Tag Archives: GLPC

Packet: Complicated Library Board, ULDC amendments, Boat and RV Storage, Alapaha Plantation Water, Purchases houses by Griner Park, Insurance, LMIG @ LCC 2023-07-10

Update 2023-07-11: Videos: Complicated Library Board, ULDC amendments, Boat and RV Storage, Alapaha Plantation Water, Purchase houses by Griner Park, Insurance, LMIG @ LCC Work 2023-07-10.

Four terms expire on the South Georgia Regional Library Board (SGRLB) and all four people want to be reappointed. Plus another term will be vacant and two people want to be appointed to that: Catherine Ammons and Sarah Fitzgerald.

The Lowndes County Commission will hear these items this morning at 8:30 AM, and will vote on them at 5:30 PM tomorrow evening.

The text amendments to the Unified Land Development Code (ULDC) are on the agenda, even though the Planning Commission recommended tabling it for 30 days for the public to review. The version in this board packet is different from the version shown to the Planning Commission. Even county staff are asking for more time for the solar amendment.

[Collage, LCC Packet 2023-07-10]
Collage, LCC Packet 2023-07-10

The County Commissioners will vote on more than two and a half million dollars, mostly in road paving and insurance.

Plus they’re buying the houses next to where they want to make Griner Park near the county palace, and only a few blocks from where the City of Valdosta has already made Unity Park with an amphitheater.

And yet more of your tax dollars go to fix the private water system at Alapaha Plantation.

On the bright side, the land formerly rezoned for a biomass plant is now requested to be rezoned for boat and RV storage. Continue reading →

Videos: ULDC chicken changes deferred, Biomass site to boat storage, Lake Park mini-storage, 2 Valdosta subdivisions and a church @ GLPC 2023-06-26

Update 2023-07-17: Added the Valdosta cases and Other Businesses that had inadvertently been left out of the playlist.

Update 2023-07-10: Packet: Complicated Library Board, ULDC amendments, Boat and RV Storage, Alapaha Plantation Water, Purchases houses by Griner Park, Insurance, LMIG @ LCC 2023-07-10.

Why does Lowndes County want the Planning Commission (GLPC) and County Commission to vote on changes to the Unified Land Development Code (ULDC) before the general public has a chance to review and comment on them?

[Collage @ LCC 26 June 2023]
Collage @ LCC 26 June 2023

When even the number of ULDC items changed from 10 to 7 in the week before the GLPC meeting? When somebody asked for more time for citizens to review and comment on these changes, why did the County Planning consultant toss out four straw men? Why shouldn’t the general public have such opportunity when the Homebuilders were shown draft changes weeks ago?

Lowndes County Planning consultant Jason Davenport attempted to explain the ULDC amendments and why the county had not shown them to the general county citizenry, at the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC). He said they had a plan for six public meetings and two social media posts. However, none of that had happened before this meeting. Continue reading →

Packet: ULDC chicken changes, Biomass site to boat storage, Lake Park mini-storage, 2 Valdosta subdivisions and a church @ GLPC 2023-06-26

A longer version of the updates to the Lowndes County Unified Land Development Code (ULDC), including chickens and solar farms, is on the agenda for Monday evening’s Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC).

[Collage, GLPC Packet 2023-06-26]
Collage, GLPC Packet 2023-06-26

Rezoning for a boat and RV storage facility is on the agenda for the site of the biomass plant that was proposed a decade ago next to Valdosta’s Mud Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Lake Park has a rezoning for a climate-controlled mini-storage facility.

Valdosta has two housing rezonings and a church rezoning.

Here is the agenda.

The board packet is on the LAKE website.

Some day Lowndes County will put GLPC board packets on lowndescounty.com so no third party has to file open records requests and post the results. Larger and smaller counties in Georgia and Florida have been doing this for years.

Greater Lowndes Planning Commission
~ Lowndes County ~ City of Valdosta ~ City of Dasher ~
~ City of Hahira ~ City of Lake Park ~ City of Remerton ~
Tuesday, June 20, 2023 5:30 P.M. Work Session
Monday, June 26, 2023 5:30 P.M. Regular Session
Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue, Valdosta, Georgia

Continue reading →

Videos: ULDC Updates, AB Motorsports withdrawn, Wild Adventures glamping @ GLPC 2024-04-24

Update 2023-04-09: Packet: Wild Adventures glamping, AB Motorsports withdrawn, a road abandonment and RoW purchase, Clyattville Community Center, plus alcohol @ LCC 2023-05-08.

Not on the agenda for the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC), and not in the board packet materials Lowndes County sent in response to a LAKE open records request, instead showing up under Other Business, were some updates to the Unified Land Development Code (ULDC).

[Collage @ LCC 24 April 2023]
Collage @ LCC 24 April 2023

Former Lowndes County Planner Jason Davenport, rehired by the county as a consultant, said he gave the Planning Commission a list of a dozen ULDC amendments that would come before them next month for a recommendation. They included: Continue reading →

Packet: AB Motorsports withdrawn, Wild Adventures glamping @ GLPC 2023-04-24

The rezoning request for AB Motorsports has been withdrawn by the applicant, and the rezoning is still live for the Wild Adventures Safari Campground, for RVs, cabins, and glamping, at the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) meeting tonight.

We know this because, a day late and a dollar short, Lowndes County late yesterday supplied most of the board packet.

[Maps, rezonings @ GLPC 2023-04-24]
Maps, rezonings @ GLPC 2023-04-24

Just after I posted the agenda and sent them email reminding that it had been four working days sent LAKE sent the open records request and that the Georgia Open Records Act (GORA) requires a response in three days, as their own County Clerk web page says: “Once a request is received, Lowndes County will notify the requesting party within 3 days regarding the availability of the information”; a few minutes later the county sent the agenda packet materials for the two rezonings.

But once again they did not satisfy this part of the request: “Including the minutes of the previous GLPC meeting (those are NOT on the lowndescounty.com website).”

Considering that the planners for Dasher, Lake Park, Hahira, and Valdosta responded the same day as the request (saying they had no items), I really do not see what is so difficult for Lowndes County to respond in a timely manner according to state law. They have to have the same materials already available for GLPC, so all they need to do is email a few PDFs.

Even better, why can’t Lowndes County put board packet materials on their own website, as many counties smaller and larger in Georgia and Florida have been doing for years? Why do you, the taxpayers and voters and other interested parties, have to depend on a third party to find out what an elected government is doing?

The materials thus far received from Lowndes County for tonight are on the LAKE website.

-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

Agenda: Rezonings for AB Motorsports and Wild Adventures @ GLPC 2023-04-24

Update 2023-04-24: Packet: AB Motorsports withdrawn, Wild Adventures glamping @ GLPC 2023-04-24.

Two sports-related rezonings will be considered by the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) Monday evening, for a recommendation by GLPC and a later decision by the Lowndes County Commission (LCC).

[Agenda and rezonings @ GLPC 2023-04-24]
Agenda and rezonings @ GLPC 2023-04-24

Here is the agenda.

LAKE has no board packet to show, because Lowndes County has not responded to a LAKE open records request of 8:00 AM Tuesday, four working days ago, even though the Georgia Open Records Act (GORA) requires a response within three working days.

As a placeholder, I’ve stuck in a couple of maps of the rezoning areas from the Lowndes County Tax Assessors maps.

Greater Lowndes Planning Commission
~ Lowndes County ~ City of Valdosta ~ City of Dasher ~
~ City of Hahira ~ City of Lake Park ~ City of Remerton ~

Monday, April 17, 2023 5:30 P.M. Work Session
Monday, April 24, 2023 5:30 P.M. Regular Session
Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue, Valdosta, Georgia

Continue reading →

Videos: James Road rezoning and three water projects @ LCC 2023-03-14

The contentious James Road rezoning passed by 3:2, on March 14, 2023. After speakers for and against, and questions from Lowndes County Commissioners, Commissioner Clay Griner made the motion, and Commissioner Mark Wisenbaker seconded. They and Commissioner Scottie Orenstein voted in favor. Commissioners Joyce Evans and Demarcus Marshall voted against.

[Collage @ LCC 14 March 2023]
Collage @ LCC 14 March 2023

Everything else passed unanimously, including the $1.2 million for three water projects, two for subdivisions with golf clubs, and the most expensive one to run a watermain up Val Del Road, enticing more subdivisions up that way.

Cost What
$980,051.00Val-Del Water Main Extension
$225,910.30Francis Lake Sewer Rehab
$26,585.50Kinderlou Offsite Well Emergency Repair
$1,232,546.80Total

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: James Road rezoning and three water projects @ LCC 2023-03-13

Update 2023-04-04: Videos: James Road rezoning and three water projects @ LCC 2023-03-14.

The board packet for the March 13 and 14, 2023, sessions of the Lowndes County Commission is on the LAKE website, received in response to a LAKE open records request.

[Collage, Board Packet, LCC 2023-03-13]
Collage, Board Packet, LCC 2023-03-13

It is still mysterious why the county does not put its board packets on its own website. Under Agenda Center for each County Commission agenda there is even a pulldown slot for “Packet”. That currently has only the agenda and the one-page agenda sheets. There is no reason it could not instead have the PDF of the entire board packet.

See also the LAKE videos of the Regular Session, the LAKE videos of the Work Session, the agenda, the minutes, and the preceding Planning Commission meeting.

-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

Agenda: Four Valdosta cases @ GLPC 2023-03-27

Update 2023-03-29: Videos: Four Valdosta cases @ GLPC 2023-03-27.

All four Planning Commission cases for tonight are Valdosta cases.

[Agenda, cases, GLPC 2023-03-27]
Agenda, cases, GLPC 2023-03-27

Here is the agenda.

Thanks to Valdosta City Planner for sending those board packet items, which are on the LAKE website.

When we get the minutes for the previous GLPC meeting from Lowndes County, we will put that there, too.

Update 2023-03-29: those previous minutes are in the post with the LAKE videos of the most recent GLPC session.

Greater Lowndes Planning Commission ~ Lowndes County ~ City of Valdosta ~ City of Dasher ~
~ City of Hahira ~ City of Lake Park ~ City of Remerton ~
Monday, March 20, 2023 5:30 P.M. Work Session
Monday, March 27, 2023 5:30 P.M. Regular Session
Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue, Valdosta, Georgia

Continue reading →

Videos: Four Valdosta cases @ GLPC 2023-03-27

All four cases got recommendations from the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) for approval by the Valdosta Mayor and Council. However, all but the first and last were on split votes, and the last had one Commissioner recuse himself.

[Collage @ GLPC 27 March 2023]
Collage @ GLPC 27 March 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 the agenda and the board packet items for the Valdosta cases. Lowndes County later sent the minutes of the previous GLPC meeting in response to a LAKE open records request, after only one reminder. Continue reading →