Tag Archives: Regular Session

Sinkholes at proposed Moody Family Housing? –Scott Rafshoon @ LCC 2013-08-13

All about public-private partnerships (PPP) and military rank waterfalls by an Atlanta and K Street lawyer at the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session. about REZ-2013-09, introduced by local lawyer Tom Kurrie to answer a question by Commissioner John Page.

G. Scott Rafshoon of McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP of Atlanta and K Street in DC spoke for. His law firm bio says in part:

G. Scott Rafshoon has a diverse legal practice that includes corporate law, government affairs and project finance. Combining these disciplines, Mr. Rafshoon is a leader in the Firm’s public-private partnership (“P3”) practice….

Manages the Firm’s representation of Balfour Beatty Communities, a subsidiary of Balfour Beatty plc, in the privatization of family and unaccompanied personnel housing at military installations around the country. To-date, Mr. Rafshoon has assisted Balfour Beatty with privatizing facilities at 48 Army, Navy and Air Force installations in 23 states and the District of Columbia, in separate transactions valued at more than $4 billion.

This is apparently the same Continue reading →

Phase II of Moody Family Housing already has a sinkhole –Tom Kurrie @ LCC 2013-08-13

Tom Kurrie said Phase I has a structural issue and Phase II of the proposed Moody Housing has a sinkhole, at the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

Tom Kurrie spoke for the rezoning for Phase I, REZ-2013-09, first giving something unknown to the County Clerk, and then saying:

Bill Holland and I are the applicants, we represent the owner of the property, the Howard Dasher Company, as well as the developers of the property, Balfour Beatty Communities.

The ubiquitous Bill Holland had spoken the previous morning in the Work Session.

This time, Kurrie said the project had been in the makings for over two years. (Funny how the county didn’t tell us about it until they were ready to rush it through.) He said it was for “prestige housing” for base personnel. He said it was unusual in being 8 miles west of Moody AFB. He introduced Ron Nestor, Senior Vice President of Balfour Beatty, and said it was a public-private partnership. And use would be restricted to Air Force personnel. We’d already heard about such restrictions at the Planning Commission. He said it would be a “gated community”. We’ll see if that actually happens this time, unlike at Nelson Hill just up Val Del Road; you can see both locations on this map:

Kurrie also mentioned professor Noll and geotechnical issues such as sinkholes, Continue reading →

Sinkholes at proposed Moody Family Housing? –Jason Davenport @ LCC 2013-08-13

County Planner Jason Davenport said he had heard concerns there could be sinkholes under the proposed new military housing on Val Del Road, but he recommended approval anyway, at the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

6.a. REZ-2013-09 Moody Housing, Val Del Rd R-1 to Residential PD, LC Water & Sewer, ~64 acres

See Work Session video for context. This time, County Planner Jason Davenport said “we have an updated copy on the screen” of the site plan. He mentioned:

…there has been some communications between the applicant’s agents and really professor Noll and possibly some other colleagues at VSU about some of the geotechnical aspects of this site plan I believe they might speak on the soils and possibly the karst features in this area or the sinkholes or potential for that.

Pictured here is the older site plan, because County Clerk still hadn’t responded to Gretchen’s Open Records Request of the previous morning. State law says the county can take three days to respond, which is great for developers, but not so good for the public.

Here’s the video:

Continue reading →

Nelson Hill waivers by staff @ LCC 2013-08-13

Before tonight’s vote on Moody Housing on Val Del Road, maybe somebody should review these administrative waivers from county staff for Nelson Hill, one for the minimum lot size, and the other for setbacks for the lots along the “lake”. I haven’t yet found who waived the requirement for condominiums, or for their fronts to be staggered, or for them to be at least 1800 square feet, or the traffic calming measures, or how all this fits the submitted site plans, nor for that matter what happened to the gate or guards or the road connecting to Grove Point. Maybe you can find those things in the materials about Nelson Hill received in response to an Open Records Request. If staff can waive all these things without any of them coming up again for a vote before the elected Commission in a public hearing, why do we have the elected Commissioners vote in the first place?

Here’s a waiver for lot setbacks next to the pond by Joe Pritchard “In my official capacity as County Manager”, 22 September 2009, for AAW-2009-06.

Here’s a waiver for minimum lot sizes by Jason Davenport, County Planner, 18 July 2011, for AAW-2011-16:

Good afternoon. Based on recent questions from multiple parties regarding Nelson Hill we thought it best to respond in writing to all. For us the question is “Will the County require a minimum lot size in Nelson Hill?” and our answer is Continue reading →

Little guys must stick to the letter of the ULDC @ GLPC 2013-07-29

An individual with a request about family land got told by staff he didn’t fit the letter of the zoning code, in sharp contrast to the Moody Housing item which got to slide on traffic, safety, use of local contractors, and vague affirmations from the developer that maybe there’d be no mold or unpaid subcontractors this time. Most of the attendees didn’t care, and walked out as soon as this item started. But some of the Commissioners did care.

County Planner Jason Davenport said nobody is currently renting the property and “you have the recommendation from staff”.

The applicant said the land had been deeded by grandmother to family members years ago, and one now wanted to sell his part. The TRC’s analysis said the request didn’t meet ULDC requirements and the TRC’s recommendation was laconic: Continue reading →

No mold or unpaid contractors this time for Moody Housing @ GLPC 2013-07-29

Unlike Moody AFB’s last go at privatizing housing, no mold or unpaid contractors this time, or so we’re told. But not so solid assurances that local contractors will be used. And what if this new thing turns into something radically different like Nelson Hill did only a short way up Val Del?

