Category Archives: GLPC

Proposed development next to Moody AFB has been withdrawn (REZ-2013-08)

Received in response to an open records request to Lowndes County, here is the developer’s withdrawal letter, and correspondence between Lowndes County Zoning and Planning with Moody AFB confirming that this was indeed REZ-2013-08 MFH Tract A on Roberts Road that was withdrawn. It seems the U.S. Air Force would also like to see GLPC minutes online; that request came from Deputy, Housing Division, Air Force Civil Engineering Center, located in San Antonio, Texas.. Also, doesn’t Georgia open meetings law require a summary of actions taken within a few days of a Planning Commission meeting? -jsq

Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2013 19:56:40 -0400
Subject: MAZ-1
From: Roger Sevigny <rsevigny@alleneng.net>
To: Jason Davenport <jdavenport@lowndescounty.com>, <bslaughter@lowndescounty.com>
Cc: Mike Fletcher <mfletcher@lowndescounty.com>, Joe Pritchard <JPritchard@lowndescounty.com>

Gentlemen,

I had no idea of the county anger with MFH LLC. I thought Continue reading →

Planning Commission considers huge subdivision near Moody AFB @ GLPC 2013-07-29

Remember last year when the Chamber helped mobilize opposition to a subdivision outside Moody’s front gate and won? Well, here’s another, and it’s not 23.49 acres this time, it’s 123.45 acres even closer to the runways, and from MAZ-I to P-D. Plus a proposed 64.92 acre development on (apparently 4958) Val Del Road for “Moody Family”. That’s always the excuse, isn’t it? More houses for Moody, nevermind whether Moody wants or needs them. With all the vacant houses already in the county, we don’t need them.

Here’s the agenda:

Greater Lowndes Planning Commission


Lowndes County City of Valdosta City of Dasher City of Hahira City of Lake Park

REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING

AGENDA

Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue
Tuesday, July 29, 2013* 5:30 P.M. * Public Hearing
Continue reading →

Rezonings: Lake Park, Valdosta, Lowndes County @ GLPC 2013-06-24

Three rezonings considered yesterday at the Planning Commission, one each for Lake Park (a church), Valdosta (a business), and Lowndes County (an individual). Gretchen was there with the video camera; videos to come.

Here’s the agenda:

Greater Lowndes Planning Commission


Lowndes County City of Valdosta City of Dasher City of Hahira City of Lake Park

REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING

AGENDA

Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue
Tuesday, June 24, 2013* 5:30 P.M. * Public Hearing
Continue reading →

Videos: 2 Lowndes County rezonings; 1 Valdosta @ GLPC 2013-02-25

Two applicants in a row said they didn’t know until recently that their properties had restrictions on them, and even staff seemed confused about at least one of them. Maybe there’s something wrong with how the county makes that information available to purchasers of property? Almost nobody attended the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission meeting of 25 February 2013, as you can see from these videos.

Agenda Here’s the agenda. And here’s a summary of the cases.

Lowndes County, Final action, Tuesday 12 March 2013

2. REZ-2013-03 Valler

REZ-2013-03 Rezoning for Jeremy Valler, Knight s Academy Rd. R-21 to R-A, Well/Septic, ~10.4 Knights Academy Road, Valdosta
Request to rezone 10 acres from R-21 (Medium Density Residential) to R-A (Residential Agriculture)

They want two pet thoroughbred horses on the property. Nobody spoke against.

Applicant spoke for, saying the property was purchased by his mother, who is currently in Iraq, and they had been under the impression it was already zoned agricultural. When they discovered it wasn’t, they applied to change it.

In discussion Jody Hall asked Continue reading →

Agenda: 2 Lowndes County rezonings; 1 Valdosta @ GLPC 2013-02-25

Agenda To get an agenda for tonight’s Planning Commission meeting, apparently you have to go to the meeting; here it is. It’s sloppier than usual: Case REZ-2013-04 has neither a number of acres nor a specific location. Why is the Planning Commission not revealing this information?

Douglas O. Thompson owns two properties on Bemiss Road, but one of them is in Valdosta taxing district, so presumably it’s the other one, of 1.28 acres at 3432 Bemiss Road. Why is this a secret?

Perhaps for the same reason that the county doesn’t just publish PDF of this agenda on the web for all to see?

Here’s a summary of the cases.

Lowndes County,
Final action
Tuesday 12 March 2013 		2. REZ-2013-03 Valler
Knights Academy Road, Valdosta
Request to rezone 10 acres from R-21 (Medium Density Residential) to R-A (Residential Agriculture)
3. REZ-2013-04 Thompson
Bemiss Road, Valdosta
Request to rezone [?] acres from C-H/c (Highway Commercial conditional) to C-H (Highway Commercial)
Valdosta,
Final Action
Thursday, 7 March 2013 		4. VA-2013-01 Turner Brooks LLC
411 West Mary Street, Valdosta
Request to rezone 0.50 acres from R-6 (Single Family Residential) to R-M (Multi-Family Residential)

-jsq

Planning Commission yesterday: did you know? @ GLPC 2013-01-28

Did you see an agenda or an announcement that the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) was meeting yesterday? Agenda @ GLPC 2013-01-28 Nor did LAKE. Matt Martin, Valdosta City Planner, usually sends an agenda to Gretchen, but there were no Valdosta items on this agenda, so he apparently didn’t even get one. And the county still doesn’t publish GLPC agendas, so if there was an item on there that affected you, how could you know? Does that seem right to you?

