties, LLC/Thomas A. Parkerson, to amend the Zoning Map of Lowndes County, Georgia, to rezone 23 acres located at 2193 Howell Road, Valdosta, Georgia, from E-A (Estate Agriculture) zoning district to PD (Planned Development) zoning district for uses to include a Transitional Care Facility. The Lowndes County Unified Land Development Code defines Transitional Care Facility to mean “A building or buildings in which is provided long-term but not permanent living accommodations for one or more persons who are in need of short term or long-term housing assistance, and in which may also be provided meals and social services including physical therapy, social therapy, emotional therapy, counseling, rehabilitation, or substance abuse recovery assistance.” The legal dictionary definition of halfway house is “A transitional housing facility designed to rehabilitate people who have recently left a prison or medical-care facility, or who otherwise need help in adjusting to unsupervised living.” The proposed zoning decision relates to or will allow the location or relocation of a halfway house, drug rehabilitation center, or other facility for the treatment of drug dependency.

Any comments may be presented at the public hearings, or filed in writing prior to the public hearings. Also, review of the above applications is available in the Office of the County Planner located at 327 North Ashley Street.

Pursuant to O.C.G.A. 36-67A-3, any opponent of this proposed rezoning who has made campaign contributions aggregating $250.00 or more to a local government official of Lowndes County Board of Commissioners, within two years immediately preceding the filing of the application, is required to file a disclosure statement, at least five days prior to the hearing, with the Zoning Administrator or County Planner, stating the name and position of the local official to whom contributions were made, the amount, description and date of each campaign contribution.

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County rehab center vote invalid –Valdosta Daily Times 2022-09-12

Update 2022-09-13: GA Forestry, $3 million, redoing 2 rezonings, 3 extraterritorial water and sewer @ LCC 2022-09-12.

The newspaper of record reported on the unusual redo of a zoning decision by the Lowndes County Commission, noting the Commissioners did not follow the law in at least two ways.

But it did not say who discovered those infractions: the County Attorney? The County Planner? The Chairman who cast the tie-breaking vote? Somebody who sued or threatened to sue?

Want to dig into that question, VDT?

Meanwhile, the Commission will proceed with correcting its infractions in three agenda items this evening.

7.b. REZ-2022-10 The Campus Transitional Care Facility, 2193 Howell Rd 7.b. REZ-2022-10 The Campus Transitional Care Facility, 2193 Howell Rd
LAKE Video of the erroneous hearing and vote on June 16, 2022.

Malia Thomas, Valdosta Daily Times, September 12, 2022, County rehab center vote invalid,

VALDOSTA — The Lowndes County Commission will have to revisit a controversial rezoning decision in light of a discovery that the original vote was invalid due to a “failure to follow zoning procedures.”

On June 16, Continue reading →

Very unusual: Rehearing of a rezoning @ LCC 2022-09-13

Update 2022-09-12: Packet: redo 2 rezonings, 3 extraterritorial water & sewer, $438,537 RR crossing, $2,542,586 Griner Park @ LCC 2022-09-12.

Nobody seems to remember the Lowndes County Commission ever redoing a rezoning public hearing. Possibly this is what they’ve been holding Executive Sessions about lately.

Thanks to Jane Fleming Osborn for spotting this pair of public notices about redoing the same rezoning that appeared in the Valdosta Daily Times, apparently on August 29, 2022.

[Both notices]
Both notices

One is to consider the validity of the previous vote. Then they previously rezoned this property on June 16, 2022, one Commissioner was absent, and the Chairman decided a split vote.

The Public Notice is about the rezoning itself, with a prominent warning tacked on the end that it’s for a halfway house for drug rehabilitation. Apparently lack of that last bit was a legal problem Continue reading →

Cost of Incarceration in Georgia

Carrie Teegardin and Bill Rankin
write in the AJC about A billion-dollar burden or justice? AJC investigation: Georgia leads nation in criminal punishment:
Georgia taxpayers spend $1 billion a year locking up so many criminal offenders that the state has the fourth-highest incarceration rate in the nation. When it comes to overall criminal punishment, no state outdoes Georgia.
They note that scare tactics made that happen.
But today, many public figures with strong anti-crime credentials are asking if that expenditure is smart, or even if it’s making Georgians safer. The debate about crime and punishment, once clearly divided along party lines, is now a debate in which conservatives often lead the charge for change.
Continue reading →