Category Archives: Water

Generators and communications for sewer system lift stations @ VCC 2018-12-06

Nothing is on

the agenda
about the recent major spill at the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant for tonight’s Valdosta City Council meeting.

However, there are three other sewage-related Utility Department items:
bids for

ten emergency standby generators and for

water treatment chemicals, and

Consideration of a request to purchase a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system for Lift Stations and Water Treatment Plants.

Those are all good steps, so lift stations won’t fail due to lack of power,
so Valdosta Utilities can know what’s going on in real time (SCADA),
and so they can continue testing.

Maybe you’d like to come compliment Valdosta on that much
and ask them what they’re doing to prevent WWTP spills,
in

Citizens to be Heard.

Also tonight, appointments to KLVB, VLCDA, and Valdosta Tree Commission.

AGENDA

REGULAR MEETING OF THE VALDOSTA CITY COUNCIL

5:30 PM Thursday, December 6, 2018

COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL

Continue reading →

KFC and Cemetery in ZBOA Packet 2018-12-04 @ ZBOA 2018-12-04

Two items at ZBOA today:

a cemetery on Gaines Lane, off of
Dasher Johnson Road,
south of
US 84,
east of
US 41.

And a

Kentucky Fried Chicken
between Patterson and Ashley Streets.

The agenda packet is

on the LAKE website.
Here is the agenda: Continue reading →

Subdivisions, solar, and alcohol @ LCC 2018-11-12

Back on
the agenda
for Monday morning
is

the subdivision that does not match any of the criteria
the Lowndes County Commission is supposed to consider,
so will they approve

REZ-2018-17 The Settlement North, 5999 Val Del Road?

The Planning Commission recommended denying that one, but has since

recommended approving this one:

REZ-2018-18 Knights Landing, Phase III, 3982 Bemiss Knights Academy Road.

County staff want

ABM to help reduce energy costs.
How about add some solar panels to the roof of the county palace
and over its parking lot, while you’re at it?

As ABM says:

With the cost of solar installations rapidly declining, and the
number of government and utility incentives increasing, solar has
undergone a radical evolution from a feel good environmental story
to a source for businesses to gain a financial advantage over their
competitors.

See
ABM Energy Vice President Ted O’Shea,

Leveraging Solar to Gain a Competitive Financial Advantage:
Why go Solar at Your Facility: White Paper.

The rest of the agenda is Continue reading →

Neighbors oppose Val Del rezoning @ LCC 2018-10-09

If not consistent with the Comprehensive Plan, nor with the water and sewer growth plan,
fire and rescue doesn’t want it, and the Planning Commission recommended rejecting it,
what does it take for the Lowndes County Commission to reject a zoning,
in this case for
REZ-2018-17 for
The Settlement North, 5999 Val Del Road?

Only three people were allowed to speak against, of the five whose hands went up.

The developer promised restrictive covenants enforced by nobody but the homeowners.
County-imposed conditions on the Nelson Hill development, also on Val Del, were largely waived by county staff without public hearings.
What promises should we believe?

Will the developer’s demand to ignore the Comprehensive Plan
because of “market conditions, supply and demand” prevail?
Do property values of neighbors not matter?
How about saddling the county school system with houses priced too low
for property taxes on them to cover expenses of sending school buses?
Or is profit for a few all that matters?

See the Continue reading →

Force Main, appointments * 3, Val Del rezoning @ LCC 2018-10-08

A
Val-Tech Road 16" Force Main Emergency Repair with
recommendation:

The 16” force main between Coleman Road lift station and James
Road has experienced repeated issues with pipe failure. Several
repairs have been made on one section near 3624 Val-Tech Road. After
detecting another pipe failure along this section staff recommends
we replace a 400′ section of the 16” force main. This is an
emergency and needs to happen ASAP to prevent a sewage spill. Staff
received a quote from RPI for $99,935.00. Staff recommends the
emergency repair be approved for $99,935.00 from RPI.

I think everyone would be in favor of fixing

that recurring leak,
near the green dot at the top of this map.

VALORGIS Map → Streams Waterbodies plus Utilities Service Areas and Lowndes County Sewer Line.

Plus
the annual
USGS Funding Agreement for Hwy 122 Stream Gauge,
on

the agenda
for this morning.
Also
appointments
to three boards,
as usual with no previous public invitation
to apply:
Linda Most reappointment to the
Lowndes County Library Board,
Clay Griner reappointment to the
Lowndes County Public Facilities Authority,
and
Jim Scruggs reappointment to the
Valdosta-Lowndes County Construction Board of Adjustments and Appeals.