On the agenda were three Lowndes County rezoning items, all involving C-H (Highway Commercial), and one Lake Park rezoning case, going to R-P (Residential/Professional). Here’s a summary of the cases. You know, if I can do this in a couple of minutes by typing it in from a photograph that Gretchen took, Lowndes County could do it in a second by pressing Export to PDF. Now that there’s a new Chairman, maybe he’ll say they should do that.

Lowndes County,
Final action
Tuesday 12 Feb 2013 		4. REZ-2012-20 Corbett
US 41 South and Newsome Road, Valdosta
Request to rezone ~5 acres from E-A (Estate Agriculture) to C-H (Highway Commercial)
5. REZ-2013-01 Barrentine
102 Davis Road East, Valdosta
Request to rezone 1.2 acres from C-H (Highway Commercial) to R-1 (Low Density Residential)
6. REZ-2013-02 Interstate Land Management
Briarwood Road along I-75, Valdosta
Request to rezone 4.87 acres from R-1 (Low Density Residential) to C-H (Highway Commercial)
Lake Park,
Final Action
Tuesday 5 Feb 2013 		LP-12-2012-01 Karen K. Nolan and Blanche C. Bush
105 Broadway Street, Lake Park
Request to rezone 0.46 acres from R-15 (Single Family Residential) to R-P (Residential/Professional)

-jsq

Videos @ LCC 2012-12-11

Moody and the Chamber won, rural residents got wasted, and taxpayers still didn't get to see a single thing the Lowndes County Commission voted on last night in 45 minutes (very long for them) in front of the biggest audience I've ever seen there.

They appointed John "Mac" McCall to ZBOA. They revised the alcohol ordinance with some unspecified "changes to the fee schedule", and added another alcohol restriction to the Lake Park rezoning before approving it.

They approved the solid waste ordinance and granted a waste collection monopoly to a company from New York City despite all known public input being against it. Two more people spoke against it in Citizens Wishing to Be Heard.

Gretchen Quarterman recommended adding all the appointed Boards and Authorities to the county's calendar.

Commissioners accepted applicant's withdrawal of the rezoning request near Moody AFB and tabled indefinitely the related zoning code amendment. They approved rezoning for the Naylor Dollar General.

Commission approved four Decorative Lighting Special Tax Districts (forgetting it was supposed to be a public hearing), and a refund for one that wasn't.

Danny Weeks got approved a new netclock and new phones for the 911 center, and he and his staff got an award. The library railroad continues, the bonds renegotation was approved with about $2 million savings and some legal questions, the Annex has asbestos but they'll deal with it, and after Friday's demolition ceremony there will be a going-away reception for Chairman Paulk, and Bill Slaughter will be the new Chairman.

You missed all that and more at yesterday's Commission meeting.

Here's a video playlist of the Regular Session, followed by the agenda with the videos linked into it.

Update 2014-04-09: Fixed embedded video link.

Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 11 December 2012.

For reference here are the videos of yesterday morning's Work Session. And here is the agenda with links to the videos and some notes.

Continue reading →

Videos @ LCC 2012-12-10

A surprising amount of discussion at yesterday morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session, on ZBOA appointment, alcohol Sunday sales, rezoning next to Moody, and more. They said nothing about the solid waste ordinance, however; maybe they’ll table that loser again. They vote tonight:

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor

Here’s a video playlist of the Work Session, followed by the agenda with the videos linked into it.

Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 December 2012.

Here’s the agenda, this time with links to the videos and some notes.

Continue reading →

Dollar General or not? @ LCC 2012-12-10

Is Naylor maybe going to get a Dollar General or something else, if the unnamed applicant or applicants get their rezoning with or without conditions? None of that is clear from yesterday morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session for agenda item 7.c. REZ-2012-19 Naylor Dollar General, US Hwy 84 East, E-A to C-G, Well & Septic, ~2 acres.

County Planner Jason Davenport said:

The applicants have mentioned trying to do a Dollar General at this site. We believe that’s what they’re going to do, but however whatever uses are allowed in C-G would of course be allowed if it is approved without any conditions.

He said they had the recommendations from the TRC and the Planning Commission, but he didn’t say what they were. The Planning Commission recommended for, apparently with the understanding that it was for a Dollar General. Davenport said there had been no further input since the Planning Commission meeting.

The Commission could have staff submit written reports that go in the agenda and minutes, like the Library Board does, and then put those online as PDF or HTML linked to an HTML agenda, like Glynn County and Richmond County do, and we wouldn’t have to guess the names of applicants or the details of rezoning requests.

Here’s the video:

Dollar General or not?
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 December 2012.

-jsq

Rezoning near Moody: fire code would prohibit a single entrance @ LCC 2012-12-10 @ LCC 2012-12-10

Commissioner Crawford Powell may have found solid grounds to deny the proposed rezoning for a development near Moody AFB, he revealed at this morning’s Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

County Planner Jason Davenport explicitly linked this rezoning case,

7.a. REZ-2012-17 Lowndes Development, LLC, Davidson Rd MAZ II and MAZ III to R-10, County Water & Sewer, ~23.49 acres

to the zoning text code amendment on the same meeting agenda.

7.d. TXT-2012-02 MAZ II Residential Density

He also mentioned the TRC (the Technical Review Committee composed mainly of Lowndes County and Valdosta staff) had a split vote on this item, although he didn’t say how it was split. And he said the Commissioners had the Planning Commission recommendation before them, although he didn’t mention the Planning Commission recommended against.

Commissioner Crawford Powell brought up a good point:

The fire department and the TRC say in the notes that it fails to comply with fire rescue ingress-egress requirements.

Fire Chief Guyton appeared to confirm that was the case, although since he wasn’t at a microphone, it’s hard to hear. Commissioner Powell continued:

Continue reading →