Tag Archives: Withlacoochee River

Videos and packet: Millage, SPLOST VIII, Wastewater, roads, bridges, mosquitos, Construction Board @ LCC 2019-08-12

County Manager Joe Pritchard said Finance Director Stephanie Black has received a millage report from the Tax Commissioner. He and she will prepare something from it for the Lowndes County Commissioners for a later meeting.

The board packet is on the LAKE website, in response to a LAKE open records request.

Below are Continue reading

$1.5 mllion on wastewater, SPLOST VIII, roads, bridges, mosquitos, Construction Board @ LCC 2019-08-12

The resolution to reimpose the SPLOST tax as SPLOST VIII, was not included with the agenda for the tax-paying public to see. LAKE has filed an open records request for the entire board packet. Perhaps the county will supply it before they vote tomorrow.

[Land Application Site]
Land Application Site

Four bids were received for LAS and Pump Station Improvements with the high bid at $3.3 million, and the low at $2.5 million, but apparently the county negotiated the low bidder, Doyle Hancock & Sons, down to $1,520,858.00. This is “for improvements to the LAS [Land Application Site, aka wastewater spray field], Bevel Creek, Francis Lake, and Coleman Road lift stations.” The LAS is between Grassy Pond and Pike Pond, a few thousand feet from the GA-FL line, in the Withlacoochee River watershed. Continue reading

Board Packet @ LCC 2019-07-22

For the first time ever, the county returned the complete board packet before the Lowndes County Commission voted on it! This was in response to an open records request sent Wednesday, so the statutory three days were actually up Monday morning. They emailed the packet Monday afternoon about 5PM.

[Google Map annotated by LAKE]
Google Map annotated by LAKE to show the quit claimed part of Reed Road in magenta (this map was not part of the board packet).

All the dirt part of Reed Road, back from the old Skipper Bridge over the Withlacoochee River, to the entrance to Pine Grove Middle School, is what is being abandoned. It is possible to decipher this from the quit claims in the board packet for yesterday morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session and tonight’s Regular Session.

All the SPLOST VIII Project Lists, for the county and the five cities, are included; see below.

Everything the county sent, plus images of each page, is on the LAKE website. LAKE looks forward to the county putting all these packet documents on the county’s own website, along with the agenda and agenda sheets.

See also:

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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!

[Lowndes Project List]
Lowndes Project List
PDF

SPLOST VIII Project Lists

[Valdosta Project List]
Valdosta Project List
PDF

[Hahira Project List]
Hahira Project List
PDF

[Remerton Project List]
Remerton Project List
PDF

[Dasher Project List]
Dasher Project List
PDF

[Lake Park Project List]
Lake Park Project List
PDF

Videos: No Opioid No Probation Military Utility @ LCC 2018-04-24

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
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

Videos: Opioid Vaginal Mesh, Military Utility, No Probation @ LCC 2018-04-23

Yesterday morning Chairman Bill Slaughter looked straight at the LAKE video camera and said: “We’ll have a record-setting short meeting tomorrow, with one agenda item.” Then he chuckled.

The Work Session was 17 minutes and 35 seconds, because of 12 minutes on the Special Presentation by Andrew Hill on Opioid Litigation (Work Session).

The longest other item was 3 minutes on 6 b. Lowndes County Government Probation Plan and Resolution, which wasn’t ready yet, and is what the Chairman removed from the agenda for tonight.

Indeed it didn’t take five minutes, not even half a minute, for them not to discuss 6 a. Grant Of Easement for Utility Right of Way Moody-Azalea Commons.

Below are Continue reading

Opioid Military Utility Probation @ LCC 2018-04-23

Maybe 15 minutes because of the Special Presentation by Andrew Hill on Opioid Litigation (Work Session).

It won’t take them five minutes to discuss a water and sewer easement for the sinkhole-prone recently-renamed Moody Family Housing Housing, now called Azalea Commons, which is in a recharge zone for the Floridan Aquifer from which we all drink. That subdivision only has water and sewer lines running by it up Val Del Road because the county ran those lines to enable the Nelson Hill subdivision, for which the county permitted razing wetlands, and which then mysteriously got staff variances to avoid building condominiums, mixed elevations, or becoming a gated community.

WRPDO Site Map, Moody Family Housing, REZ-2013-09
WRPDO Site Map, Moody Family Housing, REZ-2013-09.

It’s unlikely to take longer for them to discuss the Lowndes County Government Probation Plan and Resolution.

Here’s the agenda. Gretchen is on her way there with the LAKE video camera.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2018, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 24, 2018, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

  1. Call to Order
  2. Invocation
  3. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
  4. Special Presentation by Andrew Hill on Opioid Litigation (Work Session)
  5. Minutes for Approval
    1. Work Session- April 9, 2018
    2. Regular Session- April 10, 2018
  6. For Consideration
    1. Grant Of Easement for Utility Right of Way Moody-Azalea Commons
      ACC Group Housing, LLC desires to Grant Lowndes county an easement and right of way to provide access to service and maintain the water and sewer lines serving the Azalea Commons residential area.

      Documents:Grant of Easement for Utility Right of Way Moody-Azalea Commons.pdf

    2. Lowndes County Government Probation Plan and Resolution
      Approval of probation plan and resolution

      Documents:Lowndes County Government Probation Plan and Resolution.pdf

  7. Reports – County Manager
  8. Citizens Wishing to be Heard-Please State Your Name and Address
  9. Adjournment

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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!

Where you at, onevaldostalowndes.com?

Well, they spelled that wrong, as “Where are we now?” Maybe for the video narrator from California who showed a picture of lily pads when he said “River”.

Rivers, Video

Vision, Website But to be fair, this website and the video from the Development Authority organized by VisionFirst whom Lowndes County paid $25,000, presumably matching Valdosta, also adopted by SGRC, does work hard to show a positive vision of the local area. Oops, I forgot the hospital and the Chamber, and, most importantly, Georgia Power, listed in the FAQ:

Who is the leading the effort? Continue reading

Videos: Passed resolution for dedicated state fees and bids for equipment @ VCC 2018-01-25

The big item was they passed the Resolution to support GA HR 158 for dedicated fee collections. That and the T-SPLOST projects and upcoming public meetings, by Mayor Gayle. There was only one Citizen to Be Heard, which was me, about the resolution and about public access to the Withlacoochee River at Gornto Road in Valdosta.

Below are links to the LAKE video of each item, with a few notes, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the agenda.

Continue reading

Valdosta Solar Power on Val Tech Road

On the closed landfill across from Valdosta State Prison on Val Tech Road, what looks like maybe a megawatt of solar panels by the City of Valdosta.

Lots of solar panels
Pictures by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange, 1 September 2017

Parcel-0081A-001

Continue reading

Video: Solar panels, heck yeah! –Tom Fanning, CEO, at SO stockholder meeting 2017-05-24

Tom Fanning, our genial CEO host, said some things I’ve never heard him say before like Southern Company is “pivoting towards wind” and SO’s board soon has to decide whether to go forward with Plant Vogtle “or not” probably by August. Fanning gets the first and last word in this blog post, plus a complete transcript of what I asked and Tom Fanning’s response, along with summaries of the other questions and answers.

Well see how it develops --Tom Fanning
Please hear me! I think renewables are exceedingly important in the future.
— Tom Fanning, CEO, Southern Company

In SO’s own meeting video of the 25 May 2017 Stockholder Meeting, you can see much praise about solar power and wind and R&D and a smart grid, along with stockholders wondering: Continue reading