Back again:
the county’s never-ending no-bid Alapaha Water Treatment plant.
And
Dr. Urbonas may withdraw his solar parking variance
because if he connects the structures to his building they don’t need a variance.
New cases: a single-family design variance near Hahira an accessory structure near Valdosta, and a sign variance in Valdosta.
Here’s the agenda for Tuesday 9 September 2014. The City of Valdosta puts ZBOA agendas and minutes online in real PDFs. Continue reading
Both of
Dr. Urbonas’ solar parking lot
variance cases
were tabled by ZBOA for a month so he could figure out a revised way to do it,
probably involving connecting the supports to the building so
they wouldn’t be accessory structures.
Plus some sentiment that Valdosta City Council needed to address this
issue that solar parking shouldn’t be classed as accessory structures.
This was at the
5 August 2014 Regular Meeting of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals.
- APP-2014-07 — Arunas Urbonas
(2922 N. Oak Street)
Variance to LDR Section 218-7 as it pertains to the location and setback distance for accessory structures
Video. Arunas Urbonas is a doctor with an office at 3564 N Crossing Street. My guess (some sort of addition to his offices) was wrong. He wants to upgrade his solar panel structures, to shade parking lots. TRC recommended denial because of canopy oak trees that would get bigger, probably shading the panels, and were not permitted to be removed. ZBOA found many more issues pro and con than that. Continue reading
ZBOA postponed
Lowndes County’s Lake Alapaha water treatment plant variance
so the county could think about it some more,
presumably related to that
no-bid contract for equipment upgrade..
Two other county
Lowndes County
variances (
minimum side yard setbacks (approved),
lot access (denied).
Both of
Dr. Urbonas’ solar parking lot
Valdosta cases
were tabled for a month so he could figure out a revised way to do it,
probably involving connecting the supports to the building so
they wouldn’t be accessory structures.
Plus some sentiment that Valdosta City Council needed to address this
issue that solar parking shouldn’t be classed as accessory structures.
The county cases are variances from the Unified Land Development Code (ULDC) and the city cases are variances from Valdosta’s Land Development Regulations (LDR), and both the ULDC and LDR are supposed to be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan.
Here’s
the agenda with links into the videos and some notes.
All ZBOA members were present: Paul Alvarado, Laverne Gaskins, Nancy Hobby, Dr. Willie Houseal,
Mac McCall, Scott Orenstein, Gretchen Quarterman, and Chairman Allan Strickland.
The City of Valdosta puts ZBOA agendas and minutes
online in real PDFs.
Continue reading Valdosta -Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals
A reader wondered how Nova Scotia’s fracking ban would result in safer oil and gas company drilling operations instead of just balkanizing the world into fracking permitted and prohibited zones. Actually, Energy Minister Andrew Younger said:
“This way, people will know before it’s allowed — if it’s ever allowed — there will be a full debate in the Legislature.”
And the panel report that was the proximate cause of the ban, by the Nova Scotia Hydraulic Fracturing review, led by President Dr. David Wheeler, explicitly is for: Continue reading
Somebody got a jump on Georgia Power for Air Force base solar installation.
Wayne Crenshaw wrote for The Telegraph 23 July 2014, Air Force signs deal for solar array at Robins,
The Air Force has inked a deal with a company that plans to build a 50-acre solar array at Robins Air Force Base.
New Generation Power has signed Continue reading
Like the three Army bases before it, solar power from the Navy Base at Kings Bay will go into Georgia Power’s grid. How about Air Force bases next, such as Moody AFB? And how about start building 30 MW solar farms throughout the state?
Curiously, there’s no press release by either Georgia Power or the Navy about this project.
Dave Williams wrote for the Atlanta Business Journal 14 August 2014, Georgia Power to build solar project at naval base,
The U.S. Navy is working with Georgia Power Co. to build a solar energy project at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base near St. Marys, a Georgia Power executive announced Thursday.
Continue reading
South Carolina Sierra Club Chair Susan Corbett summed up
the problem with
the EPA’s carbon rule:
it opposes one poison while promoting others.
We can make a real green clean energy policy
based on conservation, efficiency, solar, and wind energy.
Remember, you can still
send in your own comments directly to EPA.
SC Sierra club, chair at EPA Atlanta hearing, by Elaine Cooper on YouTube 30 July 2014: Continue reading
They’re aiming at
20 August 2014 for a meeting with local educational
and business leaders.
After mulling it over for more than two years,
VLCIA waited until somebody in Atlanta told them to, and finally
added a trading name of Valdosta-Lowndes Development Authority (VLDA),
which two board members immediately said wrong.
Still, much actual thought, discussion, investigation and potential
courses of action was presented, especially in the
Executive Director’s Report
and in the answers to
Alvin Payton’s questions.
Only three board members attended VLCIA’s first meeting in its new office near the hospital: Roy Copeland, Vice-Chairman Jerry Jennett (presiding), and new member Georgia Power VP Terri Lupo, who was just appointed to VLCIA by the Lowndes County Commission. They did not have the expected officer nominating committee report, because Chairman Mary Gooding and Tom Call were not there; they barely had a quorum with 3 out of 5 board members. Also attending were Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter, Valdosta Mayor John Gayle, and Valdosta City Council Alvin Payton. All three spoke in Citizens To Be Heard, as did I, delivering the traditional welcome gift.
This move uptown leaves their old building to Sabal Trail and its proposed fracked methane pipeline. Has VLCIA ever developed an opinion on that boondoggle?
Here’s the agenda, with links to the videos, followed by a video playlist.
Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial AuthorityContinue reading
Tuesday, July 15, 2014 5:30 p.m.
Industrial Authority Conference Room
103 Roosevelt Drive
Monthly Meeting Agenda
High noon rally Tuesday and 9AM to 8PM hearings Monday and Tuesday 29-30 July 2014
at the
Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center, Main Tower Bridge Conference Area, Conference Room B, 61 Forsyth Street, SW, Atlanta, GA.
Plus you can comment online, maybe about
mercury from coal Plant Scherer
in the Alapaha River and how shifting to “natural” gas just promotes
more fracked methane pipelines like that
Sabal Trail boondoggle.
EPA could take a second step on methane, and we can get on with
faster, cheaper, cleaner, and far more environmentally beneficial
solar power in the sunny southeast.
For details see the
Sierra Club
or
WWALS
or
SpectraBusters postings.
-jsq
Looks like Horry County, SC stuck to its
initial three-year offer, both for Lofton, and for millage
to fund his development authority there.
There are things the
newly-renamed Valdosta-Lowndes Development Authority
could do to let sunshine turn Lofton’s local land legacy green.
Jason M. Rodriguez and Amanda Kelley wrote for Myrtle Beach Online yesterday, Brad Lofton leaving Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation,
Membership to the EDC increased earlier this year, but revenue from the membership decreased by nearly $60,000, impacting the organization’s marketing services and more.
Loton has had many projects succeed, and met some challenges during his time in Horry County.
Earlier this month Continue reading