The Greater Lowndes Planning Commission will review this evening at 5:30 PM,
a Valdosta annexation and rezoning on Old Statenville Road for the Development Authority,
a commercial rezoning on Old US 41 N,
another on Inner Perimeter Road for U-Haul,
and a subdivision on Thunderbowl Road.
The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request,
is
on the LAKE website.
Greater Lowndes Planning Commission
~ Lowndes County ~ City of Valdosta ~ City of Dasher ~
~ City of Hahira ~ City of Lake Park ~ City of Remerton ~
Monday, November 18, 2023 5:30 P.M. Work Session
Monday, November 25, 2023 5:30 P.M. Regular Session
Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue, Valdosta, Georgia
Ed Hightower was reappointed to the Planning Commission and.
Calvin Graham was appointed to the seat previously held by Vicki Biles.
Two citizens spoke in Citizens Wishing to Be Heard.
Burton Fletcher thanked various people for running for or winning office and other things.
Janice Strickland spoke about flooding on Pin Oak Circle, which is in the City of Valdosta, so she was referred to the City Council.
In a thirteen and a half minute discussion,
“County Planners JD Dillard and Jason Davenport went over the proposed changes to the ULDC which was “in the room” at the seat of the Lawyer Walter Elliott.”
Jason Davenport mentioned their goal was to get these changes approved by the County Manager
and then to the “development community”.
No mention of the public, other than the request by “Mrs. Quarterman” for a copy,
which LAKE did get and publish.
The county did not publish them before that Regular Session.
The latest copy of the ULDC on the county’s website is still earlier than that, ULDC Unsigned Searchable Copy – July 9, 2024 (PDF).
Commissioner Demarcus Marshall wanted affirmation that these changes required existing systems to have generators if they expand. Davenport agreed they do require that.
Commissioner Scottie Orenstein, County Manager Paige Dukes, and County Chairman Bill Slaughter discussed other existing systems. It doesn’t look to me like the ULDC changes require those to have generators.
Commissioner Orenstein wanted to hear more about subdivision policy goals.
Davenport’s answer was they would be looked at on a case-by-case basis
and “appropriately address” them.
County Chairman Bill Slaughter expressed concern about dense subdivisions where the county could not bring utilities and for subdivisions with a single point of ingress and egress (cul-de-sacs).
Davenport mentioned they chose not to have separate rules for septic vs. county utilities.
At the Public Hearing,
Gretchen Quarterman spoke in opposition to the amendments, noting that the time available to actually review the final language was only a couple of hours before the meeting,
especially since the Planning Commission no longer gets ULDC text amendments on its agenda.
She also recommended “continuously” instead of “consistently” for private well generators.
She liked the explicit list of grandfathered subdivisions.
She mentioned Val Del Estates, which flooded recently, despite
the county rezoning it a few years ago in what were claimed not to be wetlands.
The Commissioners did not discuss most of those topics,
nor removing pine trees from being protected species.
They did unanimously approve the ULDC text amendments.
They also unanimously approved everything else, including the Loch Winn rezoning,
even though several people spoke in opposition.
That one took twelve and a half minutes.
They discussed the purchase of VSU South Campus for almost five minutes.
The Chairman paused other items several times for recognition of various groups and individuals.
An agenda item at the front would simplify all that.
Similarly, a Commissioner Comments item at the end would be easier than
ad hoc asking Commissioners for comments.
Here are LAKE videos of each agenda item, with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.
There was so much discussion at the Work Session this morning that the meeting
was 30 minutes long.
They spent ten minutes on the ULDC Text Amendments;
the ones that remove pine trees from being protected species.
Even the UPS replacement got discussion.
Regarding the purchase of VSU South Campus,
Commissioner Mark Wisenbaker wondered how this could so easily move forward when the proposed animal shelter is taking so long. There was a little discussion.
Thanks to Jason Davenport for sending a current draft of the ULDC text amendments
for this evening’s Public Hearing at the
Lowndes County Commission at 5:30 PM.
They are on the LAKE website in
Word and
PDF formats.
I’m not sure how the public is supposed to comment intelligently on these changes
with about two hours to look at them,
if they happen to look when I post this.
The county has not posted any drafts of these text amendments.
We don’t have the board packet, because I forgot to send in the open records request.
