Category Archives: Remerton

Videos: Datacenters, Flock cameras, Road paving, CASA, Alcohol, SGRC Disaster Recovery Grant, Hazard Mitigation Plan @ LCC Regular 2026-09-22

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Five citizens spoke at the end of the half-hour Regular Session Tuesday evening:

  • John Pike and Joni Wauhop spoke against the paving method the county proposes for Hall Road.
  • Susan Wehling spoke against Flock Cameras,
  • John Quarterman related the Enron bankruptcy and the dot-com market crash to the AI bubble and recommended a hefty bond requirement in the county’s datacenter ordinance.
  • Michael Noll made some recommendations about datacenters.

[Collage @ LCC Regular, 2026-09-22 --LAKE]
Collage @ LCC Regular, 2026-09-22 –LAKE

The Lowndes County Commissioners passed all the voting items with little discussion.

County Manager Paige Dukes had Fire Chief Billy Young speak about a recent state-wide leadership role.

Below are LAKE videos of each agenda item, with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman, followed by a LAKE video playlist.

See also the Continue reading →

Packet: Alcohol, SGRC Disaster Recovery Grant, Hazard Mitigation Plan @ LCC 2026-09-21

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Update 2026-09-23: Videos: Datacenters, Flock cameras, Road paving, CASA, Alcohol, SGRC Disaster Recovery Grant, Hazard Mitigation Plan @ LCC Regular 2026-09-22.

Most of the board packet for this week’s Lowndes County Commission meetings is the 414-page Lowndes County Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan. Of that, 246 pages are appendices, so the plan proper is 168 pages.

You might think this plan would be on the county’s website, but it is not on the Lowndes County EMA web page.

And there was no Public Hearing. Just as for ordinances, this plan showed up on the agenda Friday and the County Commissioners voted on it Tuesday.

[Packet: Alcohol, SGRC Disaster Recovery Grant, Hazard Mitigation Plan, @ LCC 2026-09-21]
Packet: Alcohol, SGRC Disaster Recovery Grant, Hazard Mitigation Plan, @ LCC 2026-09-21

The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request, is on the LAKE website, along with the minutes of the preceding Work and Regular Sessions, both on September 8, 2026.

See also the Continue reading →

Videos: CASA, Alcohol, SGRC Disaster Recovery Grant, Hazard Mitigation Plan @ LCC Work 2026-09-21

Update 2026-09-22: Packet: Alcohol, SGRC Disaster Recovery Grant, Hazard Mitigation Plan @ LCC 2026-09-21.

Most of the Work Session this morning was a 20-minute presentation by Sonia Robinson, Executive Director of Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children (CASA). She provide a copy of her slides to LAKE; images of them are below.

You can speak for five minutes about datacenters, pipelines, road paving, or whatever you like, at the end of the Tuesday evening 5:30 PM Lowndes County Commission Regular Session, in Citizens Wishing to Be Heard. Be sure to fill out the form and turn it in before the session starts. There’s an image below, but you must fill out the form and turn it in in person.

At the Work Session, Commissioners Joyce Evans and Scottie Orenstein were absent.

[Collage @ LCC Work Session, 2026-09-21 --LAKE]
Collage @ LCC Work Session, 2026-09-21 –LAKE

The other Commissioners and Lowndes County EMA Director Ashley Tye talked for almost six minutes about 6.b. Adoption, Lowndes Co. Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan Update. For example, they discussed how hard it had been to get the cities within the county to participate.

LAKE has now received the board packet, including the 414-page Hazard Mitigation Plan and the 3-page Resolution to adopt it. We will publish those shortly.

Why the county does not put those and other documents on its own website remains mysterious.

Below are LAKE videos of each agenda item, followed by a LAKE video playlist.

See also the Continue reading →

Videos: Comprehensive Plan Update, Appointments to VLPRA and Library Board, Road Resurfacing and Widening @ LCC Regular 2026-07-28

They approved everything unanimously, including reappointing Suzan Garnett to the Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority (VLPRA) Board. Herb Reinhard and Broc McDowell were nominated to another seat, and the latter apointed.

