Category Archives: Transportation

Videos: Wetland and stream credits for Kinderlou-Clyattville Road, UPS, Fire Station alterations, Moody Hydrant, Grassy Pond Utilities @ LCC Work 2024-07-22

Update 2024-08-11:
Videos: Animal Policies, Wetland and stream credits for Kinderlou-Clyattville Road, UPS, Fire Station alterations, Moody Hydrant, Grassy Pond Utilities @ LCC Regular 2024-07-23.

The Lowndes County Commissioners and staff were surprisingly inquisitive at yesterday morning’s Work Session.
They vote this evening at 5:30 PM.

There was some discussion on

6.a. Alterations to Lowndes County Fire Station #10, which is the main station east on US 84.


[Collage @ LCC 22 July 2024]

Collage @ LCC 22 July 2024

About the

5.a. Purchase of Wetland Credits for PI#0016278 Kinderlou Clyattville Road,
Gretchen noted, “There was a brief discussion of wetland credits and how they are calculated by the Army Corps of Engineers. The calculation is now cumulative to the project, not at each individual site. In my opinion, this is a good thing as a project with a lot of “little” encroachments now does not get a pass.

They also discussed the less expensive

5.b. Purchase of Stream Credits for PI#0016278, Kinderlou Clyattville Road.

Moody AFB is going back to the drawing board for the Continue reading →

Packet: Wetland and stream credits for Kinderlou-Clyattville Road, UPS, Fire Station alterations, Moody Hydrant, Grassy Pond Utilities @ LCC 2024-07-22

Update 2024-07-23

Videos: Wetland and stream credits for Kinderlou-Clyattville Road, UPS, Fire Station alterations, Moody Hydrant, Grassy Pond Utilities @ LCC Work 2024-07-22.

Update 2024-07-23:
Southern Gateway LLC annexation, rezoning, and aquifer recharge zone on Race Track Road SE, in
All Valdosta cases: 2 small and 1 big annexation and rezoning @ GLPC 2024-07-29.

The ongoing
Kinderlou Clyattville Road Paving and Drainage Improvements
are getting both wetland and stream credits.


[Wetland & stream credits for Kinderlou-Clyattville Road, 2 Moody AFB projects, UPS, Fire Station alterations @ LCC 2024-07-22]

Wetland & stream credits for Kinderlou-Clyattville Road, 2 Moody AFB projects, UPS, Fire Station alterations @ LCC 2024-07-22

Something that seldom happens:
staff recommends rejecting a bid, this one for the
Moody Hydrant Replacement Project, because the one bid “far exceeded the budgeted amount for this project.”

Staff got four bids for the
Grassy Pond Utilities Replacement
and recommend the low bid for almost a million dollars.

Cost What
$995,604.00 Grassy Pond Utilities Replacement
$891,210.00 Moody Hydrant Replacement Project
$362,662.00 Alterations to Lowndes County Fire Station #10
$59,220.00 Purchase of Stream Credits for PI#0016278, Kinderlou Clyattville Road Paving and Drainage Improvements
$21,389.9.00 Vertiv Service Contract for the UPS at the 911 Center, Valdosta Tower and Clyattville Tower Work/Regular
$10,800.00 Purchase of Wetland Credits for P1#0016278 Kinderlou Clyattville Road Paving and Drainage Improvements
$2,340,885.9.00 Total

Why is the Lowndes County Commission approving bids for these two Moody AFB projects when, according to the ULDC,
Moody AFB is not a “stakeholder” and was not even mentioned

in the previous County Commission Regular Session as getting drafts or meetings about changes to the ULDC?

Don’t get me wrong. I think Moody needs fire hydrants and Grassy Pond needs utilities repaired after hurricane of last fall.
And Moody needs the wastewater treatment plant that the county now runs.
I’m just mystified why Moody AFB doesn’t count as a stakeholder.

The bulk of this week’s board packet consists of three contracts for
Vertiv Service Contract for the UPS at the 911 Center, Valdosta Tower and Clyattville Tower, each a dozen pages long,
with only two pages each different: order number on one page, and site number, address, and a table of what is being bought for that site and for what amount on the other.