However, the packet materials for the rezonings will probably be much like the ones from the
preceding GLPC meeting,
and the ULDC amendments should be somewhat similar
to those
the Lowndes County Commission
previously tabled.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2024, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2024, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
The Loch Winn Farms subdivision rezoning on Loch Laurel Road,
long delayed due to the Planning Commission not meeting because of lack of quorum
and then hurricane, plus in between being tabled by the Lowndes County Commission waiting on Planning Commission review,
finally got that on Monday, October 28, 2024.
GLPC also heard a new Lowndes County case,
REZ-2024-17 Evans Property, Bemiss Rd., 0145B 100, ~1.4 acres, R-1 to C-H,
“to allow the property to be used at its highest and best potential.”
Plus six Valdosta cases from the previous month’s GLPC agenda,
and one new Valdosta case (a church)
and one new Hahira case (a parking lot for a restaurant).
There are no LAKE videos of this GLPC meeting, because Gretchen was out of state as was jsq.
You may wonder, as I do, why doesn’t Lowndes County video it?
Or why doesn’t Valdosta do facebook live, like for Valdosta City Council meetings?
Maybe you’d like to ask that Commission and that Council those questions.
As Gretchen noted, “There was no work session for this meeting. Shockingly there was discussion.”
The Commissioners and even the County Attorney and County Manager were quite chatty in the
Lowndes County Commission Regular Session, Tuesday, October 22, 2024,
about hurricane debris, and especially about their upcoming $2 million purchase.
They also heard from two citizens.
In
5.b. Purchase of VSU South Campus Property
they revealed that the likely future occupant is
is the Board of Elections.
They discussed this one item for ten minutes! Unheard of.
Good, though.
In
6. Reports – County Manager
Paige Dukes estimated about $1.5 million in property damage to Lowndes County assets.
Not counting VLPRA, Hospital, and other authorities with their own budgets.
7. CWTBH: John S. Quarterman, speaking for WWALS Watershed Coalition as Suwannee Riverkeeper,
talked about the Georgia House Study Committee on Navigability
and recommended Commissioners contact statehouse members.
See separate post.
Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item,
with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.
The board packet adds the agreements to
the agenda
for this evening’s Lowndes County Commission Regular Session, 5:30 PM, Tuesday, October 22, 2024.
One agreement details the $3,500 a month for renting for hurricane debris removal
the failed subdivision the county
bought for $568,971 in February 2022,
on GA 122 between Walker’s Crossing and Banks Lake.
The other agreement specifies what the county is buying from VSU for $2,156,000.
It says they’re renting part of it back to VSU at least through December,
with options for following months through June 2025, for $1 (one dollar) a month.
The packet does not include a map of the VSU property being purchased,
but presumably it’s the same as the lots in that block owned by BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY
SYSTEM OF GEORGIA
in this
map by the Lowndes County Tax Assessors.
At least those properties match the addresses listed in the agreement:
901 N Patterson Street,
903 N Patterson Street,
109-111 E. Force Street,
906-908 Slater Street,
and
112 East Gordon. Continue reading →
The agenda is so light the Lowndes County Commission cancelled the Work Session,
and are going straight to voting in the Regular Session, 5:30 PM, Tuesday, October 22, 2024.
They’re finally going to get some income for the failed subdivision they bought between Walker’s Crossing and Banks Lake,
and they’re buying the old Georgia Power building from VSU for $2,156,000.
The “VSU South Campus Property” is the old Georgia Power building at
901 N Patterson Street and apparently most of the rest of the block.
The location of the hurricane debris removal sounded familiar.
DRC Engineering Services, LLC is a hurricane debris removal
contractor of the Georgia Department of Transportation. It has asked
to use approximately five acres of County owned property located at
7404 Ga. Highway 122 East for hurricane debris management purposes.
It has agreed to pay the County $3500 per month for use of the
property. The proposed agreement is attached.
Despite the longest Millage Public Hearing ever,
people are still very confused by why, how, and how much taxes are going up.
This may be partly because most Lowndes County officials (elected, appointed, or employee) are not willing to say in public how we got here.
Lowndes County Chief Appraiser Lisa Bryant did make a long presentation at the Historic Courthouse about that, but many people did not attend.
Plus there are a few further wrinkles.
For many years, the Tax Appraisers were not keeping up with valuations as they changed due to increased sale prices of comparable properties.
When the appointed Tax Assessors first came in, many of their staff (the Appraisers) left,
and the remaining staff are busily catching up.