Library Board candidates were Sarah Fitzgereald, Kimberly Cliett and Dave DiSalvo. Ms. Cliett was the only one nominated, and she was appointed “by acclamation.”

Only one person spoke in the Public Hearing about the Comprehensive Plan.

[Videos: Comprehensive Plan Update, Appointments: VLPRA & Library Board, Road Resurfacing and Widening, @ LCC Regular 2026-07-28]
Videos: Comprehensive Plan Update, Appointments: VLPRA & Library Board, Road Resurfacing and Widening, @ LCC Regular 2026-07-28

Here are LAKE videos of the July 28, 2026, Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

See also the Continue reading →

Videos: Comprehensive Plan Update, Appointments to VLPRA and Library Board, Road Resurfacing and Widening @ LCC Work 2026-07-27

Update 2026-08-08: Videos: Comprehensive Plan Update, Appointments to VLPRA and Library Board, Road Resurfacing and Widening @ LCC Regular 2026-07-28.

Update 2026-07-28: Links to three documents cited in the draft Comprehensive Plan.

Update 2026-07-28: Datacenter meeting after Lowndes County Commission Regular Session 2026-07-28.

The draft 2026 Comprehensive Plan Update has appeared on the county’s own website, lowndescounty.com. See below for how that happened.

Below are LAKE videos of the Monday morning Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission, July 27, 2026, with some notes by John S. Quarterman. They vote at 5:30 PM this evening, Tuesday, in their Regular Session.

Don’t forget the second page of the agenda says, “There will be an information sharing session to address data center ordinance considerations following the adjournment of the regular meeting.”http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/2026/07/datacenter-meeting-after-lowndes-county-commission-regular-session-2026-07-28.html”>separate post. More on that in a [Comprehensive Plan Update, Appts to VLPRA and Library Board, Road Resurfacing and Widening @ LCC Work Session 2026-07-27]
Comprehensive Plan Update, Appts to VLPRA and Library Board, Road Resurfacing and Widening @ LCC Work Session 2026-07-27

Monday morning I was experimenting with an external microphone, which does seem to work better, although with quite a bit of hiss.

See also the agenda and the board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request.

Comprehensive Plan

After the meeting, I mentioned to County Planner JD Dillard and County Attorney G. Walter Elliott that the draft Comprehensive Plan Update is not on the county website, so how can citizens know what to say in the Public Hearing 6.a. 2026 Comprehensive Plan Transmittal? Continue reading →

Packet: Comprehensive Plan Update, Appointments to VLPRA and Library Board, Road Resurfacing and Widening @ LCC 2026-07-27

Update 2026-07-28: Videos: Comprehensive Plan Update, Appointments to VLPRA and Library Board, Road Resurfacing and Widening @ LCC Work 2026-07-27.

According to page 2 of the agenda, “There will be an information sharing session to address data center ordinance considerations following the adjournment of the regular meeting.” That’s the 5:30 PM, Tuesday, July 28, 2026, Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission, on the second floor of 327 N. Ashley Street, Valdosta, GA.

The draft Comprehensive Plan Update recommends under Intergovernmental Coordination Needs, “Strengthen transparency and communication between officials, staff, and the public”

And under Opportunities & Existing Resources, “Most of the local governments already use their websites and social media platforms to disseminate critical information and educational content.”

What draft Comprehensive Plan Update? The 300-page draft in the board packet for this week’s Lowndes County Commission meeting.

The draft that is nowhere on lowndescounty.com that I can find. So you get to see it only because LAKE got it via an open records request.

The irony.

[Collage, Packet @ LCC 2026-07-28]
Collage, Packet @ LCC 2026-07-28

It’s amusing that LAKE is not mentioned in that draft, but multiple LAKE images are used, at least one of them credited in the image itself.