Here is the agenda.

The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request,
is

on the LAKE website.
We also got a copy of the draft minutes for the previous Planning Commission meeting.
I don’t know why that was included in response to a request for County Commission packet materials,
but we’re publishing it anyway.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JULY 22, 2024, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2024, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Videos: Academy Drive septic tank citizen request, Glenn Road, Valencia Street, Kinderlou Clyattville Road Paving @ LCC Regular 2024-06-11

Citizen Patricia Scoby

doesn’t want to have to elevate her septic tank.
However, the Board of Roads and Revenue, excuse me, the Lowndes County Commission
doesn’t have much say over that: that’s the Health Department.
But the Health Department should have taken into account the changed drainage such mounds cause.


[Collage @ LCC 11 June 2024]

Collage @ LCC 11 June 2024

The regular agenda breezed through unanimously at the 11-minute Regular Session.
Commissioner Demarcus Marshall was absent.

Commissioner Mark Wisenbaker did want to know what are the ingress and egress points for

5.a. REZ-2024-13 Carter, 6128 Glenn Road, 4.72ac, E-A to R-1, Well – Septic.
No citizens spoke for or against in its Public Hearing.

For the

6.a. Valencia Street Quitclaim Deeds,
Gretchen wondered, “Personally, I’m curious why the commission abandoned that little bit (one lot’s worth) of Valencia Street.”
The
board packet for this latest Regular Session
included the

relevant excerpt
from the Minutes of the September 27, 2005, Regular Session.
Gretchen quoted it, but it also does not say why.
In the latest Regular Session, County Engineering Services Director Chad McLeod said the adjoining landowners
asked for the quitclaim deeds, but he did not say why the road was abandoned back in 2005.

FYI, the
Agenda Center on lowndescounty.com only goes back to 2012.
If you want to see earlier minutes, you either have to file an open records request
or have already done so, as LAKE did years ago.

for

7.a. PI# 0016278 Kinderlou Clyattville Road Paving and Drainage Improvements,
Chairman Bill Slaughter wanted to know if it was within the budget.
Answer: no, but TIA says it’s within the inflationary amount,
so TIA will cover the difference.

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 Continue reading →

Videos: Career Academy, Glenn Road Rezoning, Valencia Street Abandonment, Kinderlou Clyattville Road paving @ LCC Work 2024-06-10

Update 2024-06-18:
Regional College & Career Academy Update –Mary Beth Brownlee of OVL to LCC 2024-06-10.

Update 2024-06-13:
Videos: Academy Drive septic tank citizen request, Glenn Road, Valencia Street, Kinderlou Clyattville Road Paving @ LCC Regular 2024-06-11.

Commissioner Mark Wisenbaker wondered why there was a $2 million difference
between the two bids for

7.a. PI# 0016278 Kinderlou Clyattville Road Paving – Drainage Improvements.
Engineering Services Director Chad McLeod says it’s because Reames owns
property near the site, which greatly reduces their cost to move materials there.


[Collage @ LCC 10 June 2024]

Collage @ LCC 10 June 2024

About 24 minutes of the 34-minute Work Session yesterday morning
was a presentation not on the agenda.
Mary Beth Brownlee, Executive Director of One Valdosta-Lowndes (OVL),
told the Lowndes County Commission about a proposed Regional College and Career Academy. Continue reading →

Videos: Budget award, LMIG for Val Del Road widening, Jail addition max price, service and software agreements @ LCC Regular 2024-05-28

The Regular Session two weeks ago took 26 minutes, but 14 of
that was the County Manager’s Report, 2 was the Budget award
presentation, and 1 was the invocation and pledge, so 9 minutes
were about business.


[Collage @ LCC 28 May 2024]

Collage @ LCC 28 May 2024

The Lowndes County Commissioners unanimously approved
everything, including the application for state funds for the Val
Del Road intersection expansion to support subdivisions and the
almost $9 million jail expansion. There was some discussion about
the process of moving from Code Red to RAVE Alert.

