That’s a Lake Park postal address, but the street address
is actually in Echols County.
Received from
Lake Park Chamber of Commerce. yesterday. -jsq
Continue reading
ALAPAHOOCHEE
HISTORIC FARM / HERITAGE DAYS
DOWN HOME FAMILY REUNIONOCTOBER
1424 – 25, 2014 (FRI/SAT)
9 AM-4 PMECHOLS COUNTY, 202 BETHEL CHURCH ROAD.
LAKE PARK. GA 31636
Preserving Echols County & Area Heritage of 1900’s
- Non-profit
- NO ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES ALLOWED
- Free admission
There was at least some reason for the Commission’s approval of the
Family Dollar and other use rezoning for Roger Budd Jr. and Leninco
out of the Francis Lake golf course in Lake Park:
because it would include a condition of a berm that would continue
with the property regardless of who owned it.
The applicant’s
attorney had made it clear that applicant
considered the berm too expensive and it, along with other conditions,
might make the project unfeasible.
Perhaps the Commission should apply the same technique
to stop the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline.
This was in the
23 August 2014 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission;
thanks to Toma Hawk for the video.
6.b. REZ-2014-14 Roger Budd Jr, Lakes Blvd (SR 376), R-10 to C-G, Water/Sewer, ~4.2 acres
[Work Session Start 1 minute 48 seconds.] County Planner Jason Davenport said this was a repeat of a request from 2009 “that Continue reading
Update 2014-08-25: There was some rationale for why the Commission voted to approve. See Videos: developer property rights and effects on neighbors, Leninco, Roger Budd, Lake Park @ LCC 2014-08-12.
With little notice local citizens didn’t have time to organize opposition
to a rezoning for three companies domiciled outside Lowndes County
on behalf of a developer who doesn’t even own the property next to them.
Yet again no agenda was posted for the Planning Commission last month
so few people showed up.
More spoke at the Lowndes County Commission this month.
But with so little time, only 38 people signed a petition,
and there were no
citizen-organized meetings, unlike for
the Brookhaven rezoning back in March and April.
Unlike the Lake Park City Council, which
held a special public hearing,
the Lowndes County Commission plowed ahead on its usual schedule
and voted on a bare majority to approve anyway for a developer on which
they are on a first-name basis,
while local neighbors went un-named and unheeded.
Does this seem right to you?
Toma Hawk videoed and edited together the Work Session of 11 August 2014 and the Regular Session of 12 August 2014 to emphasize this item from the agenda: Continue reading
Opposition started arising to Roger Budd’s request to rezone
to put another Family Dollar near Francis Lake in Lake Park,
at the
28 July 2014 Planning Commission meeting,
which voted 5 to 2 with one abstention to recommend a compromise solution.
6. REZ-2014-14 Roger Budd Jr
Video. County Planner Jason Davenport said he had received no indications of any opposition. And one GLPC member asked the developer’s presenter whether residents of Francis Lake had been notified.
Yet J.D. Carroll spoke against, Continue reading
Where can you vote on Tuesday May 20th,
Election Day for the Special Election for Lowndes County
Commission District 5, for the Lowndes County Board of Education,
for the elections for judges, and for the primaries for the Georgia
statehouse, statewide offices, and U.S. Congress?
Yes, precincts have changed yet again,
but you can find your polling place in
My Voter Page by the Georgia Secretary of State.
Or you can zoom and pan on the
VALOR GIS Election Boundary Map.
Whichever way you find your polling place, it’s time to get out and vote. If we don’t, why should Atlanta pay any attention to us poor rural stepchildren?
Continue reading
It’s time to vote,
today and tomorrow in early voting at
the Board of Elections, 2808 North Oak Street, Valdosta, or
Tuesday May 20th at
your polling place.
Turnout is very low for elections that will affect everyone in Lowndes
County and beyond.
Two of the Lowndes County Commission districts will be decided May 20th (District 5 is a Special Election and District 2 has only candidates in one party): they will affect your water, sewer, trash, rezoning, road building, and taxes. All the Lowndes County School Board elections Continue reading
After
the Planning Commission meeting of 31 March 2014
and
the Lake Park City Council meeting of 1 April 2014,
and
a special public hearing,
the Lake Park City Council
voted 3 to 1 to deny the Brookhaven apartment building
rezoning.
Mayor Eric Schindler’s statement about how the hornet’s nest of the Brookhaven rezoning LP-2014-02-26, or any rezoning, is a process and not a snap decision is well worth watching.
The City of Lake Park does not appear to have posted an agenda, or at least where I expected to find it there are no details. Below are links to the videos in the order items appeared at the Lake Park City Council Regular Session of May 6th 2014, with a few 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
“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