After their Monday morning Work Session, at their Tuesday Evening voting Regular Session, the Lowndes County Commission will reappoint Suzan Garnett to the Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority (VLPRA) and will appoint to replace Timothy McCoppin one of these candidates: Mr. Brent Moore, Mr. Herb Reinhard, Mr. Timothy McCoppin, and Mr. Broc McDowell.

Recently they appointed William Booth to the Lowndes County Library System Board of Trustees, but since discovered he does not live in Lowndes County. Debra Carruth and Sarah FitzGerald are candidates.

The two usual suspects bid for $5,039,798.50 widening of Hickory Grove Road and Skipper Bridge Road, and Scruggs bid below Reames.

Getting into real money, Resurfacing Batch 1 P.I. # 0020532 will include resurfacing 36 county roads, with a budget of $13,134,000.00.

These road projects are apparently all to be paid for by funds from the Georgia Transportation Investment Act (TIA).

Here is the agenda:

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JULY 27, 2026, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2026, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Videos: 4 Dasher, 2 Lowndes County inc. comm. tower in Langdale Park, 2 Valdosta, 1 Hahira @ GLPC 2026-06-29

Update 2026-07-09: Draft Minutes: Lowndes County small subdivision and communications tower, Valdosta doublewide and contractor office @ GLPC 2026-06-29.

Update 2026-07-08: Work Session Monday or Tuesday? @ LCC 2026-07-14.

The Greater Lowndes Planning Commissioners (GLPC) approved everything unanimously, except for three split votes: on the proposed communications tower in Langdale Park (see below), on a CUP for a mobile home in a single-family residential zoning district in Valdosta (see below), and on setback variances at Exit 29 in Hahira (see below).

They heard all the Dasher cases together, then voted on them one by one.

https://youtu.be/xjF9ymuajvE?si=08W6F1_phjUJhfwl

See also Packet: 4 Dasher @ GLPC 2026-06-29.

For Lowndes County case 7. REZ-2026-14 6808 Wisenbaker Road

there was quite a bit of discussion about use of a dirt road but applicant said that they never used the dirt road because there are two paved access lanes to the parcel.

https://youtu.be/uyopRnx4WzI?si=5ZMwLURg93vwcUm4

See also Packet: 4 Dasher, 2 Lowndes County inc. Verizon tower in Langdale Park, 2 Valdosta, 1 Hahira @ GLPC 2026-06-29.

[4 Dasher, 2 Lowndes County, w. comm. tower in Langdale Park, 2 Valdosta, 1 Hahira, @ GLPC 2026-06-29]
4 Dasher, 2 Lowndes County, w. comm. tower in Langdale Park, 2 Valdosta, 1 Hahira, @ GLPC 2026-06-29

Regarding 8. TWR-2026-02 Bermuda Run, 3781 North Valdosta Road

I was the only speaker in opposition. My main point was that county staff had not supplied information in a timely manner so that the public, or even the Planning Commissioners, would have adequate time to consider the evidence. Plus according to conformance with the ULDC, which is what staff said the Commissioners were supposed to be evaluating, the tower does not fit in Langdale Park. For my points, see Packet: Propagation maps for Verizon tower in Langdale Park @ GLPC 2026-06-29.

http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/?p=25853

They did recommend approval, but with a split vote, 5 to 2.

https://youtu.be/djKNudEhsSw?si=FUQuYHyMoPXktGlY

See also Packet: Propagation maps for Verizon tower in Langdale Park @ GLPC 2026-06-29.

Regarding 9. CU-2026-05 Request by Tierra Inman for a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for the placement of a mobile home in a Single-family Residential (R-6) zoning district

Gretchen Quarterman spoke in favor, in addition to the applicant. Gretchen also noted: Continue reading →

Packet: Propagation maps for Verizon tower in Langdale Park @ GLPC 2026-06-29

Update 2026-07-06: Videos: 4 Dasher, 2 Lowndes County inc. comm. tower in Langdale Park, 2 Valdosta, 1 Hahira @ GLPC 2026-06-29.

Here is some information about the Verizon Wireless proposed communications tower in Langdale Park, that was missing from the board packet for the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) meeting on June 29, 2026.

