Tag Archives: GLPC

Agenda: 2 Lowndes County rezonings; 1 Valdosta @ GLPC 2013-02-25


Agenda
To get an agenda for tonight’s Planning Commission meeting,
apparently you have to go to the meeting; here it is.
It’s sloppier than usual:
Case REZ-2013-04 has neither a number of acres nor
a specific location.
Why is the Planning Commission not revealing this information?

Douglas O. Thompson owns two properties on Bemiss Road, but one
of them is in Valdosta taxing district, so presumably it’s
the other one, of 1.28 acres at 3432 Bemiss Road.
Why is this a secret?

Perhaps for the same reason that the county doesn’t just publish
PDF of this agenda on the web for all to see?

Here’s a summary of the cases.

Lowndes County,

Final action

Tuesday 12 March 2013 		2. REZ-2013-03 Valler

Knights Academy Road, Valdosta

Request to rezone 10 acres from
R-21 (Medium Density Residential)
to
R-A (Residential Agriculture)
3. REZ-2013-04 Thompson

Bemiss Road, Valdosta

Request to rezone [?] acres from
C-H/c (Highway Commercial conditional)
to
C-H (Highway Commercial)
Valdosta,

Final Action

Thursday, 7 March 2013 		4. VA-2013-01 Turner Brooks LLC

411 West Mary Street, Valdosta

Request to rezone 0.50 acres from
R-6 (Single Family Residential)
to
R-M (Multi-Family Residential)

-jsq

Planning Commission yesterday: did you know? @ GLPC 2013-01-28

Did you see an agenda or an announcement that the Greater Lowndes
Planning Commission (GLPC) was meeting yesterday?

Agenda @ GLPC 2013-01-28
Nor did LAKE.
Matt Martin, Valdosta City Planner, usually sends an agenda to
Gretchen, but there were no Valdosta items on this agenda,
so he apparently didn’t even get one.
And the county still doesn’t publish GLPC agendas,
so if there was an item on there that affected you, how could you know?
Does that seem right to you?

On the agenda were three Lowndes County rezoning items,
all involving C-H (Highway Commercial),
and one Lake Park rezoning case, going to
R-P (Residential/Professional).
Here’s a summary of the cases.
You know, if I can do this in a couple of minutes by
typing it in from a photograph that Gretchen took, Lowndes County could
do it in a second by pressing Export to PDF.
Now that there’s a new Chairman, maybe he’ll say they should do that.

Lowndes County,

Final action

Tuesday 12 Feb 2013 		4. REZ-2012-20 Corbett

US 41 South and Newsome Road, Valdosta

Request to rezone ~5 acres from E-A (Estate Agriculture) to
C-H (Highway Commercial)
5. REZ-2013-01 Barrentine

102 Davis Road East, Valdosta

Request to rezone 1.2 acres from
C-H (Highway Commercial)
to
R-1 (Low Density Residential)
6. REZ-2013-02 Interstate Land Management

Briarwood Road along I-75, Valdosta

Request to rezone 4.87 acres from
R-1 (Low Density Residential)
to
C-H (Highway Commercial)
Lake Park,

Final Action

Tuesday 5 Feb 2013 		LP-12-2012-01 Karen K. Nolan and Blanche C. Bush

105 Broadway Street, Lake Park

Request to rezone 0.46 acres from
R-15 (Single Family Residential)
to
R-P (Residential/Professional)

-jsq

Videos @ LCC 2012-12-11



Moody and the Chamber won, rural residents got wasted,
and taxpayers still didn't get to see a single thing the Lowndes County Commission
voted on last night in 45 minutes (very long for them)
in front of the biggest audience I've ever seen there.

They

appointed John "Mac" McCall to ZBOA.
They revised the

alcohol ordinance with some unspecified "changes to the fee schedule",
and added another alcohol restriction to the
Lake Park rezoning
before approving it.

They approved the

solid waste ordinance and granted a waste collection monopoly to

a company from New York City
despite all known public input being against it.
Two
more people
spoke
against it
in Citizens Wishing to Be Heard.

Gretchen Quarterman recommended adding
all the appointed Boards and Authorities to the county's calendar.

Commissioners accepted applicant's withdrawal of

the rezoning request near Moody AFB
and tabled indefinitely the related

zoning code amendment.
They
approved rezoning for the
Naylor Dollar General.

Commission approved four Decorative Lighting Special Tax Districts (forgetting it was supposed to be a
public hearing),
and a refund for one that wasn't.