Again in the Regular Session after they did it in the Work
Session: a presentation about Lowndes County
having won a Distinguished Budget Award from the Government
Finance Officers Association (GFOA) for the 18th year.

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 Continue reading →

Packet: Rezoning on Glenn Road, Abandon part of Valencia Street, pave Kinderlou Clyattville Road @ LCC 2024-06-10

Update 2024-06-11:
Videos: Career Academy, Glenn Road Rezoning, Valencia Street Abandonment, Kinderlou Clyattville Road paving @ LCC Work 2024-06-10.

It’s a light agenda for the Lowndes County Commission this week,
with an uncontested rezoning, a road abandonment continued from 2005,
and two bids for paving a road.


[Collage, LCC Packet 2024-06-10]

Collage, LCC Packet 2024-06-10

The road paving is a TSPLOST project, so presumably that’s where the three and ahalf million dollars comes from.

Cost What
$3,495,208.06 Pl# 0016278 Kinderlou Clyattville Road Paving and Drainage Improvements Bids
$3,495,208.06 Total

Here is the
agenda.

The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request,
is

on the LAKE website.

See also the LAKE videos of the preceding Planning Commission meeting. Continue reading →

Agenda: Budget, Personal Care Home, streets and transit, 2 sewer repairs @ VCC 2024-06-06

Nobody attended the
First Hearing of the
proposed FY 2025 Valdosta Budget,
so Thursday is your last chance, at the Second Hearing,
at the Valdosta City Council meeting.


[Agenda: Budget, sewers, Personal Care Home, streets, and transit @ VCC 2024-06-06]

Agenda: Budget, sewers, Personal Care Home, streets, and transit @ VCC 2024-06-06

That budget includes a pending $67 million bond for water and sewer projects,
with interest to be paid from the Water and Sewer Revenue Fund.

The agenda also includes a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for a Personal Care Home,
two street resurfacing projects, an amendment to the contract for the on-call transport cars, and two sewer repair projects.

Here is the agenda.

See also the preceding
Planning Commission meeting.

AGENDA

REGULAR MEETING OF THE VALDOSTA CITY COUNCIL

5:30 PM Thursday, June 6, 2024

CITY HALL, COUNCIL CHAMBERS

  1. Opening Ceremonies

    1. Call to Order

    2. Invocation

    3. Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag
  2. Minutes Approval

    1. The Minutes from the May 9, 2024 Regular Meeting and the May 15, 2024 Special Called Meeting are forthcoming.
  3. Public Hearings

    1. Public Hearing for the Adoption of the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget. (Second Hearing)

    2. Consideration of an Ordinance for a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for a Family
      Personal Care Home in a Single-Family Residential (R-6) Zoning District as requested
      by Roche Kempson (File No. CU-2024-04). The property is located at 1206 West
      Magnolia Street. The Planning Commission reviewed this at their May 20, 2024
      Regular Meeting and recommended approval subject to four conditions (5-0 Vote).
  4. Ordinances and Resolutions

    1. Consideration of a Resolution authorizing the execution of a Contract with the Georgia Department of Transportation for the Patterson Street Resurfacing and Utility Adjustments Project.
  5. Bids, Contracts, Agreements and Expenditures

    1. Consideration of bids for the resurfacing of streets in the City of Valdosta through the SPLOST VIII Funding and GDOT Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant.

    2. Consideration of a request to amend the Contract with River North Transit, LLC and extend Via On-Demand Transportation Services for the City of Valdosta.
  6. Local Funding and Requests

    1. Consideration of a request to authorize payment for an emergency bypass and sewer repairs on Pebblewood Drive.

    2. Consideration of a request to authorize payment for Phase III final billing for emergency sewer repairs at Knights Creek near the intersection of U. S. Highway 84 and Blanchard Street.
  7. Citizens to be Heard

  8. City Manager’s Report

  9. Council Comments

  10. Adjournment

-jsq

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Videos: Budget award, LMIG for Val Del Road widening, Jail addition max price, service and software agreements @ LCC Work 2024-05-28

Update 2024-06-11:
Videos: Budget award, LMIG for Val Del Road widening, Jail addition max price, service and software agreements @ LCC Regular 2024-05-28.

For the 18th year,

Lowndes County won a Distinguished Budget Award from
the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA).
That was the first item
ihis morning at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session.

They vote this evening at 5:30 PM.


[Collage @ LCC Work 28 May 2024]

Collage @ LCC Work 28 May 2024

We heard some clarification about the

almost $9 million dollars in jail additions.
Gretchen says,
“This is for the proposed new medical area at the jail.
Some of the money is ARPA 2021 money.”

With the

changeover from Code Red to RAVE Alert,
everyone will have to sign up again,
because Code Red had an option not to share personal information, which included with the county.
However, Ashley Tye said the new system would provide more functionality for less price.
That was the longest discussion in the meeting, at more than six minutes.

Hurricane Idalia provided incentive to look for a faster way to do damage assessment.
The county is

buying Crisis Track damage assessment software,
which is a smartphone or table app for faster input to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA).
That was the second longest discussion, at more than five minutes.

They ended with an

executive session to discuss client-attorney privilege for real estate acquisition.

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 board packet,
received in response to a LAKE open records request. Continue reading →

Videos: Hospital Authority appointment, 6 rezonings, paving and resurfacing, subdision infrastructure, probationers @ LCC Regular 2024-05-14

An hour-long Regular Session is very unusual for the Lowndes County Commission.
Much of it was taken up by two rezonings:

REZ-2024-08 on River Road
(10:43)
and

REZ-2024-09 Dasher Grove Subdivision (12:24).
For River Road, the applicant discussed setbacks and fire trucks and answered Commissioner questions about house prices and lot sizes.
For Dasher Grove, Commissioner questions were mostly about how many lots and when T-SPLOST road work on Val Del Road would take place.
Remember, that road work is your tax dollars going to subsidize subdivisions.

Nobody spoke against those rezonings nor against any of the others.
All the rezonings and everything else passed unanimously, including
they reappointed
Hospital Authority incumbent Shirley Garland as expected.


[Collage @ LCC Regular 14 May 2024]

Collage @ LCC Regular 14 May 2024

There was discussion about the apparent price rise by

8.b. Pronto Consulting
for Software as a Service to manage probationers.
It is actually just that Pronto started with a discount,
and this time is not supplying a discount.
The total undiscounted amount was always in the county budget.

In Citizens Wishing to Be Heard,

Mark Perkins of Lake Park had some questions about the burn ordinance.

Also, Representative John LaHood (R-175)

was recognized by the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG)
for his work on legislation regarding Service Delivery Strategies.

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 Continue reading →

Packet: LMIG for Val Del Road widening, Jail addition max price, service and software agreements @ LCC 2024-05-28 2024-05-28

The jail additions should cost less than $9 million dollars.

The state will supply $1.5 million for Val Del Road (CR 57) widening and turn lanes
north from North Valdosta Road (SR 7, aka US 41),
and $175,000 for restriping 35 miles of various other roads.


[LMIG for Val Del Road widening, Jail addition max price, Service and software agreements @ LCC 2024-05-28]

LMIG for Val Del Road widening, Jail addition max price, Service and software agreements @ LCC 2024-05-28

The county is switching from
Code Red (OnSolve) to RAVE Alert (Motorola).

And the county is buying Crisis Track damage assessment software,
which is a smartphone or table app for faster input to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA).

These items will be considered at the Work Session Tuesday morning,
and voted on at the Regular Session Tuesday evening,
both on the same day because today (Monday) is a holiday.

Cost What
$8,965,053.00 A New Addition to the Lowndes County Jail Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP)
$1,656,734.49 2024 Local Road Assistance (LRA) Administration Funds Application
$29,900.00 RAVE Alert Service Agreement
$6,237.00 Crisis Track Damage Assessment Software
$10,657,924.49 Total

Here is the

agenda.

The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request, is
on the LAKE website.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 28, 2024, 8:30 A.M.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 28, 2024, 5:30 P.M.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →