Category Archives: Lowndes County Commission

Fixing private road Carter Way next to proposed Sabal Trail fracked methane path @ LCC 2016-04-12


Cowart & Son, Carter Way
If heavy rains washed out culverts on Carter Way, why would we not expect them to
wash up

the proposed Sabal Trail pipeline, aimed barely 500 feet to the west, downstream on Tiger Creek?
And why didn’t the county mention that the company to which they just awarded
an emergency no-bid contract to fix a private road owns extensive properties on that same private road?
Actually, no: see correction.

The Lowndes County Tax Assessors online database shows
Cowart & Son own
Parcel 0017 024 of 13.09 acres on Carter Way.
Yet the

item 7.h. Carter Way agenda sheet
for yesterday’s

12 April 2016 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.
mentions “Over 10 residences and a telecommunications tower” on Carter Way,
but never mentions that the contractor, Cowart & Sons,
just awarded that emergency no-bid contract for $67,822 to fix culverts on Carter Way,
is also located on Carter Way. Actually, Rountree Construction got the contract; see correction. It’s still an emergency no-bid contract for a private road.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

COMMISSION AGENDA ITEM Continue reading →

Videos: Sabal Trail and no-bid private Carter Way, no-bid Old US 41 N, Animals, VLMPO, Bemiss Road * 2, sewer, safety, and incarceration @ LCC 2016-04-12



In these LAKE videos you can see the Commissioners and staff didn’t mention the contractor for the emergency no-bid $67,822
to fix the
Carter Way Culverts
owns property on Carter Way.
They never said how much the no-bid

Old US 41N paving project would cost.
Citizen

Judy Havercamp thanked the Commission for the recent
animal ordinance.
She clapped, but did not get shouted down by the deputy;
I guess his instructions only apply to people not complimenting the Commission.
Citizen

John S. Quarterman, president of WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc.,
asked for
wastewater spills to be posted on the county’s website and sent out by their alert system,
and with a written letter updated the Commission on many recent pipeline
developments and asked them to rescind their recent Sabal Trail easement
or to help in other ways to stop that boondoggle.

See also Continue reading →

Videos: No-bid Old US 41 N, private Carter Way, VLMPO, Bemiss Road * 2, sewer, safety, and incarceration @ LCC 2016-04-11



The

Old US 41N paving project is no-bid.
If they bid, they would actually know which was the most cost-effective….

In his
Report,
County Manager Joe Pritchard asked them to add to
the agenda
an item about fixing a private road off US 84, Carter Way.
Most of the Commissioners previously seemed to be unfamiliar with this issue,
although we had seen Chairman Bill Slaughter and Commissioner Joyce Evans
listen to what seemed to be a request for this same road at the

Lowndes County Democratic Party Meet the Candidates meeting
the previous Monday.

See also Continue reading →

Videos: PUD setback, road access, and building variances @ ZBOA 2016-04-05



LAKE videos of the four Lowndes County cases before ZBOA.
There was some discussion about


VAR-2016-04 Joshua Restoration Ranch (5808 McDonald Road),
which is about road access for a group/family personal care home.
One was already withdrawn by the applicant:

VAR-2016-03 Southers (1290 Southers Lane).
The other two are about

minimum building setbacks and

road access.
Thanks to ZBOA member Gretchen Quarterman, the entire board packet is
on the LAKE website,
and here’s
the agenda.

ZBOA makes actual decisions, unlike the Planning Commission, which only recommends.
Here’s

a video playlist:



Videos: PUD setback, road access, and building variances

Regular Session, Valdosta-Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBOA),

Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 5 April 2016.

