Tag Archives: LAKE

Downtown Parking Deck Public Comment Meeting 2016-03-15

On Valdosta’s website, 9 March 2016, CVDA Hosts Public Forum for Proposed Downtown Parking Deck, Mar. 15

The City of Valdosta and Central Valdosta Development Authority will host a public forum on Tuesday, March 15 to discuss a proposed new parking deck for Downtown Valdosta. The forum will take place at 5 p.m. in the City Hall Annex Multi-Purpose Room, located at 300 N. Lee Street.

The parking deck is being suggested as one option to create additional parking opportunities in Downtown Valdosta. At the forum, conceptual plans for the parking deck will be presented. Key staff members will be present at the meeting, and the public will have the opportunity to ask questions, provide feedback and voice concerns related to the proposed project.

For more information, contact the Main Street office at 229-259-3577.

Noelani Mathews, WCTV, 14 March 2016, Local Shops React to Parking Deck in Downtown Valdosta, Continue reading →

Videos: Project Max and more at Development Authority @ VLCIA 2016-02-16

They said almost nothing last month about Project Max, so we don’t know for sure if for example it is really a glass container company. They meet again tonight. Actually, that one is cancelled; they meet next April 19th.

At the end, Gretchen spoke about:

  1. Ham and Eggs Show 2016-02-17
  2. the WWALS Withlacoochee and Little River Workshop at VSU 2016-02-27
  3. the South Georgia Growing Local food conference went well, and led to a planning session led by Charlie Barnes about local food planning 2016-03-31.

Dr. Noll of WACE said he was there to “harrass” Continue reading →

Help fix land revaluation: come to Farm Bureau –Board of Equalization

Come to the Farm Bureau in two weeks to hear Tax Assessor staff present their updates and provide your input Contents for changes to the rural land revaluation, this time taking into account rivers, aquifer recharge zones, and uniformity. Maybe the Tax Assessors actually don’t want more flooding in Valdosta; both the City of Valdosta and GA-EDP have already shown interest in attending about that point.

At an appeal on my property valuation, the Board of Equalization stopped short of actually ordering the Tax Assessors to redo last year’s rural land revaluation, because staff volunteered Continue reading →

Videos: CAC on Skipper Bridge, 3 board appointments, lots of alcohol @ LCC 2016-03-07

See also the previous post for LAKE videos of the preceding Planning Commission Work Session and Regular Session. County Manager Joe Pritchard brought up in his Report yesterday morning the annexation request that is part of the Valdosta proposed rezoning for a development on Bemiss Road; see the packet materials for that item obtained by LAKE through open records request. They heard the long-awaited animal tethering ordinance, and will vote on it this evening, as part of an Animal Welfare Ordinance. See agenda posting for the three board appointments, the two Copeland Road items related to water, sewer, pavement, and Lowndes Middle School students, the two Tax Assessor items, others, and, last but not least, the four alcohol items. See also the previous post for LAKE videos of the preceding Planning Commission Work Session and Regular Session including the CAC item on Skipper Bridge Road, with a link to the board packet materials for that item that LAKE obtained by open records request.

Below are Continue reading →

Videos: CAC office on Skipper Bridge Rd. + a Wal-Mart on Bemiss Rd? @ GLPC 2016-02-29

LAKE videos of the Planning Commission Regular Session recommendations for the CAC office, also heard yesterday morning at Lowndes County Commission Work Session and to be voted on tonight at LCC Regular Session. At the same GLPC meeting, the Valdosta rezoning for (with small annexation) for the grocery store and gas station; See notes on the GLPC agenda for why that could be a Wal-Mart. See also the LAKE videos of the previous week’s GLPC Work Session, and the board packet materials for REZ-2016-06 CAC on Skipper Bridge Road and “Gusto Development Corp” on Bemiss Road. The LAKE videos of the GLPC Regular Session of 29 February 2016 are linked in below, followed by a video playlist.

Here’s a video playlist:


Videos: CAC office on Skipper Bridge Rd. + a Wal-Mart on Bemiss Rd?
Regular Session, Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 29 February 2016.

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CAC on Skipper Bridge, 3 board appointments, lots of alcohol @ LCC 2016-03-07

The long-awaited animal tethering ordinance will be heard Monday morning and voted on Tuesday evening, as part of an Animal Welfare Ordinance. They’re going to reappoint Joyce Evans and Frank Morman to the Landbank Authority. They last reappointed those two 27 March 2012, so apparently they serve four-year terms.

