Tag Archives: Valdosta

Who are the Lowndes County Tax Assessors?

This should be an easy question, but it isn’t.
Why not?


300x353 W.G. Walker, in Rural land re-evaluation, by Tax Assessors, 14 July 2015

300x336 Mike Hill, in Rural land re-evaluation, by Tax Assessors, 14 July 2015

And the answer is a saw sales owner who previously promoted
development in an agricultural region of Lowndes County,
a realtor whose job is to promote development, and a preacher
who previously chaired a board that wanted to take tax money
from the county without rural citizens being able to vote on it.
None of them appear to have any experience in agriculture.
These are the people who oversaw the recent revaluation of rural
(and commercial) properties that would drive development into parts of Lowndes County that the Comprehensive Plan says should be agricultural.
Now I know all three of them, and they’re fine people.
But perhaps some rural people need to ask them some questions.

The

list on lowndescounty.com
of Lowndes County’s elected
Tax Assessors
is not remotely correct: Doyle Kelly is no longer
serving due to illness, yet he’s still on that list,
along with Mike Hill and W.G. Walker.



Mike Hill runs Continue reading →

Videos: MAZ tabled, Naylor Boat Ramp and Sabal Trail CWTBH @ LCC 2015-07-28



The proposed MAZ changes were
tabled for 90 days,
they approved everything else, and

welcomed new Utilities Director Steve Stalvey again,
at the 5:30 PM Tuesday 28 July 2015 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.
Valdosta City Council

Sandra Tooley
didn’t fill out a form and so didn’t get to speak,
but

another citizen asked about the
Naylor Boat Ramp (answer after the meeting: on schedule for this fall)
and about Sabal Trail (answer: none).

See also Continue reading →

Videos: MAZ tabled + 2 small rezonings @ GLPC 2015-07-27



Once County Planner Jason Davenport admitted the
MAZ ULDC text amendments
weren’t ready (as he had indicated might happen at the same morning’s

County Commission Work Session),
and the Planning Commission recommended tabling it 4:1,
the meeting was very brief, even with the

SGRC Transportation presentation (which they weirdly heard after
adjourning the meeting, even though it was on the agenda).
The

David Brown Melody Lane rezoning
and the

Ron Borders Bemiss Road rezoning
flew through to 5:0 unanimous recommendations, with three Planning
Commissioners absent.

The

county rezoning
isn’t on the County Commission agenda yet,
and they will probably table the ULDC
MAZ item at its meeting 5:30 PM tonight.

See the Continue reading →

Videos: MAZ again, Lake Alapaha, Emergencies, but no Sabal Trail @ LCC 2015-07-27


300x297 Parcel 0181 001, in Davidson Road, by John S. Quarterman, 27 July 2015
The proposed MAZ changes have “absolutely nothing to do with”
the 23 acres on Davidson Road that were proposed to be rezoned R-21 back in 2010,
after the county paved Davidson Road, said County Chairman Bill Slaughter at yesterday morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session.
County Planner Jason Davenport said he had hoped to get “on the same page with Moody”
before that same evening’s Planning Commission meeting
for the
MAZ ULDC Text Amendments,
but as yet he had nothing to report, and tabling was an option.
I don’t think that word “ultimately” means what he thinks it does.
See more
below about Davidson Road.

Not on the agenda were three, no four, reports:

Like the MAZ changes, also requiring a public hearing Tuesday evening is Continue reading →

MAZ again + 2 small rezonings @ GLPC 2015-07-27

Planning Commission agenda is finally on county’s website


after this morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session,
which included

an item saying “The current public hearing/meeting timeline
is as follows: July 27th GLPC and July 28th LCBOC.”
Is it a public meeting if there’s no public agenda until a few hours before?

Yes, the notorious
TXT-2015-01 Moody Activity Zoning Districts (MAZ) ULDC text amendments
are back on

the GLPC agenda,
along with two small rezonings.
Plus
an SGRC Transportation presentation.

