Category Archives: Community

Videos: Commission voted against the people @ LCC 2013-02-26



Apparently one person with a lawyer can persuade the Lowndes County Commission
that hundreds of people are just

an unruly mass, not the public it’s supposed to represent.
For whatever reason, not clear to the public, the Commission voted
3 to 1 with 1 absent to close the end of Old State Road to Hotchkiss Crossing,
thus barring the only public access to the Alapaha River in Lowndes County.
We shall see whether they will follow through with their

hint that they might make a park on the Alapaha River at another location.
Congratulations to
Commissioner Demarcus Marshall for
speaking up for due process and for voting for the public!


Public Works Director Robin English spoke about road conditions
and

Emergency Services Director Ashley Tye spoke about Local weather conditions,

Update noon 27 Feb 2013:
Link to
weather conditions,
and to
Citizens Wishing to Be Heard.

The Commission reappointed
J. Glenn Gregory to the

South Regional Joint Development Authority
and
appointed Commissioner Joyce Evans to the

Southern Georgia Area Agency on Aging Advisory Council.
They are applying for a grant for the county’s MIDS
bus system and reapplying for a CDBG grant for Second Harvest.

Here’s

the agenda, with links to the videos and some notes,
followed by a video playlist.
See also

the videos of Monday morning’s Work Session.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2013, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2013, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Please deny the closure of County Road 16 leading to the Alapaha River —three neighbors

Received today; they sent it to all the Commissioners. -jsq

To the Lowndes County Commission:

It has been quite an experience dealing with the proposed closing of


a portion of County Road 16. Our quaint spot on the river in Naylor,
Lowndes County is something that can easily be taken for granted,
but it is something that should be treasured and appreciated by the
entire county. While we have learned a rich history about Naylor and
the County Road proposed to be closed, we will not encumber you with
these details. We will let you know in this letter the laws and
reasons why the proposal should be denied.

First off, the landowner did not legally own the land when he made
his request for the closing of the road. The legal date this
property was deeded to Phillip Connell is February 8, 2013. The day
his request was made is unknown because the letter sent had the date
whited out and is an exact copy of the September 10, 2010 letter he
submitted. It is known that the proposal for a public hearing was
made in the Commission meeting January 22, 2013. The county should
not be hearing this proposal for being misled by Phillip Connell.
Why instead is the County claiming that a legal transaction for this
land occurred 2 or 3 years ago and now has extended it to 3 or 4
years ago? Where is the proof for this claim?

Second, the landowner’s claim about liability, trash and trespassing
is

Continue reading →

Reconsider closing this road —James Manes

Received today; he sent it to all the Commissioners. -jsq

James
Manes 107 Shiloh Rd. Ray City,
GA 31605

Regarding
Regular session held Jan 22, 2013; Agenda 7 B, a request for road
abandonment, I would like to state my opinion.

The
road abandonment was to close a section of County Road 16 Old State
Road. I feel this issue is not a open and shut case.

The
county has determined “the road has been ceased to be used by the
public”, and has no “substantial public purpose”.

I
am aware the law (32-7-2 a) states “The department must confer with
the governing authority of the county’s or municipalities
(Unincorporated Naylor GA.), and give due consideration to their
wishes in such abandonment.”

I
have not been able to find any public records of

Continue reading →

Water trails for economic benefit —Bret Wagenhorst

This letter demonstrates many public uses of the Alapaha River at
Hotchkiss Crossing by everyone from Boy Scouts to doctors,
and indicates economic benefits of water trails. -jsq



February 4, 2013

Lowndes County Board of Commissioners

327 North Ashley Street – 3rd Floor

Valdosta, GA 31601

RE: Hotchkiss landing closure

Dear Commissioners:

I have lived in the
South Georgia region for the past 16 years. I am also a practicing
physician and have a love of the out of doors, especially canoeing,
camping and hiking. I also serve on the board of

WWALS Watershed Coalition,
a local river advocacy group trying to promote awareness
and preservation of our local rivers. It has recently come to my
attention that you are considering the potential closure of the
Hotchkiss landing site along the Alapaha River near Naylor. I would
like to put in a word in favor of keeping the landing site open.

I have canoed dozens of
different sections of the Alapaha River from north of Tifton all the
way to Statenville, as well as portions that join with the Suwanee
River in Florida. Without a doubt, one of the most fun and scenic
sections to paddle is from the put-in near Burnt Church outside of
Lakeland down to the Hotchkiss landing. I have taken various groups

Continue reading →

County can’t “lawfully vacate a public street or highway for the benefit of a private individual” —Georgia Supreme Court

While I don’t know if the proposed closing of the end of Old State Road
leading to Hotchkiss Landing at the Alapaha River is even on the agenda
for this morning’s Work Session (Clarification: Monday 25 Feb 2013; they vote 5:30 PM Tuesday 26 Feb 2013), because

the county’s website is down and I can’t retrieve an agenda,
in case it is, it may be of interest to know that the Georgia Supreme
Court appears to have explicitly forbidden what the county is proposing to do.