There are still more missing pieces that are required by the county’s own Unified Land Development Code (ULDC):

  • An inventory in VALORGIS of the applicant’s existing towers or alternative tower structures. See ULDC 5.05.05.B.2
  • Signature and seal of “appropriate licensed professionals or qualified industry experts.” See 5.05.05.E
  • An argument for why Langdale Park would not be a “historic district” or a “scenic view corridor.” See 5.05.05.G.5
  • An argument for why hiking trails cleared by numerous citizens would not be public rights of way. See 5.05.05.I.I. and the Right-of-Way definition on page 1-25.

GLPC recommended approval of TWR-2026-02, but only by a split vote: LAKE videos to come.

The Lowndes County Commission will decide at 5:30 PM on Tuesday, July 14, 2026.

[Packet: Propagation maps for Verizon tower in Langdale Park @ GLPC 2026-06-29]
Packet: Propagation maps for Verizon tower in Langdale Park @ GLPC 2026-06-29

The tower would be a stone’s throw from the main trail kiosk, at 30.885908, -83.320453, and right next to White Trail A, which many citizens helped clear of Hurricane Helene deadfalls.

Thanks to Jason Davenport, consultant for Lowndes County Planning, who sent this additional information in the morning before the meeting. He was responding to a followup I sent after the initial county response to the LAKE open records request of the previous Tuesday. My followup request was a brief version of the discrepencies I noted in the LAKE post with the previously-received TWR-2026-02 board packet materials. Continue reading →

Packet: 4 Dasher, 2 Lowndes County inc. Verizon tower in Langdale Park, 2 Valdosta, 1 Hahira @ GLPC 2026-06-29

Update 2026-06-28: Packet: 2 Valdosta, 1 Hahira @ GLPC 2026-06-29.

Update 2026-06-27: WWALS blog post Verizon tower in Langdale Park? @ GLPC 2026-06-29.

Verizon Wireless wants to put a communications tower in Langdale Park, a stone’s throw from the main kiosk, at 30.885908, -83.320453.

The rezoning sign is not in Langdale Park: it’s on the private property on Hyta Mederer Road, at 30.8870644, -83.3173206.

The FAA NOTICE CRITERA say it’s in Remerton.

The packet materials for TWR-2026-02 Bermuda Run say its address is 3781 North Valdosta Road, which is misleading at best.

[Packet: 4 Dasher, 2 Lowndes County, inc. Verizon tower in Langdale Park, 2 Valdosta, 1 Hahira, @ GLPC 2026-06-29]
Packet: 4 Dasher, 2 Lowndes County, inc. Verizon tower in Langdale Park, 2 Valdosta, 1 Hahira, @ GLPC 2026-06-29

Also:

The decision to be made by the Board of Commissioners is not a zoning decision. It is a quasi-judicial decision whether the standards for a telecommunications tower in Section 5.05.05 of the ULDC are met.

The TRC analyzed the request, the standards set forth in Section 5.05.00 (attached), and Section 10.02.00 of the ULDC, and noted that Continue reading →

Videos: Valdosta downtown multi-family residential development and office and storage in Lowndes County @ GLPC 2026-01-26

Update 2026-02-08: Packet: 3 rezonings, 1 Utility Easement Termination, Orr Road Bids, Backup Generators for Pruitt Health Facilities @ LCC 2026-02-09.

They unanimously recommended approval of all items, at the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC), at its January 26, 2026, Regular Meeting.

[Collage @ GLPC 26 January 2026]
Collage @ GLPC 26 January 2026

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman, followed by a LAKE video playlist.

See also the agenda and the board packet, received in response to a couple of LAKE open records requests.

Why should a private media firm have to pry these materials out of the county?

I’m not blaming the county staff. They do what they are told to do by the County Commissioners.

I’m not blaming the Planning Commissioners. They are merely an advisory body.

So please ask your Lowndes County Commissioners why they do not publish important materials so the public can see what they the Commissioners are using to make decisions? Continue reading →