Danny Weeks got approved a new netclock
and new phones for the 911 center,
and he and his staff got an award.
The library railroad continues,
the bonds renegotation was approved with
about $2 million savings and some legal questions,
the Annex has asbestos but they'll deal with it,
and after Friday's demolition ceremony
there will be a going-away reception for Chairman Paulk,
and Bill Slaughter will be the new Chairman.

You missed all that and more at yesterday's Commission meeting.

Here's

a video playlist of the Regular Session,
followed by the agenda with the videos linked into it.

Update 2014-04-09: Fixed embedded video link.


Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 11 December 2012.

For reference here are the

videos of
yesterday morning's Work Session.
And here is

the agenda with links to the videos and some notes.

Continue reading →

Chamber of Commerce vs. County Commission Re: Moody AFB @ LCC 2012-12-11

Received today (yes, I’m a Chamber member). -jsq

From: “Tim Jones, Chairman of the Board ” <chamber@valdostachamber.com>

Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2012 12:47:01 -0500 (EST)

Subject: Alert: Chamber needs your help to protect Moody!

Dear Chamber Member,

Our Chamber recognizes the $448 million economic impact Moody Air
Force Base has on our regional economy each year. We meet with Air
Force officials at the Pentagon annually and ask them, “What else
can our community do to protect MAFB from the next BRAC?” The
answer, every year: prevent encroachment, and the best way to do
that is by protecting the Military Activity Zone (MAZ).

Today

(Tuesday, Dec. 11) at the Lowndes County Board of
Commissioners meeting there are two agenda items that could put
Moody at risk.



Spot zoning for a proposed densely settled subdivision in the MAZ
is an invitation to other developments and inherently sets a precedent.
It’s a very slippery slope. How will the County tell the next one
“no”?

The second agenda item would

change the zoning ordinance
to allow even more densely settled neighborhoods in the MAZ.

One of the reasons we’ve been able to keep MAFB here

for more than
70 years is because MAFB can be utilized for a number of types of
missions, largely because of the protected activity zone. Both
agenda items, if passed, could increase encroachment into the MAZ
and could very well limit MAFB’s future mission possibilities.

Another Georgia community (Warner Robins)

is actually using taxpayer dollars
to buy back residential properties in

their military activity zones
as a result of their failure to prevent encroachment.

The Planning Commission voted unanimously to deny this subdivision,
and

to deny the proposed changes to the MAZ that would allow more
dense residential development. The County Commission should vote to
deny, too.

The

Chamber’s GAC Executive Committee voted unanimously to oppose
actions that allow encroachment and weaken the MAZ. The Chamber
encourages our members to contact our County Commission members to
let them know how you feel about protecting MAFB. The Chamber
encourages our members to attend the County Commission meeting at
the Dec. 11 meeting at 5:30 p.m. at the Administation Building.

Please respond to this email to share your thoughts.

Sincerely,

Tim Jones, Chairman of the Board

Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce



I added the links above.
All that Tim Jones said,
plus Crawford Powell’s discovery that the proposed subdivision

would be a fire code violation,
plus

according to Forbes Valdosta MSA housing prices are still dropping,
so

do we even need any more housing, anyway?

-jsq

Videos @ LCC 2012-12-10



A surprising amount of discussion at yesterday morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session,
on ZBOA appointment, alcohol Sunday sales, rezoning next to Moody,
and more.
They said nothing about the solid waste ordinance, however;
maybe they’ll table that loser again.
They vote tonight:

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor

Here’s

a video playlist of the Work Session,
followed by the agenda with the videos linked into it.


Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 December 2012.

Here’s

the agenda,
this time with links to the videos and some notes.

Continue reading →

Dollar General or not? @ LCC 2012-12-10



Is Naylor maybe going to get a Dollar General or something else,
if the unnamed applicant or applicants get their rezoning
with or without conditions?
None of that is clear from yesterday morning’s

Lowndes County Commission Work Session
for agenda item

7.c. REZ-2012-19 Naylor Dollar General, US Hwy 84 East, E-A to C-G, Well & Septic, ~2 acres.

County Planner Jason Davenport said:

The applicants have mentioned
trying to do a Dollar General at this site.
We believe that’s what they’re going to do,
but however whatever uses are allowed in C-G
would of course be allowed if it is approved
without any conditions.

He said they had the recommendations from the TRC and the
Planning Commission, but he didn’t say what they were.
The Planning Commission

recommended for,
apparently with the understanding that it was
for a Dollar General.
Davenport said there had been no further input since the Planning
Commission meeting.