-jsq

VLMPO appointment, Bemiss Road * 2, sewer, safety, and incarceration @ LCC 2016-04-11



A very busy agenda,
for Monday morning’s Work Session and
Tuesday evening’s Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.
See also
the LAKE videos of
the three county cases from the recent Planning Commission meeting.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 11, 2016,  8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2016,  5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

PUD setback, road access, and building variances @ ZBOA 2016-04-05

2:30 PM today, four Lowndes County cases.
Objections are expected to



VAR-2016-04 Joshua Restoration Ranch (5808 McDonald Road),
which is about road access for a group/family personal care home.
One has been withdrawn by the applicant:

VAR-2016-03 Southers (1290 Southers Lane).
The other two are about

minimum building setbacks and

road access.
Thanks to ZBOA member Gretchen Quarterman, the entire board packet is
on the LAKE website.

ZBOA makes actual decisions, unlike the Planning Commission, which only recommends.
Here’s the agenda. Continue reading →

Videos: Animals, CAC on Skipper Bridge, 3 board appointments, alcohol @ LCC 2016-03-08



The

reading of the Animal Welfare Ordinance
drew two citizen speakers:

Jim Sharpe
and

Dr. Amanda Hall.

Chairman Bill Slaughter remarked on the 5 March 2016 death of former Lowndes County Coroner

Charles Exum.

See also
the LAKE videos of the previous morning’s Work Session
and

the agenda for that meeting and this Regular Session
for the three board appointments, the two Copeland Road items
related to water, sewer, pavement, and Lowndes Middle School students,
the two Tax Assessor items,
others, and, last but not least,
the four alcohol items.
See also Continue reading →

Four board appointments, animal tethering, bus, trash, homeland security, mutual aid, and housing @ LCC 2016-03-21

Work Session 8:30 AM this morning,
and Tuesday evening finally voting on the
Animal Services Ordinance
including tethering, and (who knew about this?)


appointing Christina Bennett to the Animal Control Board.

Renewing the annual
Section 5311 Rural Transportation Program Capital Contract
for the MIDS bus service is on
the agenda, as is
appointing three people to the
Valdosta Lowndes County Metropolitan Planning Organization (VLMPO) out of these
four:
Ronald Skrine, Tammy Greenway, Floyd Rose, Bob Wilburs.
As usual, how were people supposed to know?
And where are the applications of those named? Continue reading →

Videos: CAC on Skipper Bridge, 3 board appointments, lots of alcohol @ LCC 2016-03-07

See also the previous post for
LAKE videos of the preceding Planning Commission Work Session and Regular Session.


County Manager Joe Pritchard brought up in

his Report yesterday morning
the annexation request that is part of the
Valdosta proposed rezoning for a development on Bemiss Road;
see the

packet materials for that item obtained by LAKE through open records request.
They heard the long-awaited animal tethering ordinance,
and will vote on it this evening, as part of an
Animal Welfare Ordinance.
See agenda posting
for the three board appointments, the two Copeland Road items
related to water, sewer, pavement, and Lowndes Middle School students,
the two Tax Assessor items,
others, and, last but not least,
the four alcohol items.
See also the previous post for
LAKE videos of the preceding Planning Commission Work Session and Regular Session including

the CAC item on Skipper Bridge Road, with a link to the
board packet materials for that item
that LAKE obtained by open records request.

Below are Continue reading →

CAC on Skipper Bridge, 3 board appointments, lots of alcohol @ LCC 2016-03-07

The long-awaited animal tethering ordinance will be heard Monday morning
and voted on Tuesday evening, as part of an
Animal Welfare Ordinance.
They’re going to reappoint Joyce Evans and Frank Morman to the

Landbank Authority.


They last

reappointed those two 27 March 2012,
so apparently they serve four-year terms.

Despite the public not knowing there was an opening on the
Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Board,
they’ve already picked who they’re going to appoint: Chris Yarbrough.
What he sent in his application, we don’t know, but his LinkedIn profile
says he’s a “Community Supervision Officer III Mental Health Specialist,
Georgia Department of Community Supervision,
May 1996 – Present (19 years 11 months) Valdosta, Ga.”

Per LAKE open record request, here are

the packet items for
the Children’s Activity Center (CAC) rezoning
on Skipper Bridge Road,

REZ-2016-06, as sent to the Continue reading →