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


Monday, July 27, 2015 * 5:30 P.M. * Public Hearing

Continue reading →

MAZ again, Lake Alapaha, Emergency Management and Liability, but no Sabal Trail @ LCC 2015-07-27

While

Dougherty County, Albany, and their state and federal reps


plan a joint opposition meeting to the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline invader, there’s nothing about that pipeline
on
Monday’s
8:30 AM

agenda of the Lowndes County Commission.
Three items on

emergency response,

emergency planning,
and
911 operations,
plus one on
liability,
but nothing about the
invading pipeline soft target.

The highly controversial

Moody Activity Zoning Districts (MAZ)
are back, despite massive opposition.
The Planning Commission will hear MAZ again Monday evening,
and because there’s only one day from then until the County Commission
can vote on MAZ Tuesday, the County Planner says: Continue reading →

Rural tax revaluation: Bill Gates and subdivisions more important than agriculture and public transportation?

Does this

rural land revaluation map
resemble the

Comprehensive Plan Future Development map?

Tax Assessors: Rural Land Accessibility Codes
Why not?
And why were rivers and public transportation not considered either
by the Lowndes County Tax Assessors
while tracts with road frontage were considered the
“highest market area”
and
land purchases by Bill Gates
were considered
“benchmark sales” instrumental in pricing large tracts?

This rural land revaluation is yet another vehicle to drive development straight north into the agricultural areas of the county, not even stopping at the Withlacoochee River.

That way lies sprawl, which as Dr. Jeffrey H. Dorfman of UGA has said,
“is a certain ticket to fiscal ruin* * Or at least big tax increases.”

The City of Valdosta better watch out! Much of this Continue reading →

Hayden Barnes wins $900,000 settlement for being expelled from VSU for free speech

Update 2015-07-24: Hayden adds detail in comments on this article: Andy Thomas, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 23 July 2015, Valdosta State U. Will Pay $900,000 to Settle Student’s Free-Speech Lawsuit.

Finally!
Expelled for protesting a parking garage,


after VSU then-president Zaccari claimed a facebook collage was “threatening”.
If the powers that be around here want to be a metropolitan area,
maybe VSU should act like an institution of higher learning.
Then it wouldn’t have to pay settlements like this.

Katie Barrows, FIRE, 23 July 2015,

Eight Years After Student’s Unjust Expulsion from Valdosta State U., $900K Settlement Ends ‘Barnes v. Zaccari’ Continue reading →

Videos: Development Authority’s BRAT @ VLCIA 2015-06-16



They meet again tonight with
a bylaw amendment scheduled, which is probably for extending officer terms to two years as Roy Copeland proposed.
(He first suggested that at least several years ago when he was re-elected Chairman.)
And their nominating committee nominated

the same officers again.

Lots of

dials showing targets and where they are in reaching them,
which is good, because I keep getting questions about what
they’re doing with all that tax money and are they doing enough
to justify it.

One citizen asked about the

airport
and another (OK, me) handed out
Alapaha River Water Trail brochures and once again suggested

solar panels at the airport
to turn that otherwise-unusable space into profit.

Here’s the

agenda
and below are LAKE videos, followed by a playlist. Continue reading →

Transportation and electrical presentations plus officer elections @ VLCIA 2015-07-21

VLMPO’s Corey Hull presents today at 5:30 PM to the Valdosta Development Authority. Their agenda doesn’t say about what, but one can guess about the proposed studies for public transit and for trucking around Valdosta. Don’t forget to go to the VLMPO Open House on 2040 Transportation Vision tomorrow.

Electrical Test Labs of Georgia, located in Lake Park, will talk about themselves.

And the Authority will elect officers, which I predict will be the same ones they’ve got now since that’s what their nominating committee recommended last month, plus the bylaw amendment I predict will be Roy Copeland’s recommendation to extend officer terms to two years.

Valdosta-Lowndes Development Authority

Tuesday, July 21, 2015 5:30 p.m. Continue reading →