Speaking for that proposed privatized Moody housing on Val Del Road, Lawyer Tom Kurrie said this was “an opportunity for our community”. He spelled out that the proposal was “90 homes for off-base houses, for enlisted personnel, non-commissioned officers, and officers”, with gates. He went on about Balfour Beatty‘s experience in building such housing, and their option to build Phase II, although at the moment they’re only requesting Phase I. He said “the unfortunate issue that took place with the prior development” would not occur with this one.

I can guess he’s referring to the mold issue, Beth Mahoney detailed in Little Rock Military Families Examiner 6 April 2009.

Or since he lauded Balfour Beatty’s credit rating, maybe he was referring to the nonpayment of subcontractors, as Kari L. Sands wrote for VDT, 4 March 2007, Military housing woes: Non-payment forces work on military housing project to stop.

Preferred Builders and Renovators, LLC., the Home Builders Association of South Georgia and CMS/ Dumpster Co. are among those affected. Subcontractors are alleging that Continue reading →

Gated Moody housing on Val Del Road, REZ-2013-09 @ GLPC 2013-07-29

Only 81 of 396 proposed units have been built at current Moody Family Housing on Roberts Road. Why should we build more on Val Del Road?

At the 29 July 2013 Greater Lowndes Planning Commission meeting, County Planner Jason Davenport said that in addition to the initial materials for GLPC, he’d provided an update about Magnolia Grove, which was Phase I of Moody Family Housing. The real reason for the rezoning wasn’t stated in the initial materials given to GLPC. In the materials obtained through open records request, we can see that the GLPC agenda item contained the boilerplate “The general motivation in this case appears to be so that the subject property can be developed at a greater residential density.” In the update it’s assumed that the real reason is housing for Moody personnel, since Magnolia Grove is the existing Moody housing off of Roberts Road. Which isn’t even built out yet, as you can see in this map from the county Tax Commissioners, so why does Moody need more housing?

Lots of interesting back history in that July 29th GLPC Lowndes County Rezoning Update – 2, to which I’ve added Continue reading →

Planning Commission on subdivision next to Moody AFB, REZ-2013-08 MFH Tract A @ GLPC 2013-07-29

Now you can see what they were looking at: those documents are on the LAKE website for REZ-2013-08 MFH, for a subdivision on Roberts Road immediately next to Moody AFB.

First County Planner Jason Davenport said a few words about the TRC recommendation.

Commissioner Ted Raker (Hahira) wanted clarification about this application would require additional changes to meet the requirements of the Unified Land Development Code (ULDC), specifically that it would not help with safety, fire, health, general welfare, etc. “In fact seven out of the eleven were negative.”

Davenport confirmed that that was correct, and that was staff’s analysis. Staff paid by your tax dollars, so you shouldn’t have to file an open records request and pay ten dollars when staff could just put it on the web with the GLPC agenda, which they also don’t now but could easily put on the web.

Nobody spoke for the request. Numerous people spoke in opposition.

Tom Kurrie said in 38 years of practicing law Continue reading →

Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline letters to Lowndes County

No letters from Lowndes County back to Sabal Trail were included in the open records response of last week, so should we conclude the county has not authorized surveys on any of its properties? The request to Lowndes County was for correspondence with Sabal Trail Transmission LLC about the proposed natural gas pipeline from Anniston, Alabama to Orlando, Florida, and the response included survey authorization forms for a list of parcels owned by Lowndes County, plus assorted descriptions and maps with very little detail. Sabal Trail still didn’t have a contract with Florida Power and Light, yet expected:

“Field survey work is scheduled to begin in September 2013.”

It looks like Sabal Trail sent letters about a bunch of parcels and then more about another one later. First they sent an introduction 19 June 2013 listing parcels 0146A-074-A, 0171 178, 0172 119, 0204 001, including a map. This appears to be the same map we’ve seen before posted by various news media:

Map: 36" Greenfield Pipeline Approx. 465 Miles

Then they sent a letter 22 June 2013 with a survey authorization form for the same parcels. Then they sent separate letters 25 June 2013 for parcels 0146A-074-A, 0171 178, and 0172 119, 0204 001.

Also on 25 June 2013 Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter informed us:

Lowndes County does not benefit from this proposal and has no responsibility for the approval other than that of a property owner potentially impacted by the proposed route as any other property owner in Lowndes County would be.

Apparently Sabal Trail thought of another one, because a few weeks later they sent a cover letter 15 July 2013 for Parcels 0098 003, 0098 004 with a slightly more detailed map, followed a few days later by a survey authorization form 19 July 2013.

Map of Options A and B

Scans of all these letters are on the LAKE website.

-jsq

Planning Commission considers huge subdivision near Moody AFB @ GLPC 2013-07-29

Remember last year when the Chamber helped mobilize opposition to a subdivision outside Moody’s front gate and won? Well, here’s another, and it’s not 23.49 acres this time, it’s 123.45 acres even closer to the runways, and from MAZ-I to P-D. Plus a proposed 64.92 acre development on (apparently 4958) Val Del Road for “Moody Family”. That’s always the excuse, isn’t it? More houses for Moody, nevermind whether Moody wants or needs them. With all the vacant houses already in the county, we don’t need them.

Here’s the agenda:

Greater Lowndes Planning Commission

Lowndes County City of Valdosta City of Dasher City of Hahira City of Lake Park
REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING

AGENDA
Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue
Tuesday, July 29, 2013* 5:30 P.M. * Public Hearing