A

a subdivision rezoning:
The Settlement North, 5999 Val Del Road.

GLPC voted 5-2-1 against and of TRC only Engineering wanted approval,
with the rest saying:

Overall Planning and Zoning found this request inconsistent with
with the Comprehensive Plan. Utilities found that
development in that area is not supported by the County Water System
Growth Plan.

And

road abandonment,
and
quit claims

for another road.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2018, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2018, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Videos: farewell Jason Davenport, approval limits, CALEA, personal care home @ LCC 2018-09-11

The county held

a ceremony for departing Lowndes County Planner Jason Davenport.
I asked the person sitting in his former seat,

Engineering/Planning Technician Molly Stevenson,
if she was confirmed yet.
She would only say it was confirmed that she was sitting there right then.

They also had a

911 CALEA Re-Accreditation Presentation
and the Chairman recognized

Leadership Lowndes.

Citizens

Bob Harlan
and

Fred E. Blanton Jr
complained about road conditions.
I

thanked Utilities Director Steve Stalvey for sending
information about recent Lowndes County sewage spills (two in July),
and I thanked him advance for sending the NPDES-permit-required followup testing
(not yet received).

On
the REZ-2018-16 Stovall rezoning,
the applicant revealed the reason for the previous restriction
when Continue reading →

Videos: Naylor Boat Ramp, approval limits, CALEA, personal care home @ LCC 2018-09-10

News about
the Naylor Boat Ramp in

an Engineering Projects Report!
Chad McLeod also reported about the 911 center,
the North Lowndes Soccer Complex,
the fire warehouse classroom,
the animal shelter,
and
the courthouse renovation project,
all still to be completed from SPLOST VII funds, which run out next year.
Even with that three-and-a-half-minute special engineering report, the whole meeting took ten minutes Monday morning.

Also not on the agenda,
HR has a new employee.
Also there will be a new traffic signal.

Should

the County Manager and the Finance Director
be able to approve Continue reading →

Videos: fire truck, radios and phones, Hahira annexation, prison details @ LCC 2018-08-14

The most exciting thing last month was the

new fire truck, on display outside,
seen here driving off with its lights flashing:

See

LAKE video.

This was the most recent Regular Session, because the Lowndes County Commission meetings for the end of August were cancelled.

County Manager Joe Pritchard again said he wanted

higher staff approval limits for items in the budget.

There was some question about campaign contributions on the

Hahira rezoning and annexation; they didn’t know, but they approved it anyway.
The longest discussion was on the

Intrado phone system,
which will have Lowndes County be the first south of Atlanta with text to 911.
A suprising number of and variety of Commissioner questions on

the 911 radios.
The only question on the three utilities items was

whether they were in the budget; they are.
As usual, they rubberstamped

the three Valdosta State Prison work details,
with the only question being whether they were getting enough for the money.
A: Yes, because prisoners work cheap.

Below are Continue reading →

Hahira annexation, Orvis McNeal Estate, 2018-08-01 @ LCC 2018-08-14

The
board packet materials for the proposed Hahira annexation and rezoning
of the Orvis McNeal Estate on US 41 at the north edge of Hahira
are

on the LAKE website.
Sabrina Denson sent them at 2:18 PM today.
All I asked for was before the County Commission meeting today,
so this is what County Clerk Paige Dukes agreed to do

when I asked her yesterday morning.

Tax Parcels Aerial

PDF

Or is it?
The
agenda “Amended Aug 13, 2018 9:04 AM”
has both the annexation and rezoning in item 6.k, and
another item 6.l about extraterritorial water and sewer.
Nothing was received from the county about Continue reading →

Videos: Surprise Hahira annexation items @ LCC 2018-08-13

County Manager Joe Pritchard

said he had two new agenda items
for tomorrow night, both to do with a proposed annexation by Hahira.
County Chairman Bill Slaughter said he atteneded the recent Hahira
City Council meeting where that annexation was discussed,
which was last Thursday, so I don’t follow why this wasn’t on the
Lowndes County Commission agenda Friday with all the other items.

A new voice was heard for Planning on Continue reading →

On the LAKE front

Citizen dialog for transparent process by the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange