“We’re down to one!”
said Commissioner Scotti Orenstein, seeing Commissioners Joyce Evans and Demarcus Marshall coming out of the elevator before the April 9, 2024, Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
Before the meeting,
I asked Information Technology Services (ITS) Director Aaron Kostyu
if the sound box in the video pen at the back of the room would be fixed soon.
He said that was a $1700 item, but they were working on it.
I asked loudly enough that all of the Commissioners could hear me,
including when I noted that it’s hard to hear Commissioners on our videos without the direct audio feed.
He said some of them probably would still be inaudible.
I went up to where Commissioner Joyce Evans was sitting and indicated that if Commissioners push their microphones away, they’re hard to hear.
She said I was pointing at Commissioner Scottie Orenstein’s microphone.
We shall see.
I had a video camera fail, so I took these videos with my phone,
starting after they did, so the call to order and approval of minutes agenda items are not in these videos.
Also, my phone does not stop and start videos quickly, so there may be a second or two missing between clips.
After the meeting was adjourned, Commissioner Mark Wisenbaker said he was disappointed to get dressed to come there for such a brief meeting.
I feel his pain.
It’s an hour round trip for me, this time for a five minute meeting.
Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.
This is the last Public Hearing for the ULDC Amendments,
after the one last month at the Planning Commission.
So if you have any input, better show up Tuesday,
or contact Commissioners or
Planning/Zoning department head JD Dillard beforehand,
preferably in writing.
The bit that may affect the most people is 10.00.07 Board of Commissioner Public Hearing Procedures. Continue reading →
Here is the letter Gretchen Quarterman sent on behalf of Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE)
to the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) before their meeting of Monday, August 28, 2023.
As you can see in the
LAKE videos of that meeting,
GLPC recommended denial by 7:1 of REZ-2023-04 on Quarterman Road.
Thanks to everyone who signed the petition: a table of signatories and images of the petition sheets are included.
Thanks to everyone who spoke at the GLPC meeting.
The final decision will be at the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session of Tuesday, September 12, 2023.
More petition signatures would help, and more calls and letters to Lowndes County Commissioners, and more speakers in the Public Hearing on September 12th.
The Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) voted 7:1 to recommend denial
of the proposed E-A 2.5-acre-lot rezoning on Quarterman Road,
in an agricultural and forestry area.
They unanimously voted to recommend approval of the R-21 half-acre-lot rezoning on Mt. Zion Church Road that is among numerous existing small lots.
In the first rezoning item, REZ-2023-04 on Quarterman Road,
the County Planner mentioned that county staff had been unable to find any record of the previous (1980s) rezoning of the existing subdivision on Emily Lane west of Quarterman Road. Continue reading →
County staff recommend approval of both rezonings, one in the middle of subdivisions on Mt. Zion Church Road, and the other in the middle of agriculture and forestry land on Quarterman Road.
For REZ-2023-04 on Quarterman Road,
county staff strain really hard to dilute agriculture and forestry by including
a nearby subdivision in their first calculation.
Quarterman Road is almost all Continue reading →
It took the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC)
about an hour to consider the Valdosta and Lowndes County rezonings.
Each case had quite a few citizen speakers and much Commissioner discussion.
FINAL ACTION by the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners, 327 N. Ashley Street, Valdosta, Georgia, Lowndes County Judicial and Administrative Complex Commission Chambers, 2nd Floor, Tuesday, March 14th, 2023 5:30 p.m.
Point of Contact: JD Dillard, County Planner, (229) 671-2430
FINAL ACTION by the City of Valdosta Mayor-Council, 216 E. Central Avenue, Valdosta, Georgia, Valdosta City Hall, Council Chambers, 2nd Floor Thursday, March 9th, 2023, 5:30 p.m.
Point of Contact: Matt Martin – Planning and Zoning Administrator (229) 259-3563
Videos: One rezoning each, Valdosta and Lwondes County @ GLPC 2023-02-27
Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC), Regular Session, February 27, 2023, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, .
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
-jsq
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!
http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/donate
The one Valdosta case before the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission
tomorrow evening is for rezoning 1.76 acres from R-6 to R-M at 915 West Street,
“to develop it as an apartment complex with 12 dwelling units.”
The one Lowndes County case
is for rezoning about 8 acres from R-1 (Low Density Residential) to P-D (Planned Development)
on Janes Road at Smith Street.
That’s all I know, because the county has still not sent the relevant board packet materials in response to a LAKE open records request.
As a placeholder, I put in a map from the Lowndes County Tax Assessors.
Why is the owner of the planned 300-foot communications tower off US 84 a secret?
Why does the agenda sheet for
REZ-2020-11 Bella Mill Plantation, 8450 Ousley Rd.,
next to Tiger Creek and a short distance upstream from the Withlacoochee River,
make no mention of sewage or the size of the septic system relative to the
number of expected attendees at the planned event facility?
TWR 2020-02 is by Diamond Communications and AT&T.
REZ-2020-11: the Department of Public Health determines septic system sizes.
That Department won’t issue a septic system permit until they are satisfied.
Why is the owner of the planned 300-foot communications tower off US 84 a secret?
The Lowndes County Commission will deliberate on that rezoning and three more
Monday morning at 8:30 AM and vote on it Tuesday at 5:30 PM,
after these rezonings were heard Monday at the Planning Commission.
Why does the agenda sheet for
REZ-2020-11 Bella Mill Plantation, 8450 Ousley Rd.,
next to Tiger Creek and a short distance upstream from the Withlacoochee River,
make no mention of sewage or the size of the septic system relative to the
number of expected attendees at the planned event facility?
Why is there no mention of any speakers against this rezoning, even though
there was at least one at the Planning Commission?
Here is the
agenda.
The entire board packet for Monday and Tuesday
is
on the LAKE website,
along with the minutes for the previous meetings two weeks ago,
in response to a LAKE open records request.
Thanks to new County Clerk Belinda Lovern and Sabrina Denson for speedy responses to such requests.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2020, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2020, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
![[Collage @ LCC 9 April 2024]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-04-09--lcc-regular-videos/many.jpg)
![[LAKE Videos: Racetrack Road SE Abandonment and ULDC Text Amendments @ LCC Work 2024-04-08]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-04-08--lcc-work-videos/many.jpg)
![[Race Track Road SE abandonment and TXT-2024-01 ULDC Amendments @ LCC 2024-04-08]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-04-08--lcc-packet/many.jpg)
![[LAKE letter and map]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/glpc/2023-08-28--glpc-lake-letter/many.jpg)
![[Collage @ LCC 28 August 2023]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/glpc/2023-08-28--glpc-videos/many.jpg)
![[Two Lowndes County cases @ GLPC 2023-08-28]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/glpc/2023-08-28--glpc-packet/many.jpg)
![[Collage @ LCC 27 February 2023]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/glpc/2023-02-27--glpc-videos/many.jpg)
![[Valdosta and Lowndes County cases @ GLPC 2023-02-27]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/glpc/2023-02-27--glpc-packet/many.jpg)
![[Proposed interior sketch]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2020-09-07--lcc-packet/Barn-Floor-Plan-rot.jpg)
![[Conceptual Plan]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2020-09-07--lcc-packet/September-8-2020-Meeting-Packet-0016.jpg)