Category Archives: Transportation

Why did Lowndes County do nothing about a blocked public road?

Old State Road at the Alapaha River is a county-maintained public road.
How could Lowndes County not have known that it was

blocked by two huge blocks of concrete

Seen by google earth 2012-01-24
at Hotchkiss Landing from late 2010 through at least early 2012?
Why did Code Enforcement do nothing about it?

These blocks of concrete have to be quite heavy.
This is not random litter, and no partier or hunter or 4-wheeler would
have any motivation to block the road, much less with blocks this size.
Who would?
Why didn’t the county find out and do something about it?

-jsq

Public Notice for public hearing on abandoning part of Old State Road leading to the Alapaha River

Why is there no sign on Old State Road

about the proposed abandonment of the part leading to the Alapaha River
like there was in 2010?
There’s a clue in the letter of the law Lowndes County is citing.


NOTICE OF PROPOSED ROAD ABANDONMENT TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED

NOTICE OF PROPOSED

ROAD ABANDONMENT

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that pursuant to O.C.G.A. 32-7-2(b)(1) the

Parcel 0259 030A
Lowndes County Board of Commissioners has determined that a section
of Old State Road (CR # 16) has ceased to be used by the public to
the extent that no substantial purpose is served or by it that its
removal from the county road system is otherwise in the best public
interest. The section of Old State Road that is proposed for
abandonment lies .85 miles to the east of Good Hope Road (CR # 126)
and travels approximately .17 miles before termination at the
Alapaha River.

YOU ARE ALSO HEREBY NOTIFIED that pursuant to said Code section the

2009: canoeists taking out at that road
Lowndes County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing for
the purpose of determining whether to declare the subject section of
the subject road abandoned. The public hearing will be at 5:30 P.M.
on February 12, 2013, at the Lowndes County Administration Building
located at 327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, Georgia.

Any citizen of Lowndes County or any person wherever residing may be
heard by the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners during the
aforesaid public hearing.


County Manager, Joseph D. Pritchard
This 28th day of January, 2013.

Joseph D. Pritchard

County Manager

Lowndes County, Georgia

00046658

2/1,8/13

Note that last part:

“or any person wherever residing may be heard by the
Lowndes County Board of Commissioners during the aforesaid public hearing.”

That means you do not have to be a citizen or resident or taxpayer
of Lowndes County to speak at this public hearing.

There’s no public hearing sign on the affected portion of that road.
Why is that?
Here’s

O.C.G.A. 32-7-2(b)(1):

Continue reading →

Petition the Commission: Keep County Road 16 leading to the Alapaha River open to public access

Seen Monday. -jsq


Lowndes County Commission: Keep County Road 16 leading to the Alapaha River open to public access.



Petition by

April Huntley

This access to the Alapaha River is the only remaining public access
within Lowndes County. It has great historical significance to the
Naylor community. It continues to be used by boaters, fishermen and
families for recreation.



To:

Lowndes County Commission

Keep County Road 16 leading to the Alapaha River open to public access.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

The Commission

decided 26 October 2010 to keep that road open


but because they think they have new information

have scheduled it for another public hearing and vote
apparently at their next Regular Session,
which is next Tuesday, 12 February 2013.

-jsq

Video, hearing about abandoning Old State Road at the Alapaha River @ LCC 2010-10-26



Here is video of the

public hearing in which the Lowndes County Commission
decided 26 October 2010
not to abandon a portion of Old State Road leading to the Alapaha River.


This is the same stretch of road

that's scheduled for another such hearing in two weeks from tomorrow.



The camera aim is a bit erratic, and you can see why we hadn't already
posted this video (which is actually several briefer videos pasted together
with a few gaps).
Yet you can clearly see, after
Glenda Cofield and

Steve Bays
spoke against closing the road,



someone else
started speaking from the audience.
Then



Commissioner Joyce Evans asked those opposed to stand up,
and many people did.
You can see County Engineer Mike Fletcher in the background.












