Courthouse Preservation Committee Meetings

At different times of day so people with different work schedules can attend, and actually asking for suggestions: you can tell these meetings were organized by Judge McClane, not by the Lowndes County Commission.

Update 2015-03-21: Videos of Hearing 1, 9 June 2014, videos of Hearing 2, 10 June 2014, videos of Hearing 3, 12 June 2014, and Committee Report 12 January 2015.

On the county’s front page:

The Lowndes County Historical Courthouse Preservation Committee will host a series of public input meetings, beginning next week. The meetings are being held in an effort to gather any ideas citizens may have regarding possible future uses for the historic Lowndes County Courthouse. Once the information is gathered, the committee will present their recommendations to the Board of Commissioners. Next week’s meeting schedule is as follows: Monday, June 9, 6:00 p.m.; Tuesday, June 10, 3:00 p.m.; Thursday, June 12, 1:00 p.m. All meetings will be held in Commission Chambers, Lowndes County Administrative Building, 327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta. For more information, please contact Amanda Smith, at 229-671-2400 or asmith@lowndescounty.com.

These meetings are also listed in the county’s calendar, but if you click on any of them you get a blank page.

The VDT has more details today, Public hearings to review historic Lowndes courthouse,

Construction began on the historic courthouse in 1904 and the building was open to the public in 1905.

After serving the citizens of Lowndes County for more than 100 years, the building was vacated after the completion of the Lowndes County Judicial Complex.

Since, the Lowndes County Historical Preservation Committee has been working with county officials to secure funding for needed maintenance and restoration. Two-million dollars in SPLOST allocations was approved by voters with the passage of SPLOST VII. The preservation committee is ready to move forward with the project.

Dean Poling wrote a retrospective for the VDT 11 August 2010, Order in the Court: A look back at the Lowndes County Courthouse.

None of these writeups seem to mention all the other uses of the Courthouse, such as Valdosta Farm Days, the 100 Black Men BBQ, as a backdrop for the march against school consolidation and for Occupy Valdosta, etc. But of course the inside of the courthouse is the main point of the upcoming meetings. Hm, I wonder if there are any uses that could combine the outside and inside?

-jsq