How much solar power is there in Georgia? Quite a bit, and it’s everywhere, according to Georgia Energy Data map by Southface.
Gold disks indicate individual solar installations; green disks separate into many when zoomed.
There are three 1 megawattt (MW) solar farms in Berrien County I didn’t know about, and more elsewhere in the Suwannee River Basin, in almost every county. Continue reading
They approved everything that Tuesday evening that they discussed that same morning, including a special tax assessment rate.
No item took as long as two minutes. There were no special reports and no citizens wishing to be heard. The whole thing took 16 minutes and 44 seconds.
See also Continue reading
They vote 5:30 PM this evening on what they discussed this morning. Longest at two minutes was 5 g. Abandonment of McLeod Road, followed by 5 i. Speed Zone Ordinance (apparently something was not right at exit 2), and then at just under a minute: 6 a. Paving on Parker Road and Simpson Road. Will Scruggs or Reames get the $2 million-plus contract for paving? (Hint: Reames is the low bidder.)
Oops, sorry: the unscripted 7. Reports – County Manager actually came in second at 1 minute and 44 seconds.
Finally, after 9. Adjournment, there was a reminder of some mystery swearing in at 5PM.
Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also Continue reading
Due to Monday being Martin Luther King Jr. Day, both the Work Session and the Regular Session will be on Tuesday, January 22, 2019, at 8:30 AM and 5:30 PM. Last time they approved paying for right of way on Simpson Road. This time they’re approving Paving on Parker Road and Simpson Road. Why does Simpson Road get this exception to their decade-long custom of never paying for road right of way? Will Scruggs or Reames get the $2 million-plus contract for paving? (Hint: Reames is the low bidder.)
Simpson Road in Lowndes County Tax Assessor Maps.
Meanwhile, the county apparently borrowed money for paving, and is tinkering the Special Assessment Rate for 2019 from 6.5% to 7.5%.
Hm, the county “currently receives $32,770 annually” Continue reading
Be sure that if you are at all successful in opposing a pipeline you will get infiltrators, whether FBI or private security. Be prepared to deal with it, whether by checking backgrounds, or comparing lists, or by some other methods.
One of the most effective methods appears to be exposing what the pipeline company and their hired hands are up to, as The Intercept_ did about infiltrators at Standing Rock, using leaks from private security firm TigerSwan, which was hired by pipeline company Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) to “protect” its Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). THE INFILTRATOR: How an Undercover Oil Industry Mercenary Tricked Pipeline Opponents Into Believing He Was One of Them, Alleen Brown, The Intercept_, 30 December 2018,
Joel McCollough, far right, at a climate march launch event in Chicago hosted by Food and Water Watch in April 2017. Photo: Courtesy of Gloria Araya, in
The Intercept_.
What he’s certain of is that the glimmer of opportunity he saw at the beginning of the pipeline fight was extinguished when The Intercept published more than 100 TigerSwan situation reports leaked by a former operative, revealing the security firm’s extensive surveillance efforts, coordination with law enforcement, and comparisons of water protectors to jihadi fighters. …
He remembers thinking at one time, “If they watch their p’s and q’s, they will be the standard. They’ll be the company that everybody’s gonna use.” The former contractor laughed. “That didn’t happen.”
DAPL is a petroleum products pipeline, but we heard some of the same Continue reading
Two small county family plot variances at ZBOA this afternoon, one in an agricultural zone, the other in the Moody Activity Zone near Moody AFB. And today they vote on who will be Chair and Vice-Chair next year, as well as on their calendar of meetings.
Thanks to ZBOA member Gretchen Quarterman, here is the agenda and board packet, in which you can see where these variances are being requested, who is requesting them, and why.
This agenda is still not on the City of Valdosta ZBOA agenda web page, and the board packet never is.
Valdosta – Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals
Matt Martin,
Valdosta Planning and Zoning Administrator
300 North Lee Street, Valdosta, Georgia
(229) 259-3563Carmella Braswell,
Lowndes County Zoning Administrator
327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, Georgia
(229) 671-2430AGENDA
Continue reading
November 6, 2018
2:30 p.m.
The big news is that
Lowndes County Planner Jason Davenport is leaving his position at the county for another opportunity.
GLPC welcomed its new member, Calvin Graham, Sr., who only said “Thank you,” to replace Celine Gladwin, who declined to be reappointed. See previous post for some background.
The one case, CU-2018-05 LifeSouth3. Community Blood Centers – 301 Woodrow Wilson, was presented by City Planner Matt Martin, and after three times addressing one question, Continue reading
Since Celine Gladwin declined to be reappointed, GLPC has a new member, Calvin Graham, Sr., who ran for Valdosta City Council District 2 in 2013, when he said he was an Army veteran who subsequently worked for the Department of Defense. Sandra Tooley won, and is still on the Valdosta City Council.
That leaves the Planning Commission with no female members and no architect.
There’s only one case on the agenda for this evening: Continue reading
I did not know that Moody AFB was a local project from the beginning. It’s still about the only thing everybody near Valdosta and Lowndes County, Georgia, can all unite around. Many local people learned to fly at Moody Airfield, some who went into the military, and others who did not. Let us remember them all on this Memorial Day. They also serve who only stand and wait.
Aerial View Moody During WWII,
in
Lowndes County Historical Society and Museum, Valdosta, Georgia
Moody Air Force Base, retrieved 28 May 2018, Moody Air Force Base History:
Moody Field began as an Army Air Corps pilot training base during World War II. The concept of an Army Air Field in Valdosta originated with Valdosta and Lowndes County citizens in 1940. Local leaders faced Continue reading
They would have managed less than four minutes, even with chatting with Leadership Lowndes in the audience, including 45 seconds on the only substantial agenda item, 6 a. Grant Of Easement for Utility Right of Way Moody-Azalea Commons (aka Moody Family Housing).
2013-07-29 GLPC Packet-007 REZ-2013-09 Moody Family Housing
Note the big sinkhole in Phase 2.
But citizen Jacinta Howell talked about traffic safety. Let’s remember the immortal words of former Chairman Ashley Paulk during a rezoning near Bemiss Road:
I’m not going to argue Bemiss Highway, it’s not a pertinent fact.
Below are Continue reading
![[Future Development Map]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/zboa/2018-11-06--zboa-packet/VAR-2018-18--staff-report-0012.jpg)