Why is there no sign on Old State Road

about the proposed abandonment of the part leading to the Alapaha River
like there was in 2010?
There’s a clue in the letter of the law Lowndes County is citing.

NOTICE OF PROPOSED ROAD ABANDONMENT TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED

NOTICE OF PROPOSED

ROAD ABANDONMENT

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that pursuant to O.C.G.A. 32-7-2(b)(1) the


Lowndes County Board of Commissioners has determined that a section
of Old State Road (CR # 16) has ceased to be used by the public to
the extent that no substantial purpose is served or by it that its
removal from the county road system is otherwise in the best public
interest. The section of Old State Road that is proposed for
abandonment lies .85 miles to the east of Good Hope Road (CR # 126)
and travels approximately .17 miles before termination at the
Alapaha River.

YOU ARE ALSO HEREBY NOTIFIED that pursuant to said Code section the


Lowndes County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing for
the purpose of determining whether to declare the subject section of
the subject road abandoned. The public hearing will be at 5:30 P.M.
on February 12, 2013, at the Lowndes County Administration Building
located at 327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, Georgia.

Any citizen of Lowndes County or any person wherever residing may be
heard by the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners during the
aforesaid public hearing.

This 28th day of January, 2013.

Joseph D. Pritchard

County Manager

Lowndes County, Georgia

00046658

2/1,8/13

Note that last part:

“or any person wherever residing may be heard by the
Lowndes County Board of Commissioners during the aforesaid public hearing.”

That means you do not have to be a citizen or resident or taxpayer
of Lowndes County to speak at this public hearing.

There’s no public hearing sign on the affected portion of that road.
Why is that?
Here’s

O.C.G.A. 32-7-2(b)(1):

(b) (1) When it is determined that a section of the county road


system has for any reason ceased to be used by the public to the
extent that no substantial public purpose is served by it or that
its removal from the county road system is otherwise in the best
public interest, the county, by certification recorded in its
minutes, accompanied by a plat or sketch, and, after notice to
property owners located thereon, after notice of such determination
is published in the newspaper in which the sheriff’s advertisements
for the county are published once a week for a period of two weeks,
and after a public hearing on such issue, may declare that section
of the county road system abandoned. Thereafter, that section of
road shall no longer be part of the county road system and the
rights of the public in and to the section of road as a public road
shall cease.

So the statute doesn’t seem to require a sign like the county put up
last time,

back in 2010.
It only requires a public notice in the newspaper two weeks in
advance, and even though the Commission

voted 22 January 2013
to hold this hearing,
28 January is just two weeks before 12 February,
So the county has met the letter of this particular statute.
And, as so often, the county can’t be bothered to go any farther.

As for the “plat or sketch” required by the statute,
maybe it was

the map
displayed at the

22 January 2013 Commission meeting.
We don’t know, because the Commission doesn’t publish its board packets,
which presumably contained that “plat or sketch”,
although we don’t even know that.

Is this how
“a part of a progressive government that is a notch ahead
of many rural mid-size communities” acts?
That quoted text is

From the County Manager, Joseph D. Pritchard.

-jsq