Received today on Solid Waste, Developer Favors, Dollar General, Library, and Alcohol: Agenda @ LCC 2012-12-10:
Veolia was acquired by Advanced Disposal, there is no conspiracy theory here or a change of vendor than was previously voted for. http://www.wasterecyclingnews.com/article/20121120/NEWS01/121129990/advanced-disposal-closes-veolia-deal, Continue reading
Update 8 December 2012: Actually, Houston County does have enforceable encroachment zones around RAFB.
Houston County hasn’t had a enforceable encroachment zone around
Warner Robins Air Force Base (RAFB) and is now fixing the problem
after the fact by using state money to buy up houses near the base.
Houston County Commission Chairman Tommy Stalnaker labelled encroachment
his number one priority, in stark contrast to Lowndes County Commission
Chairman Ashley Paulk, who has put
two items on the agenda for Monday and Tuesday
related to a proposed rezoning next to Moody Air Force Base,
and already at a previous Work Session
invited the developer to speak
without letting anyone else speak.
Gene Rector wrote for WRWR “10 months ago”, Stalnaker ‘ecstatic’ over state action on Robins encroachment issue,
In a word, Houston County Commission Chairman Tommy Stalnaker was “ecstatic” last week when he learned state officials
will allocate $7.5 million to help resolve the encroachment issue affecting Robins Air Force Base.
State Rep. Larry O’Neal called and gave him a heads-up before Gov. Nathan Deal made the announcement on Friday.
“I felt like jumping up and down and screaming and hollering,” Stalnaker admitted. “But then I remembered we hadn’t done our part yet.”
Encroachment has dogged Robins for a number of years. Some 250 parcels — mostly private residences — spread over 1,600 acres in south Bibb and north Houston counties fall within the base’s noise or potential mishap zone.
That risk to homes in the designated region could restrict or limit current operations or force the Air Force to look elsewhere for future workload and mission growth.
Stalnaker has labeled resolving encroachment his number one priority.
Mike Stucka wrote for the Telegraph 31 May 2012, Interactive map: Robins AFB encroachment and property purchases,
Continue readingReceived yesterday, referring to TXT-2012-02, which is on the agenda for Monday morning’s Work Session and Tuesday evening’s Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission. -jsq
From: Richard RainesContinue reading
To: Gretchen Quarterman
Subject: RE: Text Amendment
Gretchen,Based on a conversation with the Chairman yesterday, it is my
understanding that this issue will be tabled until sometime next year (Chairman-elect Slaughter will decide when to put it back on the agenda) because we are working with MAFB on a compromise as they are well aware of our mandate to balance property rights with protecting against base encroachment.
Since I’ve been on the County Commission we have made it a priority to constantly evaluate the ULDC and all zoning districts. MAZ 1-3 is no exception and must be evaluated to make sure that it is balanced and consistent.
We have discovered
Updates 9 Dec 2012: Marked with *.
Will the Lowndes County Commission Tuesday evening
finish railroading through their non-solution to solid waste disposal,
without shouldering its legal responsibility to protect
the environment and the public health, safety, and well-being from solid waste,
and what’s this about a vendor change?
Will the Chairman once again invite a developer to speak in Monday morning’s
Work Session without letting anyone else speak?
Will the Commission change the zoning code and rezone inside and against
the Moody Exclusion Zone for that same developer they already
provided $130,000 in road construction labor to back in 2007?
Does Naylor need the area’s nineteenth Dollar General, and who’s behind it, anyway?
How come the Five Points library is still on the agenda even though SPLOST VII failed?
And what are they doing to the Alcoholic Beverage Ordinance this time?
Come Monday morning at 8:30 AM and Tuesday evening at 5:30 PM and see!
Better yet, also call or write your Commissioner before then.
6.b. Solid Waste Ordinance
Will the Commissioners finish
railroading through their
already-failing non-solution to solid waste disposal
in the last session of this Chairman?
The plan for which they held
zero public hearings while any of
the Commissioners who voted on it this October were on the Commission,
yet someone down there feels free to
anonymously ridicule concerns about that plan failing?
Two citizens
spoke up anyway,
even though
Citizens Wishing to Be Heard
was after the scheduled vote last time,
and
another on this blog,
all willing to state their names, unlike the anonymous pro-trash-railroad
ridiculer.
What was that
unspecified new information
that caused them to table it last time, anyway?
8.b. Exclusive Franchise Agreement for Residential Solid Waste Collection Services with Advanced Disposal Services of Central Alabama, Inc.
What happened to Veolia; Continue reading
Executive Director Andrea Schruijer explained the Industrial Authority’s theory behind all those industrial parks. And she mentioned market analysis for a sustainable local economy. Nothing about market analysis about whether industrial parks actually bring in new businesses….