Despite the public not knowing there was an opening on the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Board, they’ve already picked who they’re going to appoint: Chris Yarbrough. What he sent in his application, we don’t know, but his LinkedIn profile says he’s a “Community Supervision Officer III Mental Health Specialist, Georgia Department of Community Supervision, May 1996 – Present (19 years 11 months) Valdosta, Ga.”

Per LAKE open record request, here are the packet items for the Children’s Activity Center (CAC) rezoning on Skipper Bridge Road, REZ-2016-06, as sent to the Continue reading →

Comprehensive Plan Update Workshop @ SGRC 2016-03-07

As promised, there is an updated Work Book online, dated February 29, 2016. Title page As Ariel Godwin also promised, the SGRC website says:

The next workshop will be Monday, March 7, 2016, 5:00-7:00 p.m. at the SGRC office, 327 W. Savannah Ave., Valdosta, GA.

It will be interesting to see if this version of the Work Book for the 2016 Greater Lowndes County Comprehensive Plan Update contains any changes about the issues Greg Odom raised last month (22 February 2016) about road paving, trees, and reducing expense to the county. And LAKE will be at the meeting with the video camera.

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Voting machine irregularities in Lowndes County?

After seeing reports of Democrats being required to vote provisionally in three different polling places (Clyattville, Hahira, and Trinity Baptist Church), I called Lowndes County Elections Supervisor Deb Cox at 229-671-2850.

She said the problem was in creating the cards for voting, not in the actual voting machines. A separate machine called an Express Poll creates the cards. She said it was in the program on the Express Poll machines, which was uploaded improperly. The result was that some people couldn’t get cards. Meanwhile, people could still vote using provisional ballots. She says it’s been fixed, and nobody has reported any problems since early this morning. This is the same thing she told Valdosta Today.

When I told her people had also been reporting that they got a card and found that they were marked as Republican when they asked for a Democratic ballot. Deb Cox said nobody has reported that to her. She asks for anybody who sees that or any other voting problems to please call her office, 229-671-2850.

If you have any difficulties, ask for a provisional ballot and call that number. Continue reading →

APP-2016-01, Crunk Engineering for Greenleaf Hospital, Valdosta, GA @ ZBOA 2016-03-01

One case at ZBOA today at 2:30 PM, a variance on parking spaces for Greenleaf Hospital so it can add a new wing. Tax Parcels Aerial A ZBOA member (Gretchen) provided the packet materials, which are all on the LAKE website.

Here’s the agenda, followed by the summary by city staff.

Valdosta-Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals

Carmella Braswell,
Lowndes County Zoning Administrator
327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, Georgia
(229) 671-2430

Matt Martin,
Valdosta Planning and Zoning Administrator
300 North Lee Street, Valdosta, Georgia
(229) 259-3563

AGENDA
March 1, 2016
2:30 p.m.

  1. Call to Order

    CITY OF VALDOSTA CASE:

  2. APP-2016-01 Crunk Engineering (2209 Pineview Drive)
    Variance to LDR Section 222-2(A)     as it pertains to the minimum required number of parking spaces for a hospital use
  3. OTHER BUSINESS:
  4. Approval of Minutes: January 5, 2016 & February 2, 2016
  5. Adjournment

Here’s the staff summary:

ZBOA Agenda Item #2
MARCH 1, 2016

Variance Request by Crunk Engineering
File #: APP-2016411

Crunk Engineering, on behalf of Greenleaf Hospital, is requesting a variance to LDFl Section 222-2 as it pertains to the number of spaces for a hospital. The subject property is zoned Residential Professional (RP) and consists of 6.35 acres located at 2209 Pineview Drive. The subject property contains a 36,968 psychiatric/substance abuse hospital.

Continue reading →

Bemiss and Guest Rd. VA-2016-03, VA-2016-04, VA-2016-05 @ GLPC 2016-02-29

The letters from “Gusto Development LLC” have an email address of kim@hutton.build, confirming that it’s really The Hutton Company Tax Parcels Aerial doing this work for Bassford Properties LLC; the same Hutton Company that recently did work on Wal-Marts in Chattanooga, TN and Athens, GA.

Received today at 4:17 PM EST, which was before the GLPC meeting started. However, as I told the City Clerk when she also called on the telephone, I was planting potatoes at that time. I recommended to her, as I did earlier that same day to the County Planner, that the agenda packet items go online so neither city nor county staff nor citizens have to go through this rigamarole just to see what Commissioners are looking at. The actual Planning Commission meeting was quite brief; they recommended everything; LAKE videos to come. Meanwhile, see the LAKE videos of the previous week’s Work Session.

The materials she sent are on the LAKE website. Continue reading →