This comment from Leigh Touchton came in last night on
It’s not over until it’s over. I have added links and pictures. -jsq
I asked VLCIA Board member Roy Copeland afterwards whether this means
the biomass incinerator is STILL going to be built? He shrugged and
walked away.
Karen Noll asked Allan Ricketts what does this mean, since we all
heard Lowndes County Commission Chairman Paulk give us a very different
scenario at the last LCC meeting, and his remarks were covered in the
Valdosta Daily Times. Mr. Ricketts said he was not aware of Chairman
Paulk’s remarks.
The new case decided yesterday (REZ-2011-05 – Laurel Brooke),
was also represented by Bill Nijem, who got up and started
speaking for it, and after a bit said:
First let me introduce myself, there are new faces up here.
Bill Nijem. I represent the applicant.
Assuming that Commissioners
should just know who he is may not sound like a good start,
But, as he already said, nobody was speaking against this rezoning.
Why is that?
I would like to note when the applicant first submitted this application,
it was submitted as planned development,
and worked with Mr. Davenport,
we did tweak the site plan somewhat, made larger lots, and now it’s R-10.
And that’s what the opponents of the Glen Laurel rezoning asked for.
At least a couple of them were present this time.
Gretchen talked to them later, and they told her that since
this subdivision had what they asked for last time,
they had no objections this time.
Bill Nijem even discussed traffic and accidents, which you may recall
Continue reading →
Should the County Commission approve rezoning for a subdivision
just because developers say they won’t compromise any more?
Bill Nijem presented Moody and schools nearby and the proposed
house price as arguments for the Glen Laurel subdivision,
plus county services, which, remember,
were put in for them to use.
This was afterPine Grove Elementary closed
and moved farther away.
Should developers drive the extension of county services,
or should there be a planning process that takes other factors into account?
The Glen Laurel rezoning case suggests that developers drive the process now.
Speaking for the Glen Laurel subdivision were
Bill Nijem and Barbara Herring.
She described the original layout as “a very efficient layout”.
She said they redesigned it and added a park in the middle
and other green space in addition to natural vegetation.
All the neighbors on the outside wouldn’t be able to see into it very well.
She said they also increased the lot sizes,
but they did not change the road plan.
A retired Air Force veteran weighed in,
asserting that new subdivisions need to be compatible
and consistent with homes already in the area,
and Glen Laurel would cause a lot of traffic
and drive land values down.
In the long run, as far as Lowndes County is concerned,
do you feel in your hearts that this is going to enhance Lowndes County
as a place to come and live and enjoy?
A landowner directly across from Glen Laurel pointed out that
all the other subdivisions on Old Pine Road also connect to another street,
so there are two ways in and out,
but Glen Laurel does not.
She said the photographs they submitted were of
Blue Pool, Callaway Circle, and Hamilton Circle,
which are all subdivisions that were developed as affordable housing
for first-time homeowners, yet the houses are now in sad shape.
She wondered whose responsibility is it to maintain
the entrance after the developers are gone?
Is it the homeowners association?
This is basically the same question Mr. Mulligan asked,
which Chairman Ashley Paulk answered with code enforcement.
She said that
at Hamilton Circle there are cars parked on the green area,
Continue reading →
A landowner (probably Glynda Faye Zaun) between Old Pine Road and Mulligan Road
says if all those little houses are built her property
values will decrease, and she’ll be surrounded by 94 little homes that
will generate too much traffic.
I am not against growth.
Growth is beneficial to every community; I recognize that.
But it should be constructed in a way that is beneficial
and pleasing to everyone and not just to the developers
or the ones who want to make a lot of money quick and then leave.
Lowndes County Commission met in work session yesterday morning,
and meets in regular session to make decisions this evening.
A couple of rezonings and an alcohol ordinance are on the agenda.
Remember rezonings affect sprawl which affects schools and everything else.
Citizens Wishing to be Heard has moved to the end again.
Here’s
the agenda
with videos from the work session interleaved.
Gretchen got there one minute late and they were already on item 4.
The whole meeting lasted about 20 minutes.
Yes, we know the sound is bad.
LAKE will be using a different camera tonight.
-jsq
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MAY 9, 2011, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2011, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Ashley Paulk said he is code enforcement!
Let’s go back a year to the rezoning of Old Pine Road on 8 June 2010,
as an example of how some things fit together around here.
First a bit more about lot size, and then code enforcement and traffic.
Commissioner Richard Lee wanted to know if Coy Brightwell
was the spokesperson for the people against.
Brightwell said some others would also speak,
but R-10 was the closest to a quarter acre lot, and that’s what they
were for.
Lot size and code enforcement on Old Pine Road, 8 June 2010 Part 1 of 3:
Rezoning REZ-2010-06, Glen Laurel, Old Pine Rd,
Regular monthly meeting of the Lowndes County Commission (LCC)
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 8 June 2010,
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman and John S. Quarterman
for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
A Mr. Mulligan of Bemiss Road wanted to know
A Mr. Mulligan of Bemiss Road wanted to know
Who develops these plans, the county, or the developer?
Pretty much everyone agrees there are problems with the two local
school systems in this county, those of Lowndes and Valdosta.
Proponents and opponents of school unification even agree on many
of the details.
They just don’t agree on the solution.
CUEE believes that unification will somehow lead to solutions to all this,
and
believe is the word they use,
because they have no evidence.
Opponents such as me
don’t see any plan to get to better education, and some think that unification
will cause problems that CUEE is not even considering,
just like integration did in 1969.
Here’s a pair of pie charts from 2008 from
Who’s losing in Winnersville?
a project unification opponent Dr. Mark George was involved in:
I asked VLCIA Board member Roy Copeland afterwards whether this means the biomass incinerator is STILL going to be built? He shrugged and walked away.
heard Lowndes County Commission Chairman Paulk give us a very different scenario at the last LCC meeting, and his remarks were covered in the Valdosta Daily Times. Mr. Ricketts said he was not aware of Chairman Paulk’s remarks.