Valdosta CEO posted 28 NOvember 2012, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority Invests in Land Development For Future Industries,
Andrea Schruijer, Executive Director of the Valdosta Lowndes County Industrial Authority. A few years ago the community had the foresight to approve a mill that they would set aside for the Industrial Authority to provide for economic development. And because the community did that, the industrial authority is able to better plan for the future in growing our opportunities for economic development. One of the things that we noticed a few years ago is that we didn’t have enough land for development. And we didn’t have the right sized tracks in case we had a large user coming in looking at the community, where would we put them?
She says “the community did that”?
That’s funny,
Gary Minchew said he organized that.
Kari L. Sands wrote for VDT 20 June 2007,
Lowndes preps for vote on budget,
In most states, financing solar energy is largely a matter of learning all the local ropes. In Georgia, there’s a bigger problem.
Michael Mendelsohn wrote for RMI 5 December 2012, How Do We Lower Solar Installation Costs and Open the Market to Securitized Portfolios: Standardize and Harmonize,
Soft costs can be pretty tough. The cost of solar installations can be generally separated into “hard” costs — representing primary components such as modules, racking, inverters — and soft costs including legal, permitting, and financing. While the former group — particularly modules — have dropped dramatically over the last several years, the latter have not. According to a recent NREL analysis, these costs represent roughly 30% of both residential and utility installations (slightly less for commercial-host systems). See Figure 1.
In fact, soft costs are so critical to the overall success of solar adoption, their reduction is a primary focus of the Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative to make solar energy cost-competitive. In order to reduce the cost of financing, NREL recently completed and continues to work on various efforts to tap public capital markets and enable other vehicles that securitize project portfolios.
We’ll come back to tapping public capital markets and the like, because that’s the key to what Georgia Solar Utilities (GaSU) is trying to do. But there’s a special problem in Georgia, buried in the next paragraph:
Continue readingDisposal of solid waste (trash/garbage) is a matter of community public health and safety and providing such service is the responsibilty of the local governing bodies. How should trash health and safety responsibly be implemented?
We cannot be left in a situation where residents are either “forced
to buy” service from a provider, or have no option but to burn
their trash. The government can levy a tax, but they cannot say that
residents are forbidden to buy a service from an independent provider.
Such a ruling is
“protect the health safety, and well-being of its citizens and to protect and enhance the quality of its environment” ,
Residents in the unincorporated areas of the county who want curb side collection, for the most part, already purchase it. Those of us using the collection centers do so because it is our preference.
The county should (in my opinion) create a special tax district for waste disposal (it already makes special lighting districts) and tax the residents for the maintenance of the collection centers.
-gretchen
As we’ve seen, solid waste is a matter of public health, safety, well-being, and the environment, according to Georgia state law. Whose responsibility is it to protect the environment and the public health, safety, and well-being from solid waste?
Many health and safety issues are handled through the health department,
including the Georgia Department of Public Health,
and the
South Health District
(Ben Hill, Berrien, Brooks, Cook, Echols, Irwin, Lanier, Lowndes, Tift and Turner Counties).
Particularly, water quality (septic tanks, well water), food safety,
cleanliness of hotels, motels, restaurants, swimming pools and so on
are the responsibility of the local health department,
such as the
Lowndes County Health Department.
However, disposal of solid waste (trash/garbage) is handled by the local municipality or governmental body (county).
The EPA has a variety of documents available about solid waste.
So does the state EPD, as enabled through Georgia Legislation: Existing Rules and Corresponding Laws.
So, where does this leave us? See next post.
-gretchen
Solid waste is a health and safety issue, according to Georgia law.
According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources copy of the GEORGIA COMPREHENSIVE SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT ACT OF 1990 AS AMENDED THROUGH 2004,
O.C.G.A. § 12-8-21. Declaration of policy; legislative intent
a) It is declared to be the policy of the State of Georgia, in furtherance of its responsibility to protect the public health, safety, and well-being of its citizens and to protect and enhance the quality of its environment, to institute and maintain a comprehensive state-wide program for solid waste management and to prevent and abate litter, so as to assure that solid waste does not adversely affect the health, safety, and well-being of the public and that solid waste facilities, whether publicly or privately owned, do not degrade the quality of the environment by reason of their location, design, method of operation, or other means and which, to the extent feasible and practical, makes maximum utilization of the resources contained in solid waste.
Emphasis added on the parts about
health, safety, well-being, and the environment.
Those are the goals of this legislation, stated twice in the first paragraph.
Georgia being a home rule state, the implementation of these goals
is now left to the local governing bodies.
More on that next.
-gretchen
Received today from Bryan Zulko of USDA. -jsq
Continue reading
Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program – Application deadline: Nov 28, 2012
Grants to plan or implement food projects designed to meet the needs of low-income individuals and increase community self-reliance concerning food and nutrition.Great American Main Street Awards (GAMSA) – Application deadline: Dec 3, 2012
Grants to recognize exemplary and innovative revitalization achievements in revitalization of historic and older neighborhood commercial districts using a community-driven, historic-preservation based approach.