Georgia Supreme Court,

GRIFFITH v. C & E BUILDERS,
231 Ga. 255 (1973),
200 S.E.2d 874:

Held:

1. “When a grantor sells lots of land, and in his deeds describes
them as bounded by streets, not expressly mentioned in the deeds,


but shown upon a plat therein referred to as laid out in a subdivision
of the grantor’s land, he is estopped to deny the grantees’ right to
use the streets delineated in such plat. Ford v. Harris [95 Ga. 97,
22 SE 144]; Schreck v. Blun, 131 Ga. 489 (62 SE 705); Wimpey v. Smart,
137 Ga. 325 (73 SE 586); Gibson v. Gross, 143 Ga. 104 (84 SE 373). By
parity of reasoning those claiming under such conveyances are estopped
from denying the existence of the streets so delineated upon the
plat of the subdivision and given as boundaries of lots acquired by
these and others from the grantor or those claiming under him. All
persons claiming under such grantor are forever estopped to deny their
existence. 19 CJ 928, § 127 (b).” Tietjen v. Meldrim, 169 Ga. 678, 697
(151 SE 349); Davis v. City of Valdosta,223 Ga. 523 (156 S.E.2d 345).

I am not a lawyer, but I wonder what a lawyer would say 1. above implies
about the county

doing nothing about a blocked public road?

But the Georgia Supreme Court didn’t stop there:

Continue reading →

Rotary Clubs need broadband @ VLCIA 2013-02-19


Bill Slaughter, Dennis Marks, John Page, Gretchen Quarterman @ Valdosta Rotary Club 2012-09-12

Before

the Industrial Authority 19 February 2013 meeting,

Gretchen told Bill about how she’s now videoing at Rotary
and

putting playlists on the web with some delay.
Bill and Gretchen (and Commissioner John Page) go to the same

Valdosta Rotary Club.
This is yet another use of Internet access:
attracting participants to local community groups,
and getting their speakers to a wider audience.

-jsq

 

Broadband “huge strategic initiative for our community” —Mary Gooding for VSU @ VLCIA 2013-02-19



Mary Gooding spoke up for VSU at

the Industrial Authority 19 February 2013,
saying that
VSU President McKinney was
in Athens (as was President Perrin of Wiregrass), but he and
VSU:

We too believe that this is a huge strategic initiative for our community.
And we were thrilled after the meeting that we attended that
the city, the county, both educational institutions, the Industrial
Authority, everyone there, the hospital for sure, all agreed
that this had to be a significant incentive.

Mary Gooding

added:

At Valdosta State it’s becoming one of our biggest road barriers to
online degrees, to online classes.
That’s again more bandwidth that’s needed to be able to deliver
degrees and classes online.

That’s all good, but where were the superintendents and school boards
of the two K-12 school systems?
Where were library

Continue reading →

SGRC: New DCA Minimum Local Comprehensive Planning Standards



Local governments are now required to update their Comprehensive Plans
every five years (used to be every ten years).
Here’s video of

the new rules
and

a playlist of the entire meeting at which this was discussed in Valdosta
on 7 February 2013.


facebook event:

In response to concerns about the complexity of the 2005 Local
Government Planning Standards, Georgia DCA adopted new Rules for the
Minimum Standards and Procedures for Local Comprehensive Planning
(Chapter 110-12-1). The rules were adopted on November 1, 2012 and
became effective on January 1, 2013. The five workshops are held as
a continued education event around the region to familiarize all
local governments elected and appointed officials, government staff,
the development community, citizens and any other interested party
with the new rules, so that all may remain in compliance with those
rules.

This session was held Thursday, February 7th at the Valdosta City
Hall Annex Multipurpose room.

Additional sessions are scheduled for:

  • February 21, 2013 —Tifton
  • March 7, 2013—Douglas
  • March 21, 2013—Irwin County
  • April 4, 2013—Waycross

Sessions are geared toward community planners but they are open to
the public.

Here’s

a video playlist:

Continue reading →

Georgia Recreational Use Statute



Suppose you owned land next to a river.
You might have concerns about liability for people getting out of
canoes or kayaks onto your land.
But you’re in luck!
Georgia state law says you’re not liable for most things that could happen.

The Georgia Recreational Use Statute is in

O.C.G.A. §51-3-20 through §51-3-26.
Here are a few excerpts.

§51-3-20. Purpose of article

The purpose of this article is to encourage owners of land to make
land and water areas available to the public for recreational
purposes by limiting the owners’ liability toward persons entering
thereon for recreational purposes.

Does that include boating?

Continue reading →

ALEC again: GA HB 176 for higher cell towers with less local government oversight



After
massive public opposition
just fought off

a subdivision near Moody’s gate,
do we want telephone cell towers popping up in Moody’s flight lines?

Trying to outlaw municipal broadband isn’t the only thing telecom
companies and ALEC are up to in the Georgia legislature:
they’re also pushing a bill for higher cell towers with less
local government control over height or siting.
Do you want one next to you without even an opportunity for a local government hearing?

Here’s what ACCG says about

HB 176,
renamed from ‘Advanced Broadband Collocation Act’ to
‘Mobile Broadband Infrastructure Leads to Development (BILD) Act’:


Cell Tower Siting Preemption Legislation Progresses

HB 176 passed a House Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications
Sub-Committee on Thursday. Representatives from ACCG, Cobb County,
Gwinnett County, GMA and several cities expressed concerns on the
impact this legislation will have on local cell tower siting
ordinances. This bill significantly preempts local governments in
reviewing and approving applications for both the modification of
existing cell towers and structures (collocation) and the
construction of new cell towers and structures local communities. As
HB 176 is the top priority of the wireless industry this session and
is being backed by many other influential groups including the
Americans for Prosperity and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, it has
very strong momentum. Please have your county staff review the bill
and inform your House members of any negative implications it has on
your local zoning, land use or tower/equipment application review
processes. This legislation will likely be heard on the House floor
soon.

Guess who’s chair of the

Energy, Utilities & Telecommunications SubCommittee?

Continue reading →