Category Archives: Military

REZ-2013-09 Moody Housing, Val Del Rd @ LCC 2013-08-12



County Planner Jason Davenport said the proposed
Moody Family Housing was “in the Nelson Hill neighborhood”,
and there were at least 30 pages of updates, but the
County Clerk wouldn’t show them to LAKE without an Open Records
Request, which hadn’t yet been satisfied at the end of the day.
Commissioners had some questions about acreage and traffic,
some of which were answered by the ubiquitous Attorney Bill Holland,
and others of which were not answered very well by County Engineer
Mike Fletcher, at

this morning’s Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

6.b.
REZ-2013-09 Moody Housing, Val Del Rd R-1 to Residential PD, LC Water & Sewer, ~64 acres

Davenport said:

As of last Friday we did receive an updated site plan as well as some
elevations from the applicants to let us know exactly what the houses
would look like, what they’re anticipating.
The site plan did have four changes and I’ll hand these out to you
in just one minute.
We added some notes about the uses.
We wanted to make them show us where
their proposed
signage was and we wanted to make them clarify who would be maintaining
the open space and the green space….

He passed those updates out, but the County Clerk refused to supply
copies for LAKE without an Open Records Request.
Gretchen filed an ORR, but if the county takes the statutory three days,
we won’t get copies, nor will you, before the Commission votes tomorrow evening..

Here’s

Part 1 of 2: Continue reading →

Moody, Moody, acre, water, and SPLOST VI @ LCC 2013-08-12

Does “SPLOST VII Agreement” mean the SPLOST lists are a done deal and
there will be no public hearings?
Two Moody and one small rezoning cases move from the Planning Commission
to the County Commission.
And that Alapaha Water Treatment Plant is back on the agenda for tomorrow morning and voting Tuesday evening by the Lowndes County Commission.

Here’s

the agenda,
with a few links to related posts.



LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, AUGUST 12, 2013, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2013, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

No mold or unpaid contractors this time for Moody Housing @ GLPC 2013-07-29

Unlike Moody AFB’s last go at privatizing housing,
no mold or unpaid contractors this time,
or so we’re told.
But not so solid assurances that local contractors will be used.
And what if this new thing turns into something radically different
like Nelson Hill did only a short way up Val Del?

GLPC Voting

Speaking for

that proposed privatized Moody housing on Val Del Road,
Lawyer Tom Kurrie said this was “an opportunity for our community”.
He spelled out that the proposal was “90 homes for off-base houses,
for enlisted personnel, non-commissioned officers, and officers”,
with gates.
He went on about

Balfour Beatty‘s experience in building such housing,
and their option to build Phase II, although at the moment
they’re only requesting Phase I.
He said “the unfortunate issue that took place with the
prior development” would not occur with this one.



I can guess he’s referring to the mold issue,

Beth Mahoney detailed in Little Rock Military Families Examiner 6 April 2009.



Or since he lauded Balfour Beatty’s credit rating, maybe
he was referring to the
nonpayment of subcontractors,
as Kari L. Sands wrote for VDT, 4 March 2007,

Military housing woes:
Non-payment forces work on military housing project to stop.

Preferred Builders and Renovators, LLC., the Home Builders
Association of South Georgia and CMS/ Dumpster Co. are among those
affected. Subcontractors are alleging that Continue reading →

Gated Moody housing on Val Del Road, REZ-2013-09 @ GLPC 2013-07-29

Only 81 of 396 proposed units have been built at current Moody Family


Housing on Roberts Road.
Why should we build more on Val Del Road?

At the 29 July 2013 Greater Lowndes Planning Commission meeting,
County Planner Jason Davenport said that in addition
to the

initial materials for GLPC,
he’d provided an update
about Magnolia Grove, which was Phase I of

Moody Family Housing.
The real reason for the rezoning wasn’t stated in the initial materials given
to GLPC.
In

the materials obtained through open records request,
we can see that
the

GLPC agenda item
contained the boilerplate
“The general motivation in this case appears to be so that the subject property
can be developed at a greater residential density.”
In the update
it’s assumed that the real reason is housing for Moody personnel,
since Magnolia Grove is the existing Moody housing off of Roberts Road.
Which isn’t even built out yet, as you can see in

this map from the county Tax Commissioners,
so why does Moody need more housing?


