Tag Archives: Anthony Payton

Videos: Project Viking, Reports, and CWTBH @ LCC Regular 2023-06-13

The

Project Viking rezoning
included an introduction to the new Public Hearing format:
10 minutes for each side, then 2 minutes of rebuttal.
This method is in the
draft ULDC changes.
Nobody spoke against.
The rezoning passed unanimously.
So did all the other agenda items.


[Collage @ LCC 13 June 2023]

Collage @ LCC 13 June 2023

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:

Continue reading →

Packet: Airport Authority appointment, Project Viking rezoning, 2 court, 3 water including a tractor @ LCC 2023-06-13

Update 2023-06-26:
Videos,
Project Viking, Reports, and CWTBH @ LCC Regular 2023-06-13.

Update 2023-06-16:
Draft Proposed Lowndes County Land Development Code changes 2023-06-13.

Lowndes County Utilities did actually get two bids for the
Oak Hill Drive Water Main Extension.

But apparently only one quote for the
Stone Creek Onsite Well Pump.


[Collage @ LCC Packet 2023-06-13]

Collage @ LCC Packet 2023-06-13

The packet materials are

on the LAKE website.

LAKE looks forward to Lowndes County publishing the packet materials
on its own website before the meetings, as
many other counties larger and smaller already do in Georgia and Florida.

See also
the

agenda
and the LAKE

Videos: surprise ULDC update, DUI Court grant, Project Viking @ LCC Work 2023-06-12.

-jsq

Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!


http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/donate

Videos: surprise ULDC update, DUI Court grant, Project Viking @ LCC Work 2023-06-12

Update 2023-06-13:
Packet: Airport Authority appointment, Project Viking rezoning, 2 court, 3 water including a tractor @ LCC 2023-06-13.

Once again Lowndes County sprung ULDC changes not on the agenda.
They took up more than half of the Work Session yesterday morning.

This time County Manager Paige Dukes asked former County Planner
and current consultant Jason Davenport to

explain to the Commissioners
those changes to the Unified Land Development Code.
LAKE has sent in an open records request for those changes.


[Collage @ LCC 12 June 2023]

Collage @ LCC 12 June 2023

Second longest was

7.d. Lowndes County DUI Court FY 24 Grant Award.
We don’t know why a judge has to come justify a grant that is working,
yet applicants for boards do not have to show up before they are appointed.

The mysterious

Project Viking conservation rezoning got two minutes.

The water
main
and

well
raise interesting questions about who is paying.
The county got a local deal on

the LAS tractor.

They vote this evening at 5:30 PM.

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

See also the
agenda.
LAKE will publish the board packet after the county sends it to us in response to the LAKE open records request. Continue reading →

Packet: Airport Authority appointment, Project Viking rezoning, 2 court, 3 water including a tractor @ LCC 2023-06-12

Update 2023-06-13:

Videos: surprise ULDC update, DUI Court grant, Project Viking @ LCC Work 2023-06-12.

Tuesday evening after the Monday morning Work Session,
the Lowndes County Commission will decide whether to reappoint the incumbent
Anthony Payton to the Airport Authority (as it usually does),
or to apoing David Westberry.

Also on the agenda are two court grant cash matches, three water projects including a tractor for the county sewer system Land Application Site (LAS), and Project Viking.


[Airport, Courts, Water, and Project Viking by Knights Creek @ LCC]

Airport, Courts, Water, and Project Viking by Knights Creek @ LCC

The wetlands of the Project Viking rezoning are next to Knights Creek in the Alapaha River Basin.
The agenda does not seem to mention who this rezoning is for,
but according to the
Tax Assessors maps
it’s BASSFORD N L JR.
Those maps show the acreage as 80.0, not 69.
I don’t know why the discrepency.

It appears that none of the water projects went out for bids.
Two of them are for private wells.

Cost What
$96,095.22 Kubota M6-141 Tractor
$64,095.00 Stone Creek Onsite Well Pump
$30,750.00 Oak Hill Drive Water Main Extension
$19,509.00 Lowndes County DUI Court FY 24 Grant Award
$8,857.00 Lowndes County Juvenile Accountability Court (LCJAC) FY24 Budget & Grant Award
$219,306.22 Total

Here is the
agenda.

See also the LAKE
Videos: Five Valdosta rezonings, one Lowndes County, Lake Park Case pulled @ GLPC 2023-05-22.

LAKE does not have the board packet for this County Commission meeting,
because I forgot to file an open records request before today.
However,

the Project Viking board packet materials
from

the Planning Commission
will probably mostly be re-used for the County Commission meeting.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JUNE 12, 2023, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2023, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

  1. Call to Order

  2. Invocation

  3. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag

  4. Minutes for Approval

    1. Work Session – May 8, 2023, Regular Session – May 9, 2023, & Budget Work Session – May 31, 2023
  5. Appointment

    1. Valdosta-Lowndes County Airport Authority

      Documents:Valdosta Lowndes County Airport Authority Appointment.pdf

  6. Public Hearing

    1. REZ-2023-07 Project Viking, ~69 acres, Hunt Road, M-2 & CON to M-2 & CON, City Utilities

      Documents:REZ-2023-07 Project Viking.pdf

  7. For Consideration

    1. Oak Hill Drive Water Main Extension

      Documents:Oak Hill Drive Water Main Extension.pdf

    2. Stone Creek Onsite Well Pump

      Documents:Stone Creek Onsite Well Pump.pdf

    3. Kubota M6-141 Tractor

      Documents:Kubota M6-141 Tractor.pdf

    4. Lowndes County DUI Court FY 24 Grant Award

      Documents:Lowndes County DUI Court FY 24 Grant Award.pdf

    5. Lowndes County Juvenile Accountability Court (LCJAC) FY24 Budget & Grant Award

      Documents:Lowndes County Juvenile Accountability Court FY24 Budget Grant Award.pdf

  8. Reports – County Manager

  9. Citizens Wishing to be Heard-Please State Your Name and Address

  10. Adjournment

-jsq

Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!


http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/donate

Updated Packet: Lowndes County Commission @ LCC 2019-05-14

Lowndes County did supply the items missing from the
May 14 and 15, 2019 board packet, on 11 June 2019,
and those items are now

on the LAKE website.

[Letter]

Letter

LAKE looks forward to the county putting all these packet documents
on the county’s own website, along with the
agenda and agenda sheets.

-jsq

Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!

Packet: Lowndes County Commission @ LCC 2019-05-14

Update 2019-07-09: Missing items supplied by the county.

Here’s the mysterious Moody AFB “Helicopter Corridor and Class D Airspace” map
from item 6.c. TWR-2019-01 Value Concepts, Inc., US Hwy 84 E. E-A, New 300′ Telecommunications Tower
on the
May 13 and 14, 2019, Lowndes County Commission agenda.

[Page 24]

Page 24

This in the agenda packet,

now on the LAKE website,
including files returned by the county in response to a LAKE open records request.
The county supplied those files on a USB drive, for which it charged LAKE $6.65.

Missing from what the county sent: Continue reading →

Videos: Tower, appointments, sewer main, boat ramp, water trails, Paddle Georgia @ LCC 2019-05-14

All three rezonings breezed through, except slightly the longest was the

tabling of the proposed 300′ communications tower off of US 84 East.
The tower had the most people: those sitting in the back.

Surprisingly,

one
of the

two
Authority appointments was not the incumbent.
None of the candidates were introduced, and none spoke.

One Citizen spoke, me, on behalf of WWALS,

thanking them and inviting them.


Commissioner Clay Griner was not present.
The other four voting Commissioners unanimously approved everything,
including the one tabling.
At least two staff speakers were not introduced, one not named except by last name,
and one never named at all.

Below are Continue reading →

Videos: Tower and online packets @ LCC 2019-05-13

As expected, the longest item was about the

300′ communications tower proposed south of US 84 E.
Second was

bids for rotary mowers (really).
And

a Commissioner wanted to know what’s a blade.


Afterwards, at 9AM, was a special appearance by

Tax Commissioner Rodney Cain and his staff, which at 16 3/4 minutes, took almost as long as the entire Work Session.

In between, Commissioners answered my question: Continue reading →

378x872 Coleman Road along Val-Tech Road to James Road, Map, in Coleman Road force main, by John S. Quarterman, for www.l-a-k-e.org, 13 May 2019

Sewer main replacement, 2 Authority appointments, roads and rezonings @ LCC 2019-05-13

Appointments to two more Authorities with no prior public notice
nor requests for applicants: the

Hospital Authority and the
Airport Authority.

About the Hospital Authority:

HISTORY, FACTS AND ISSUES: The term of Dr. Mary Richardson on the
Hospital Authority of Valdosta and Lowndes County will expire on
June 1, 2019. Ms. Shirley Garland, Mrs. Elsie Napier, and Dr. Mary
Margaret Richardson’s names have all been submitted for appointment.

For the
Airport Authority, Anthony Payton’s term is up and he wants to be reappointed.

Lowndes County Commissioners will be hearing about a bunch of purchases and bids.
Two of them are water items:
Georgia Department of Transportation – TIA Project Agreement – Hightower Road/Cooper Road NE Paving and Drainage Improvements
and
Professional Services for Coleman Road Lift Station Force Main Replacement.
Look at this about that lift station:

HISTORY, FACTS AND ISSUES: Lowndes County received a Proposal from
Lovell Engineering for the engineering and construction plan
preparation for Coleman Road lift station force main replacement.
Coleman Road force main has experienced repeated failures and is in
need of replacement. Coleman Road force main is the beginning of the
main trunk line that transports waste water from the north Lowndes
region to the LAS. Costs will be 9% of construction.

Lowndes County is replacing a sewer main because it has failed before.
Wait, is this the same main from back in October,
when Commissioners approved $99,935 to fix “The 16” force main between Coleman Road lift station and James Road”?


Coleman Road along Val-Tech Road to James Road, Map

Map: VALORGIS.

There are two transportation items:
that
TIA paving and drainage project,
and
Professional Engineering and Surveying Services for TIA Projects.

The two rezonings and the communications tower
from the recent
Planning Commission meeting are on
the agenda.

No, we haven’t posted the LAKE videos of that Planning Commission meeting yet.
Yes, we will do so soon.
Meanwhile, Lowndes County has its own video equipment and editing software
and could video Planning Commission meetings, and budget meetings,
for that matter.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MAY 13, 2019, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 14, 2019, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Solar panels at Valdosta Airport 2017-08-16

Prominently visible as you approach the terminal from Valdosta to catch a flight:


Solar panels behind passenger terminal sign

Pictures by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange 2017-08-17

VRA’s web page
curiously includes no mention I can find of these solar panels,
which I would think would be great advertising for the airport. Continue reading →