Category Archives: Lake Park

Videos: Private Roads, Alcohol, and Water @ LCC 2019-08-26

“You’ll see on the attached drawing….” and “You will see in your packet….”, but you the taxpayers and voters cannot see, because the county has not put the packet on its website and has not yet returned it in response to an open records request by LAKE.

Did you know a rollback of 0.126 mills was scheduled for a 5PM meeting today, with adoption at the 5:30PM meeting?

Surprise eighteen minutes yesterday morning on procedures for taking private roads into the county road system.

Private Roads

Three Lowndes County Commission items are about water: Continue reading →

Alcohol, Roads, and Water @ LCC 2019-08-26

Three Lowndes County Commission items are about water: Transfer of Drainage Easement Agreement between Lowndes County and the City of Lake Park, and two Lift Station Pumps, Francis Lake for $49,103.25 to buy a new pump and Peterson Road for $29,689.20 for repairs for lightning damage, both to Xylem. There is no mention of bids.

Francis Lake or Frances Lake keeps coming up at the County Commission and the Planning Commission.

Francis Lake

County Manager Joe Pritchard has a mystery item, Continue reading →

One Valdosta Lowndes County case, solar fence, Lake Park, GA @ ZBOA 2019-08-06

Update 2019-09-24: LAKE videos.

Only one case on the ZBOA agenda today: VAR-2019-09 — Tycor Farms (6734 Georgia Highway 376, Lake Park) Request for a variance….

[Aerial photograph with buffers marked]
Aerial photograph with buffers marked

Oops, it’s not really at that address; that’s a neighbor’s house. Also, the Technical Review Committee (TRC) changed from recommending denial due to no hardship to recommending approval. Actually it’s at 6530 GA 376, according to a followup letter from the applicant’s representative.

And it’s pretty obvious from the applicant’s aerial map that it’s next to a creek, which as it happens runs into Enoch Creek, then into the Alapahoochee River, into the Alapaha, the Suwannee, and on to the Gulf. Yet I don’t see a word about wetlands in the application.

Valdosta – Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals

Valdosta Planning and Zoning Office
300 North Lee Street, Valdosta, Georgia
(229) 259-3563

Lowndes County Zoning Office
327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, Georgia
(229) 671-2430

AGENDA
August 6, 2019
2:30 p.m. Continue reading →

Special Called Meeting to approve SPLOST VIII Projects @ LCC 2019-07-31

You got a notice about this meeting two days in advance, if you signed up for the county’s alerts, which is twice as long as they usually do. Special Called Meeting,

Wednesday, July 31, 2019
A special called meeting will be held to adopt the amended SPLOST VIII Agreement.

Date: July 31, 2019

Time: 8:30 AM

Location: Board of Commissioners
Administration Building

Address: 327 N. Ashley Street
2nd Floor
Valdosta, GA 31601

[Lowndes Project List]
Lowndes Project List
PDF

Here is Lowndes County’s SPLOST VIII Project List. The biggest items are water and sewer at $23 million and sports at $13,274,912, followed by the historic Courthouse at $12 million. Note nothing about Continue reading →

Four county, four Valdosta @ ZBOA 2019-07-02

Busy day tomorrow at ZBOA, with setbacks, exterior buildings, parking, landscaping, buffers, and tree protection, in four county cases and four Valdosta cases.

[Page 1]
Agenda

The July ZBOA agenda is not on Valdosta’s website, but it is on the LAKE website, courtesy of ZBOA member Gretchen Quarterman, along with the rest of the agenda packet. Continue reading →

Videos: Service Delivery Strategy (SDS) Meeting: Lowndes County and cities @ SDS 2019-02-04

The longest topic was water and wastewater, when elected officials from Lowndes County and its cities, Valdosta, Lake Park, Dasher, and Hahira (but apparently not Remerton), gathered on neutral ground to discuss tax revenue allocation, in a public meeting. Curiously, the Chairman and the Mayors were not invited. It’s not clear whether omitting them helped or not. There was actually mention that growth close to existing services is better than sprawl.

Below are links to each WWALS video Gretchen took, with a few notes, followed by a WWALS video playlist. See also the meeting announcement.

Service Delivery Strategy (SDS) Meeting: Lowndes County and cities @ SDS 2019-02-04

Update 2019-03-04: WWALS videos.

At least some elected officials from at least Lowndes County and Valdosta will be gathering Monday on neutral ground to discuss tax revenue allocation. Apparently this is a public meeting which anyone can attend.

In its usual laconic manner, this is all the county says in its online calendar:

SDS Meeting

Date: February 4, 2019

Time: 5:00 PM

Location: Valdosta- Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority Offices

Address: 1901 North Forrest Street
Valdosta, GA 31601

Street View, Image
Google Street View, VLPRA, 1901 N. Forrest Street, Valdosta, GA 31601

A usually reliable source says this meeting is for voting Council and Commissioners, and the Mayor and Chairman were not invited. I don’t know if elected members of Council would only be from Valdosta, or also from Remerton, Lake Park, Hahira, and Dasher. If a quorum of any Council or Commissioners for any of these elected bodies is present, Georgia law requires it to be an open meeting which the public may attend. I can’t imagine the county would have posted it publicly if it wasn’t.

The offices of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority (VLPRA) are neutral ground, because Continue reading →

Videos: slightly larger: The Settlement North on Val Del Road @ LCC 2018-12-11

In their one December 2018 Regular Session, they couldn’t bring themselves to reject a rezoning, but they did require still larger lot sizes, for the Val Del Road rezoning.

That was the most elaborate series of motions I’ve seen on anything in the dozen years I’ve been following the Lowndes County Commission. It even exceeds the time somebody tried to rezone next to my west field and they denied that one by not voting.

Nothing else took more than a few minutes. The County Manager asked for an emergency to Continue reading →

Videos: The Settlement North on Val Del Road back again @ LCC 2018-12-10

Molly Stevenson, Engineering/Planning Technician, reminded Commissioners that the main reason for the Val Del Road rezoning is to be able to subdivide at a greater density. Then she recited the reasons to deny it.

Chairman Bill Slaughter reminded Commissioners they’d tabled it twice, and “I’d very much like to get this resolved at this meeting.” By which he meant the Regular Session this evening at 5:30 PM, not the Work Session yesterday morning at which he said that. At least one Commissioner had a question.

The second longest item was 6 m. Approval of the 2019 Commission Meeting Calendar, because of two questions by Commissioners.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also Continue reading →

Back again: The Settlement North on Val Del Road @ LCC 2018-12-10

The agenda sheet says “the applicant’s conceptual site plan is attached.” But of course we the taxpaying, traffic-affected, and water-drinking public don’t get to see it.

Why the Lowndes County Commission considering rezoning for a subdivision that its own staff says doesn’t fit the Comprehensive Plan Character Area, is outside the Urban Service Area, would add significant traffic, and many neighbors spoke against it, plus the Planning Commission recommended denial? The Commission tabled in October, and again in November, when Commissioners asked for an update, but now staff says, “There are no updates to the overall case status.”

If they can’t deny this one, what rezoning can they ever deny?

Current Zoning Map, REZ-2018-17
Photo: Still by LAKE from Lowndes County Commission video of its 9 Oct 2018 Regular Session.

Here is the agenda. See also Continue reading →