Lots of interesting back history in that

July 29th GLPC Lowndes County Rezoning Update – 2,
to which
I’ve added Continue reading →

TRC and GLPC recommended subdivision that doesn’t improve traffic or safety, REZ-2013-09

What is so important about yet another subdivision
of
360,910 square feet in 173 houses


when we have

a glut of houses that the TRC unanimously
recommended it despite significant defects and omissions?
According to

Technical Review Committee (TRC) analysis,
REZ-2013-09 Moody Family will not lessen congestion in the streets
or secure safety from fire, panic, and other dangers.
TRC also said the application didn’t meet ULDC standards and

in somewhat tortured language:
“although not a proposed condition, it should be
noted on this request that a future traffic study will be required.”
Why not require these things before even sending the application
to the Planning Commission?


In email to the Greater Lowndes Planning Commissioners of 23 July 2013,
forwarded to the applicants 29 July 2013,

July 29th GLPC Lowndes County Rezoning Materials,



2) REZ-2013-09 Moody Family, 0072 191, Val Del Rd, 64.92 ac., 2
lots, R-1 to Residential PD, County Utilities

a) The TRC recommended approval of the request unanimously.

b) Additionally, although not a proposed condition, it should be
noted on this request that a future traffic study will be required.
Acceleration lanes/Deceleration lanes and/or a dedicated left turn lane
may be required.

Rumor has it that this development is being pushed not by Moody AFB,
rather by Continue reading →

Planning Commission on subdivision next to Moody AFB, REZ-2013-08 MFH Tract A @ GLPC 2013-07-29

Now you can see what they were looking at:

those documents are on the LAKE website
for

REZ-2013-08 MFH, for a subdivision on Roberts Road immediately next to Moody AFB.



First

County Planner Jason Davenport said a few words about

the TRC recommendation.



Commissioner Ted Raker (Hahira) wanted clarification about



this application would require additional changes to meet
the requirements of the Unified Land Development Code (ULDC),
specifically that it would not help with safety, fire, health, general welfare,
etc.
“In fact seven out of the eleven were negative.”


Davenport confirmed that that was correct, and that was

staff’s analysis.
Staff paid by your tax dollars, so you shouldn’t have to file an open
records request and pay ten dollars when staff could just put it on
the web with the

GLPC agenda, which they also don’t now but could easily put on the web.

Nobody spoke for the request.
Numerous people spoke in opposition.


Tom Kurrie said in 38 years of practicing law Continue reading →

Documents for REZ-2013-08 MFH Tract A on Roberts Road

What the TRC recommended, who the TRC is, the parcel numbers, the
Planning Commission board packet, and other related documents are



on the LAKE web server
for REZ-2013-08 MFH Tract A, 0181 025B & 0181 027, Roberts Rd, 123.45 ac., MAZ I to Residential PD, 184 lots, County Utilities,
the rezoning next to Moody AFB that

has been withdrawn.
The parcel numbers above were not in

the GLPC agenda
but are in the recommendations of the Technical Review Committee (TRC).

Lowndes County Planner Jason Davenport to TRC 23 July 103,

July 29th GLPC Lowndes County Rezoning Update,

Good afternoon Planning Commissioners.

Based on the TRC meeting this morning please find this month’s TRC rezoning recommendations and current analysis below or attached to this e-mail. Continue reading →

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 →

Community Assessment Group and Internet access @ LCC 2013-07-22

Valdosta Mayor Gayle was standing next to the video ghetto
after the county’s rather rudimentary SPLOST VII presentation
Monday morning, so I asked him why I hadn’t seen anything about Internet
access either Valdosta’s or Lowndes County’s SPLOST lists?
He said that was because it was being handled by the Community Assessment Group (CAG).
What’s that?



Mayor Gayle said CAG is a group of representatives from the county
and all the local cities, the two school districts (Valdosta and Lowndes County),
VSU, Wiregrass Tech, the Industrial Authority, the Chamber, and he may have
said others.
It’s an attempt at better local cooperation, specifically about issues
that cross all the various local governmental and non-governmental groups.
So far they’ve had two meetings, Continue reading →