Category Archives: Planning

Cadillac, Michigan, biomass plant

Natasha Fast, Angela Manning, Allan Ricketts (Project Manager), Geraldine Fairell, Keisha Ferguson, Brad Lofton (Executive Director) In the VLCIA meeting with concerned citizens of 10 June 2010, one of the action items taken by the VLCIA was:
Obtain, if available, an analysis of the property value trends of residential/ commercial property adjacent to the Cadillac Michigan biomass electric generating plant.
Col. Ricketts has reported back on that action item.

Cadillac Renewable Energy LLC, Cadillac, Michigan

My transcription of what he said is rather long, so please follow the link.

Allan Ricketts’ summary: nobody could find a systematic analysis of property value trends. He did get various personal analyses (as above).

I agreed he’s made a good effort to find what he could find.

And that we would continue looking in other sources.

-jsq

Greyfield Villas

Entrance sign Previously discussing the Glen Laurel subdivision on Old Pine Road near Bemiss, several of the people speaking against at the County Commission meeting mentioned the Greyfield subdivision. That’s Greyfield Villas; see the entrance sign in the picture on the right. It’s in Lowndes County but not in Valdosta; somebody correct me if I’m wrong abo ut that. In that picture it’s hard to read the sign in the background on the north side of North Oak Street Extension. Here’s a closeup:

FOR RENT by Blake Taylor

For Rent. Just inside we see a dumpster with For Rent signs on the houses on either side: Continue reading →

Highland Renewable Energy Strategy

Previously writing about biomass and carbon dioxide I said I’d supply an example of the sort of thing I’m looking for as a regional analysis for renewable energy, including biomass, solar, wind, wave, tides, and others. Here it is: the Highland Renewable Energy Strategy approved by the Highland Council at its 4 May 2006 meeting. It’s a 58 page document about renewable energy strategy and planning guidelines, considering numerous types of renewable energy, pros and cons of each, power distribution, effects on environment, protected areas, etc., illustrated copiously with detailed maps. And updated: Continue reading →

Biomass and Carbon Dioxide

Natasha Fast, Angela Manning, Allan Ricketts (Project Manager), Geraldine Fairell, Ken Klanicki, Brad Lofton (Executive Director)
Natasha Fast (SAVE), Pastor Angela Manning (New Life Ministries), Allan Ricketts (Project Manager), Geraldine Fairell, Ken Klanicki, Brad Lofton (Executive Director), picture by John S. Quarterman (LAKE)
Pictured is a group of concerned citizens meeting about the proposed biomass plant with Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) Project Manager Allan Ricketts and Executive Director Brad Lofton. Ricketts and Lofton gave a two-hour presentation, took some action items, and have provided a schedule on which they will fulfill them. I thank them for that and look forward to the further materials.

Lying in the center of the table in the picture is this document:

Biomass carbon neutrality in the context of forest-based fuels and products
by Reid Miner, NCASI, Al Lucier, NCASI
The copy on the table is dated April 7, 2010; the online version is dated May 2010. It’s a powerpoint presentation that makes many good points, among them that coal doesn’t grow back, while trees do. So in theory it would be possible, by organizing harvesting of biomass over a region to make burning biomass for electricity carbon neutral.

The document comes right out and says:

At point of combustion, CO2 emissions per unit of energy produced are generally higher for biomass fuels than for fossil fuels.
Continue reading →

Glen Laurel and Comparable Subdivisions

An interesting series of exchanges here. First Coy Brightwell compared the proposed Glen Laurel subdivision (on Old Pine Road) to the existing Greyfield subdivision (off Oak Street Extension) with a number of specific points: run down quickly, rental property, etc.:

Then a Mr. Mulligan gets into an interesting discussion about code enforcement: Continue reading →

Glen Laurel Rezoning

Coy Brightwell, 3937 Old Pine Rd The Glen Laurel Subdivision rezoning case that the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners decided on Tuesday June 8 (REZ-2010-06) raises all sorts of issues. Let’s start by hearing Coy Brightwell (he lives just across Old Pine Road from the proposed subdivision) summarize some points against the rezoning, saying going all the way from RA to PD is too far, and that the neighbors are asking for a compromise:

There’s a theme here: “we’re not against development”. We’ll come back to that.

-jsq

Sunset Hill Cemetery Interactive Map

Heard about this through the Valdosta Planners Post: Sunset Hill Interactive Web Site.
In April 2009, the City of Valdosta was awarded a Georgia Historic Preservation Fund grant by the Historic Preservation Division, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, to produce a Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-enabled web site to be used by family members, historians, genealogists, and anyone interested in learning about the generations of Valdostans laid to rest at the city-owned Sunset Hill Cemetery.
You can search for people by name, and it will show you birth date, death date, lot number, and pan to the correct location on a map. Quite a difference from when aunt Jane and I used to have to try to guess when the caretaker would be in to look up who was buried where, or just stomp around until we found the marker.

What’s Sunset Hill, you may wonder? About Sunset Hill Cemetery: Continue reading →

County Commission Expansion

2009-08-08--superdistricts On May 12, the Valdosta Daily Times (VDT) published Expansion No Go: No additional commissioners this year. About that, John S. Quarterman sent this letter to the editor (LTE) yesterday:
I see by the VDT that the current County Commission’s plan to expand the commission by adding two super districts failed in the legislature on a technicality. This pause provides useful time to see if there might be a different strategy. It’s already 2010, and census data for redistricting should be available in spring of next year. That will take a lot of the guesswork out of redistricting.

While the voters said last year they were for commission expansion, it is not clear that people actually favor super districts, since no other option was on the ballot. Each current district has more people than the total population of several nearby counties. This makes commissioner elections needlessly expensive and less representative of the variety within Lowndes County. It’s never been clear to me how adding two larger districts solves that most basic problem, when there are other options available.

Lowndes County could use more commissioners, and the current Commission made a good try at that. Soon it will be the turn of a new Commission to try again.

John S. Quarterman is running for County Commission, District 2.

The VDT responded:
The editor has reviewed your letter. She did not approve your letter because as a candidate for office, we cannot run a letter to the editor from you as it is considered campaigning and we would have to give equal opportunities to the other candidates as well.
Indeed he is, see www.JSQ4LCC.com. And as readers of On the LAKE Front are aware, he is also one of the founders of LAKE.

We understand the VDT has space constraints because it is primarily on paper. However, LAKE is online, and LAKE welcomes statements on this subject from any and all candidates. Send them in, and LAKE will post them, just like this one. Online, please: no paper, no fax. So lengths will be comparable, please keep it to 250 words, like a VDT LTE. Send a picture of yourself if you want to.

Green Exercise for Mental Health

Quantifying something we can all feel:
ScienceDaily (May 1, 2010) — How much “green exercise” produces the greatest improvement in mood and sense of personal well-being? A new study in the American Chemical Society’s semi-monthly journal Environmental Science & Technology has a surprising answer.

The answer is likely to please people in a society with much to do but little time to do it: Just five minutes of exercise in a park, working in a backyard garden, on a nature trail, or other green space will benefit mental health.

All natural environments were beneficial including parks in urban settings. Green areas with water added something extra. A blue and green environment seems even better for health, Pretty noted.
Here’s a link to a news blurb in the journal:
Pretty says that his goal with this study is not to provide just another recommendation for individuals but to provide data that can be used in policy discussions. Those data “could translate into what the landscape guidelines are for schools or for public housing,” says Nancy Wells, associate professor of community ecology at Cornell University.
Here is a link to the actual article.