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
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?
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
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
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.
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):
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.
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 →
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
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.
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.
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.
How did conservation zoning get put on part of Robert Dinkins’ property at Lake Alapaha? County records conflict on that point. Was it important to keep that conservation zoning? Staff thought so, but the Planning Commission thought otherwise, and the Lowndes County Commission decided to agree.
The second county case in the 27 February 2012 Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) meeting was
REZ-2012-02 Dinkins, Southern Shore, 0264 007 A&B, ~97 ac., R-21 & CON to R-A, well/septic. They spent 8 1/2 minutes on it, mainly listening to the requester, Robert Dinkins, wonder how any part of the subject property was zoned for conservation. Staff recommended the conservation zoning remain. GLPC voted to recommend removing it.
Here’s a video playlist of this rezoning item in all three meetings (GLPC, LCC Work Session, and LCC Regular Session):
Conservation at Lake Alapaha: REZ-2012-02 Dinkins Regular Session, Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 27 February 2012. Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 12 March 2012. Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 13 March 2012. Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
at Hotchkiss Landing from late 2010 through at least early 2012?
Why did Code Enforcement do nothing about it?