Presumably some of the people who stood were among the 450 people
mentioned in

the minutes:

Glenda Cofield, Mullins Lane, spoke against the request, and presented
a petition submitted prior to the work session with the unverified
signatures of 450 area residents included.

Why were the signatures still unverified if she submitted the petition
before the work session of the previous day?

Continue reading →

Public Hearing for Road Abandonment of Old State Road @ LCC 2010-10-26

In 2010, 450 people signed a petition to keep open
the road leading to Hotchkiss Landing on the Alapaha River,
according

the Lowndes County Commission minutes
for the 26 October 2010 Public Hearing.




Photograph by Brett Huntley.

Abandon a portion of Old State Road (CR 16), County
Manager, Joe Pritchard, presented the road closure for consideration,
adding that the engineering department had indicated twenty-five
vehicles per day on the road. Glenda Cofield, Mullins Lane, spoke
against the request, and presented

Continue reading →

KLVB Alapaha River cleanup at Old State Road in 2007

So if Old State Road to the Alapaha River has, according to

the criteria recited by County Engineer Mike Fletcher,
“ceased to be used by the public to the extent that
no substantial public purpose is served by it”,
why did Keep Lowndes/Valdosta Beautiful (KLVB) do a cleanup there in 2007?
Is the removal of that section of road
“from the county road system… in the public’s best interest”?

Jessica Pope wrote for the VDT 30 September 2007,

River cleanup,

Saturday’s Alapaha River cleanup will be held in cooperation with
Rivers Alive, a statewide annual volunteer waterway cleanup that
targets Georgia’s 70,150 miles of streams and rivers each October,
and Hands On Georgia Week 2007, which will culminate on Saturday
with Hands on Atlanta Day, the largest volunteer service day in the
country. A number of volunteers will spend the day cleaning
Georgia’s waterways, building wheelchair ramps, collecting cans of
food for Georgia’s food banks and as picking up trash along
Georgia’s highways.


Anyone interested in participating in the Alapaha River cleanup
Saturday should head on U.S. 84 East past Naylor, turn left on Good
Hope Road then turn right on Old State Road. Small boats and canoes
are welcome. Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m., and participation
waivers must be signed.

Continue reading →

I-75 as the Governor Melvin Ernest Thompson Memorial Highway?

Did you know the legislature is likely to rename much of Interstate 75
through Lowndes County in honor of a former governor,
and spend $4,500 for signs to do so?

The Valdosta Daily Times, Lowndes County


NOTICE OF ROAD FACILITY DEDICATION



Notice is given that there will be introduced at the regular 2013
session of the General Assembly of Georgia a resolution sponsored by
Senator Tim Golden, 121 State Capitol, Atlanta, Georgia 30334, (404)
656-7580, to dedicate the portion of Interstate 75 in Lowndes County
from the West Hill Avenue exit to the North Valdosta Road exit as
the Governor Melvin Ernest Thompson Memorial Highway in honor of his
achievements, accomplishments, and contributions to Lowndes County
and to the State of Georgia; and for other purposes. The estimated
cost of such dedication is $4,500.00.

00046038

1/19/13

And such a bill has been introduced in the Georgia House (not the Senate) as

HR 47, Governor Melvin Ernest Thompson Memorial Highway; Lowndes County; dedicate,
sponsored by
(1) Shaw, Jason 176th, (2) Carter, Amy 175th, (3) Black, Ellis 174th,
(4) Sharper, Dexter 177th, (5) Houston, Penny 170th.

Here's the part that ties Gov. Thompson to here:

WHEREAS, Governor Thompson was instrumental in the success of the City of


Valdosta and Lowndes County, where his leadership as a founding member of
the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority spearheaded much of the
urban development and planning for Valdosta and the surrounding areas,
including the Azalea City Industrial Park; and

And establishing Industrial Parks was a cutting-edge idea: in the 1950s.

The bill adds:

Continue reading →

Videos: Taxing alcohol on the road to the jail @ LCC 2013-01-22



One citizen actually got a response out of a Commissioner in Citizens Wishing
to Be Heard!
Unfortunately,
only half a dozen citizens where there to hear that,
or to see the Lowndes County Commission
vote on matters that affect everyone,
from abandoning a road leading to a river to an alcohol license.

Here's

the agenda,
with links to the videos and a few notes.
See also

the Work Session the morning of that same day.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Vote for a hearing to abandoning a road leading to the Alapaha River @ LCC 2013-01-22



Update 2013-01-25 9:48 AM: fixed an error and added some further detail. -jsq

Citing unspecified sources of information about water rights,
the Lowndes County Commission voted to move to a hearing to
abandon a road to a river they didn’t name, but which
happens to be: the Alapaha River (it was named this time).
This was at the

Regular Session of 22 January 2013.
See also the

Work Session the morning of the same day.



7.b. Abandonment of a portion of Old State Road (CR 16)

County Engineer Mike Fletcher describe the case like this:

Georgia Statute says that for an initial determination
that the section of county road has for any reason
ceased to be used by the public to the extent that
no substantial public purpose is served by it,
or that its removal from the county road system
is in
the public’s best interest.
And just to remind you, as we spoke yesterday,
the bridge that goes across the Alapaha River has been washed out;
it has not been replaced,
so there is no access across the river to Lanier County.

Commissioner Demarcus Marshall remarked that this same
item had been voted down 26 October 2010(?).
Chairman Bill Slaughter asserted that the applicant had previously gotten
permission to close the road and was merely asking to extend the length;
he was corrected by staff (I think by County Manager Joe Pritchard) saying
no, it wasn’t approved.
Why doesn’t staff brief the Commission and the public on the history of a case
like this when it comes up again?

Commissioner Joyce Evans said



It was not approved because of different circumstances.
I think during that time, Mr. Fletcher,
you researched it all and you got the information
that we needed.
And that was the reason it was not approved;
we didn’t have the information that we needed
about the water rights.
Since then we have received that.

County Engineer Mike Fletcher added:

This is not considered a navigable waterway,
so therefore Mr. Connell owns the bottom of the riverbed,
so his property actually goes into the river, and not to the
high water mark.

Marshall said he’d heard from a constituent

Continue reading →

Where is the speed zone ordinance? @ LCC 2011-01-10



Lowndes County won’t install speed control devices:
policy or ordinance or “decision”, by whom and when?
And where is the speed zone ordinance they passed in January 2011,
according to the

Work Session Minutes of 10 January 2011:

Adoption of the Revised Speed Zone Ordinance,

County Engineer, Mike Fletcher,
presented the Commission with a revised speed zone ordinance
in accordance with Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT)
requirements. Mr. Fletcher added that 2 once approved, staff would send
the document back to GDOT for execution. Commissioner Evans questioned
the speed limit on Boring Pond Road. Mr. Fletcher explained that since
the road has been paved, the new ordinance will allow for the new speed
to be posted at 45 mph and 55 mph. Mr. Fletcher added that prior to the
road being paved, the speed limit was 35 mph. Commissioner Raines asked
if the document was a county ordinance. Mr. Fletcher replied yes, adding
while the county can make certain recommendations, GDOT prepares the draft
in accordance with their regulations.

Chairman Paulk asked Mr. Fletcher
to provide those in attendance with a short explanation of speed control
devices. Mr. Fletcher explained that in the 1990’s a previous Commission
made the decision that speed control devices would not be allowed
on county roads due to maintenance and safety issues. Mr. Fletcher
added that over time that decision has become policy.

Commissioner
Powell stated he had received a request from citizens to increase the
speed limit on portions of Old Clyattville Road to 55 mph. Mr. Fletcher
replied that due to the curb and gutter installed on the road, he would
not recommend it. Mr. Fletcher added he would be glad to check with GDOT
to see what the state’s recommendation might be. Commissioner Powell
asked Mr. Fletcher to move forward with contacting GDOT.

When “in the 1990’s” was this Commission decision made?
In which minutes can we see the vote and the text of this decision?

And how is policy made?
By the Commission in an open meeting, or by the staff
at some unspecified “over time”?

Plus, where is this speed zone ordinance?

-jsq