Tag Archives: Georgia

Put Planning Commission agendas and minutes on web like for ZBOA? –Gretchen Quarterman @ LCC 2013-12-10

It’s curious how the City of Valdosta manages to put agendas and minutes for the Zoning Board of Appeals online, but Lowndes County doesn’t put agendas and minutes for the Planning Commission online. Gretchen Quarterman asked the County Commission to fix that, at the 10 December 2013 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

She noted that to get the minutes of the Planning Commission she had to file an open records request, and what she got was paper.

And I’ll show you one here. I’m relatively certain this wasn’t typed on a typewriter. It was typed on a computer. And I’d really like to get a computer copy of it; an electronic copy. I always just get a paper copy. So, my request would be: could I please get open records requests in electronic form when they’re available? And, even better, could the county put these minutes on the website somewhere?

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

New Nottinghill subvivision finally resolved @ LCC 2013-12-10

The long-deferred rezoning for the Orr Road version of the Nottinghill subdivision was finally resolved at the 10 December 2013 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

6.a. REZ-2013-11 Nottinghill, Orr Rd R-A to R-21

County Planner Jason Davenport said “staff has laid out for you background information”, etc. and staff recommended approval.

Commissioner John Page pointed out that there was still some question of the land being purchased by applicant, and not all the signatures were yet ready.

Davenport said some were word of mouth, others were power of attorney, etc.

The alleged County Attorney Walter G. Elliott said Continue reading →

2 interagency agreements, education, jail, alcohol, and a health care presentation @ LCC 2014-01-13

We can probably guess who “Dr. Grow” is and the general topic of his presentation, but why does the county make us guess? The county wants an architect for a new roof and shower in one jail pod; it’s considering two interagency agreements, one for Valdosta Inspections for Lake Park and the other for the county extension, plus setting election qualifying fees and a Special Assessment Rate for 2014. There’s a beer license and acceptance of infrastructure for part of Grove Pointe Subdivision.

Here’s the agenda: Continue reading →

Fossil fuels are a disaster: literally in WV

300,000 people have their drinking water poisoned by a coal chemical in a disaster declared by a state and the federal government. Do we know what’s in that coal ash coal ash in the Lowndes County landfill? Do we trust a pipeline company with a long list of safety violations to dig into our aquifer?

David Jackson wrote for USA Today yesterday, Obama sends disaster aid to West Virginia,

President Obama is sending federal assistance to West Virginia, where schools and businesses are closed after a chemical spill Thursday into a Charleston river.

“The President today declared an emergency exists in the State of West Virginia and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts,” said an administration statement on Friday morning.

Under the order, the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency will coordinate efforts with local officials.

Kiley Kroh wrote for Thinkprogress yesterday, West Virginia Declares State Of Emergency After Coal Chemical Contaminates Drinking Water, Continue reading →

SAVE has a new website

Reminding everyone of what they do and what VSU President McKinney said, Students Against Violating the Environment has a new website.

S.A.V.E. is an environmental activist organization based on the campus of Valdosta State University (VSU). It is composed of students from all majors, and any VSU student is welcome to join regardless of race, gender, age, or sexual orientation.

The mission of the organization is Continue reading →

Organic battery with no metals –Harvard SEAS

Solar already provides peak power at peak load, and through distribution is resilient, and that plus ever-decreasing prices will drive solar deployments up exponentially for a decade or so yet. If we add an inexpensive metal-free battery, solar will take over even faster. And that’s what Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has just published as a discovery.

Harvard SEAS PR of 8 January 2014, Organic mega flow battery promises breakthrough for renewable energy: Harvard technology could economically store energy for use when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine,

The paper reports a metal-free flow battery that relies on the electrochemistry of naturally abundant, inexpensive, small organic (carbon-based) molecules called quinones, which are similar to molecules that store energy in plants and animals.

And much less expensive, reported CBC News 9 January 2014, Continue reading →

Utilities desperate to shade solar power

The same Edison Electric Institute that warned electric utilities that distributed solar is already eating their lunch has codified a net metering talking point that utilities are pushing to try to shade solar power. It’s not working.

Power play: Utilities want solar users to pay up Mark Koba wrote for CNBC yesterday, Power play: Utilities want solar users to pay up,

But some experts say the mere fact that utilities— which generate $360 billion a year in energy sales—are battling with solar indicates the threat it now poses to them.

“The success of solar power is forcing utilities to rethink their business model and push for the changes,” said Franc Del Fosse, an energy industry lawyer and partner at Snell & Wilmer. “If you have an individual putting solar panels on the roof, it’s easy to suggest that a utility is making less money.”

The effort for higher fees on solar panel users could backfire, Continue reading →

District 2 is open seat for Lowndes County Commission election

The incumbent is not running for election for the northern district of Lowndes County, so it’s an open seat. Here are district maps; District 2 is mostly west of Bemiss Road and north of Valdosta. To see which districts you’re in, go to VALOR GIS Election Boundary Map, in Layers On-Off turn on Lowndes County Commision Districts, and zoom in on your address. The appended letter was received Monday via Commissioner Demarcus Marshall. -jsq

From: Richard Raines
Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2014 11:06 PM
To: Bill Slaughter; Joyce Evans; Crawford Powell; John Page; Demarcus Marshall; Joe Pritchard; Paige Dukes
Cc: kay.harris@gaflnews.com
Subject: Announcement Continue reading →

Deep divisions between U.S. and Asian nations in TPP –Wikileaks

Do you want foreign corporations to be able to sue the U.S. because your county has implemented restrictions of pipelines feeding liquid natural gas exports? Or because your country hasn’t locked up enough people for unintentional infringement of copyright? Or because your state has implemented a GMO-labeling law? Then you oppose the TPP.

After the November release of the Intellectual Property Rights Chapter, in December Wikileaks released two documents from the secret closed Salt Lake City TPP chief negotiators’ meeting of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, showing deep divisions between the negotiating countries that have already caused a U.S.-imposed TPP deadline to be missed. These documents add potential international treaty enforcement of “mandates” against restrictions on trade to protect national products or environment or labor to all the reasons EFF gives for opposing this corporate-power-grab treaty and the LNG export pressures for TPP that would drive up the price of fracked “natural” gas and push pipelines through numerous states for the profit of a few fossil fuel and utility executives and investors.

The deep divisions among the negotiating countries exposed Continue reading →

Flood mapping and modeling @ VCC 2014-01-09

The Valdosta City Council votes Thursday on a contract for flood mapping related to the series of secretive Army Corps of Engineers meetings, plus bids for water and sewer and smoke testing sewers. They’re also swearing in winners of the recent election and electing a mayor pro-tem (probably the same one), along with a change to the Entertainment Ordinance and public hearings to close an alley and abandon part of a street, and the usual City Manager’s Report, Council Comments, and Citizens to be Heard.

No detail in the city’s agenda about the flood mapping, but at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session 11 November 2013 Emergency Services Director Ashley Tye said the current agreement wouldn’t obligate any payment, merely to reserve the right to contract at a later date if that seemed to be in the county’s best interests, and at the Regular Session 12 November 2013 the county approved getting LIDAR data from NOAA Coastal Services Center. Neither the county nor the city has published this agreement.

Here’s the agenda: Continue reading →