Jane Fleming Osborn advises:
Food pantries (outdoor boxes attached to buildings or freestanding in an agency/business yard) in this area are up to fourteen.
If you have been blessed, consider refilling the shelves with non perishable foods, personal hygiene items and toiletries to help people experiencing homelessness.
Continue readingUpdate 2022-09-26: Videos: Redo rezonings and a citizen paving request @ LCC 2022-09-13.
Update 2022-09-21: Videos: 6 Remerton, 4 Valdosta, 1 Hahira, 1 Lowndes County cases @ GLPC 2022-08-29.
Other than the seven-minute not-on-the-agenda Georgia Forestry presentation by Lowndes County Chief Ranger Mike Williford, the highest-dollar item got the most discussion: Griner Park, at the corner of Webster and Ashley Street.
There was no discussion of the items about redoing their botched rezoning decision.
They did kvetch about each of the extraterritorial jurisdiction items for water and sewer, alleging it was all somebody else’s fault. But why did the county not catch these earlier?
That was at the Work Session yesterday morning. The Lowndes County Commission voted this evening at their Regular Session.
Some Commissioners seemed unclear on why they were spending so much on Griner Park. Here’s Gretchen’s take: Continue reading
Update 2022-09-21: Videos: 6 Remerton, 4 Valdosta, 1 Hahira, 1 Lowndes County cases @ GLPC 2022-08-29.
Update 2022-09-13: Videos: GA Forestry, $3 million, redoing 2 rezonings, 3 extraterritorial water and sewer @ LCC 2022-09-12.
Update 2022-09-13: County rehab center vote invalid –Valdosta Daily Times 2022-09-12.
Update 2022-09-13: Videos: slides @ LCC Millage 2022-08-23.
Lowndes County will approve spending almost $3 million this week, on a downtown Valdosta park and a railroad crossing, but you wouldn’t know that from the agenda.
Fortunately, the board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request, is on the LAKE website.
Maybe Lowndes County could put board packets on its own website, like other counties large and small in Georgia and Florida have been doing for many years.
| Cost | What |
|---|---|
| $2,542,586.00 | Griner Lot Improvements |
| $438,537.00 | Briggston Road Paving Project Agreement with Valdosta Railway, L.P. |
| $2,981,123.00 | Total |
The county will also redo two rezoning decisions for which the the Chairman previously decided split votes.
Plus three extraterritorial jurisdiction water and sewer requests, one from Hahira for a sprayfield, and two for commercial properties by Valdosta.
And the county is accepting infrastructure for a subdivision, while as usual pretending that won’t cost the taxpayers anything.
Here is the agenda. See also: Continue reading
Update 2022-09-21: Videos: 6 Remerton, 4 Valdosta, 1 Hahira, 1 Lowndes County cases @ GLPC 2022-08-29.
I wonder if the developer at Wainwright Drive in Valdosta knows about the repeated sewer leaks on One Mile Branch? And will Valdosta ever fix those before something else is built near there, putting more load on the sewer system?
Almost all of the four Remerton cases are variances, because Remerton does its own variances without going through Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBOA).
Hahira has a partly commercial rezoning northeast of I-75 Exit 29.
Lowndes County has one rezoning from residential to highway commercial.
Board packet and LAKE videos will follow.
Here is the agenda:
Greater Lowndes Planning Commission
~ Lowndes County ~ City of Valdosta ~ City of Dasher ~
~ City of Hahira ~ City of Lake Park ~ City of Remerton ~Monday, August 22, 2022 5:30 P.M. Work Session
Continue reading
Monday, August 29, 2022 5:30 P.M. Regular Session
Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue, Valdosta, Georgia
Update 2022-06-14: Agenda, 4 rezonings, 2 xourts, 1 appointment, and a big ARPA-funded water project @ LCC 2022-06-16
An overflow crowd, some in the lobby, came for the four Lowndes County cases at the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission, May 23, 2022. Two of the Valdosta cases were also contentious. The whole meeting took more than three hours, so long there was griping about people getting hungry. The door alarm went off at 8 o’clock, but they plowed ahead with three remaining cases. When they adjourned at 8:52 PM, nobody was left in the audience but Gretchen Quarterman with the LAKE video camera.
![[Flannigan, Campus, Makesh, Pittman]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/glpc/2022-05-23--glpc-videos/many.jpg)
Flannigan, Campus, Makesh, Pittman
One county and one city case were on James Road. The county case got a unanimous recommendation to deny, moved by famously pro-development Franklin Bailey. The Commissioners really did not seem to like “speculative commercial use on the subject property.” Continue reading
Update 2022-06-03: 4 long Lowndes County cases + 2 long Valdosta cases @ GLPC 2022-05-23, including the board packet materials for the county cases and the minutes for the previous meeting.
Everything from a pair of personal care homes to a fraternity to a church to the Salvation Army wants rezoning or variances at this evening’s Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) meeting.
The board packet materials for the Hahira and Valdosta items are on the LAKE website, thanks to City Planner Matt Martin.
LAKE has no materials for the Lowndes County items, and no copy of the draft minutes from the previous meeting, because Lowndes County has not yet sent them in response to a LAKE open records request.
Here is the agenda:
Greater Lowndes Planning Commission
~ Lowndes County ~ City of Valdosta ~ City of Dasher ~
~ City of Hahira ~ City of Lake Park ~ City of Remerton ~Monday, May 16, 2022 5:30 P.M. Work Session
Continue reading
Monday, May 23, 2022 5:30 P.M. Regular Session
Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue, Valdosta, Georgia
Remerton at almost 28 minutes was far the longest item at the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission Monday. Second was for Hahira, at 12 minutes. Everything else breezed through.
![[Remerton and Hahira Cases @ GLPC 2022-04-25]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/glpc/2022-04-25--glpc-videos/many.jpg)
Remerton and Hahira Cases @ GLPC 2022-04-25
The sound is not so good because the county has still not fixed the audio in the room.
Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman, followed by a LAKE video playlist.
See also the Lake Park packet item, which Loretta Hylton of the Southern Georgia Regional Commission sent, saying she heard I was looking for it. It’s now on the LAKE website (PDF). Also, she said “The attorney pulled the Dasher item before submitting it to the Planning Commission.”
We still don’t have the Remerton item. The Valdosta and Hahira items were already on the LAKE website, previously sent by City Planner Matt Martin. We still don’t have the Remerton items. There were no Lowndes County packet items. Continue reading
Update 2022-04-25: Hahira subdivision proposed near Big Branch of Franks Creek @ GLPC 2022-04-25.
The one big rezoning on the agenda for this evening’s meeting of the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission is HA-2022-06, Sweet Bay Properties, 7440 Union Road, 0024 024, 72 acres, R-15 to R-6, on the site of Guthrie Lumber Company.
Staff recommendation is “Find R-10 zoning consistent with the Comprehensive Plan and the Standards for the Exercise of Zoning Power (SFEZP), and recommend approval of R-10 zoning (instead) to the City Council.”
Here is the agenda. The Hahira and Valdosta items, sent by City Planner Matt Martin, are on the LAKE website. The Dasher, Lake Park, and Remerton items are not; LAKE will send Lowndes County an open records request. The minutes of the previous GLPC meeting are not on the county’s website yet, so they are also not included on the LAKE website yet. Continue reading
The Hahira rezoning was withdrawn by the applicant, but all the other rezonings were heard by the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission last month, including the contentious REZ-2022-07 Hayden Park, Camelot Crossing and Val Del Road, which has already come before the Lowndes County Commission once and is back again today.
Here is the agenda. The board packet is on the LAKE website, The Valdosta rezoning items were sent by City Planner Matt Martin. The Lowndes County rezoning items were received in response to a LAKE open records request. The county did not send the agenda nor the minutes of the previous meeting, both of which LAKE got off the county website. The county also did not send the Valdosta items, in apparent violation of the Georgia Open Records Act (GORA).
Greater Lowndes Planning Commission
Continue reading
~ Lowndes County ~ City of Valdosta ~ City of Dasher ~
~ City of Hahira ~ City of Lake Park ~ City of Remerton ~
Monday, March 21, 2022 5:30 P.M. Work Session
Monday, March 28, 2022 5:30 P.M. Regular Session
Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue, Valdosta, Georgia
At the February 28, 2022, Regular Session of the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission, the Valdosta annexation and rezoning requests, 10. VA-2022-02 11. VA-2022-02 Murray Staten Farms, LLC, were both withdrawn by applicant.
All the other requests were unanimously recommended for approval, some with conditions. The various elected bodies will decide.
In the longest time at nineteen minutes, Four citizens spoke against 5. REZ-2022-04 Radney, 5761 Long Pond Road. Donna Weldon, the President of the Long Pond Property Owners Association, agreed that with the revised conditions accepted by the applicant, the rezoning would be acceptable. Glenn Gregory, the last speaker, emphasized that still more duplexes could be built in that heavy traffic hazardous area. GLPC modified the conditions to retain the conditions prohibiting mobile homes and duplexes, and to add a minimum heated size. Unanimous recommendation for approval with conditions.
Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the agenda. LAKE will publish the board packet as soon as we get the Hahira and Valdosta items from Matt Martin. It is now well over the statutory three days since LAKE sent the GORA request.
![[Pictures of food pantries]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/hahira/2022-09-18--food-pantries/many.jpg)
![[Videos and a picture]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-09-12--lcc-videos/many.jpg)
![[Maps]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-09-12--lcc-packet/many.jpg)
![[Both pages of the agenda]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/glpc/2022-08-29--glpc-agenda/many.jpg)
![[Maps]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/glpc/2022-05-23--glpc-packet/many.jpg)
![[Rezonings]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/glpc/2022-04-25--glpc-packet/many.jpg)
![[Example rezonings]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/glpc/2022-03-28--glpc-packet/many.jpg)
![[Radney]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/glpc/2022-02-28--glpc-videos/many.jpg)