The appointed Tax Assessors spent a great deal of time at the office
for the first year, getting this changeover started.
So valuations are going up.
This pass they got to commercial valuations, which went up.
Also, they’re applying the law about what is a business, which includes
for example that some church properties being used for non-church purposes are not exempt.
Property owners do get a letter from the Tax Assessors saying what the new valuation is and saying how the owner can appeal.
Many appeals are successful.
Some the Tax Assessors appeal to court, and some of those they win.
But remember, taxes are actually valuation (adjusted by homestead exemptions, conservation easements, LOST, etc.) times millage.
Commissioner Clay Griner tried to explain that.
Finance Director Stephanie Black showed where the money goes:
mostly to schools, Sheriff’s Department, and courts.
After her presentation, Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter said that the Lowndes County Commissioners had no intent to raise the millage.
Instead, they intended to roll back the millage to a lower number.
This was already hinted
in the agenda for the Lowndes County Commission meetings:
The Board of Commissioners is required to set the millage rate for 2024. The county-wide millage for 2024 was advertised at 7.804 mills, requiring advertisement of a tax increase of 6.09% and three public hearings. The rollback millage for 2024 is 7.356 mills. The 2023 millage rate was 8.778.
So that’s a 16.2% decrease in the millage rate since last year.
Which means very few people are going to see the 20% tax increase they fear.
Really, more like 3 or 4%.
Or, as Clay Griner said about the Unincorporated tax example, 5% over two years.
In many cases, the increase is due to no valuation change in many years.
[The Georgia Department of Revenue]
is ordering McIntosh to make equitable and uniform assessments or face a $63,070 penalty.
The county must provide its Board of Assessors with the equipment, personnel, supplies, transportation and software necessary to ensure that 2025 assessments can pass the state’s review, according to one of the top points in a consent order signed by the county and the state last month.
The order refers back to the 2022 tax year, when the state found deficiencies in McIntosh’s treatment of homes and public utilities and noted that the county had failed to correct prior problems.
I can’t say that the county is supplying the Lowndes County Tax Assessors all the
“equipment, personnel, supplies, transportation and software necessary”
to do their job.
The Lowndes County Commissioners, the Chamber, the Development Authority, etc., keep pushing development northwards, into agricultural and forestry areas.
I wish I could say the Tax Appraisers were no longer helping with that, but I cannot.
Also, the county could put the presentation slides on their own website.
Along with the board packets.
Finally, people are rightly distressed over having to work two jobs to make ends meet.
But the source of that problem lies way higher up, in price gouging by big corporations disguised as inflation.
Below are LAKE videos of each agenda item,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.
Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!
http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/donate
![[Valdosta annexation and rezoning for VLDA; A county subdivision and 2 commercial rezonings @ GLPC 2024-11-25]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/glpc/2024-11-25--glpc-packet/many.jpg)
![[Collage @ LCC 12 November 2024]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-11-12--lcc-regular-videos/many.jpg)
![[Collage @ LCC 12 November 2024]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-11-12--lcc-work-videos/many.jpg)
![[Pines and pecans no longer protected: ULDC Text Amendments @ LCC 2024-11-12]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-11-12--lcc-uldc-text-amendments/many.jpg)
![[Collage @ LCC Agenda 2024-11-12]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-11-12--lcc-agenda/many.jpg)
![[Collage @ GLPC Packet 2024-10-28]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/glpc/2024-10-28--glpc-packet/many.jpg)
![[Collage @ LCC 23 October 2024]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-10-23--lcc-regular-videos/many.jpg)
![[Collage, Packet, LCC 2024-10-24]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-10-22--lcc-packet/many.jpg)
![[Hurricane debris removal rental, VSU South Campus purchase, No Work Session, Regular Session @ LLC 2024-10-22]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-10-21--lcc-agenda/many.jpg)
![[Collage @ LCC 15 October 2024]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-10-15--lcc-millage-videos/many.jpg)
![[Property Tax Example]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-10-15--lcc-millage-videos/2024-10-15--property-tax-example.jpg)
![[Unincorporated Property Tax Example]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-10-15--lcc-millage-videos/2024-10-15--unincorporated-property-tax-example.jpg)
![[Millage Calculation]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-10-15--lcc-millage-videos/2024-10-15--millage-calculation.jpg)