The Commission could have staff submit written reports that
go in the agenda and minutes, like the Library Board does,
and then put those online as PDF or HTML linked to an HTML agenda,
like Glynn County
and Richmond County do, and we wouldn’t have to guess the
names of applicants or the details of rezoning requests.

Here’s

the video:


Dollar General or not?

Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 December 2012.

-jsq

Rezoning near Moody: fire code would prohibit a single entrance @ LCC 2012-12-10 @ LCC 2012-12-10



Commissioner Crawford Powell may have found solid grounds to deny
the proposed rezoning for a development near Moody AFB,
he revealed at

this morning’s Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

County Planner Jason Davenport explicitly linked this rezoning case,

7.a. REZ-2012-17 Lowndes Development, LLC, Davidson Rd MAZ II and MAZ III to R-10, County Water & Sewer, ~23.49 acres

to

the zoning text code amendment on the same meeting agenda.

7.d. TXT-2012-02 MAZ II Residential Density

He also mentioned the TRC (the Technical Review Committee
composed mainly of Lowndes County and Valdosta staff) had a split vote
on this item, although
he didn’t say how it was split.
And he said the Commissioners had the Planning Commission recommendation
before them,
although he didn’t mention the Planning Commission recommended against.

Commissioner Crawford Powell brought up a good point:

The fire department and the TRC say in the notes
that it fails to comply with fire rescue ingress-egress requirements.

Fire Chief Guyton appeared to confirm that was the case,
although since he wasn’t at a microphone, it’s hard to hear.
Commissioner Powell continued:

Continue reading →

Glimmers of open discussion about Moody AFB zoning by the County Commission @ LCC 2012-12-10



Lowndes County Commissioners had a small amount of open discussion about
the proposed changes to the zoning code related to Moody Air Force Base
at

their Work Session this morning.
However, most of the discussion was not about the changes currently proposed,
which the County Planner once again explicitly linked to a rezoning case
on the same agenda.
At least they discussed tabling the zoning code changes
until there could be more discussion.
They did not, however, say they would make drafts available to the public
or invite the public to discuss those drafts.

County Planner Jason Davenport introduced agenda item
7.d. TXT-2012-02 MAZ II Residential Density:

This text amendment is part of the response to
some of the questions that were raised with the additional rezoning.
At the end of the day what this text amendment is going to do
is to take that very outer blue color, the lightest color,
which is the MAZ-3, and recommend change the zoning to 1 acre.
Currently it’s 2 and a half acres.

He mentioned they missed the 30 day requirement to inform Moody AFB
by about a week, but Moody responded anyway.
Hm, that’s not what he said to the Planning Commission;
there he said

they had allowed 31 days.

Commissioner Richard Raines said he’d prefer to table this amendment
until next year, because:

I think there are other issues that we’ve discussed related to MAZ.
If you have a mobile home and it becomes unlivable,
under the restrictions you can’t replace it….

Chairman Ashley Paulk responded that he didn’t have a problem with that, and:

Continue reading →

More developer favors at the County Commission Work Session this morning? @ LCC 2012-12-10

At the 8:30 AM Work Session this morning,
will the Chairman


Clint Joyner and J.D. Yeager of Joyner Realty


Clint Joyner (speaking) and J.D. Yeager (seated on right)
of Joyner Realty at LCC Work Session 2012-11-12


invite Clint Joyner of Joyner Realty to speak
like he did last month, without inviting anybody else?
Will Chairman Ashley Paulk invite J.D. Yeager of Joyner Realty (and formerly
Sheriff Paulk’s lieutenant at the Sheriff’s office) to speak?
That plus
solid waste

(if privatization is bad for Moody, why is it good for a county public
health and safety service like solid waste collection?),
Dollar General

(where’s the marketing plan to indicate whether tiny Naylor needs the
area’s nineteenth Dollar General?),
Library,

(Houston County’s SPLOST passed in a landslide after they held
public hearings; maybe Lowndes County should try that),
and
Alcohol

(county staff say they’re coalescing previous changes into the body
of the ordinance),
all at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session this morning;
here’s the agenda.

When

he spoke 12 November 2012, Clint Joyner started by referring to
a nearby subdivision “In 2007”.
2007 was the year Mr. Joyner got

(according to the Commission’s minutes of 26 June 2007)
$130,000 in road construction labor from the Commission because of
“an unforeseen Department of Transportation requirement regarding a costly intersection improvement.”
Why couldn’t the County Engineer or Mr. Joyner forsee such a requirement?

This time many people

do forsee that rezoning to develop in the Moody Activity Zones
would be a bad idea.

Houston County is using state and local tax money to buy up houses
in similar zones around Warner Robins Air Force Base.
Doubtless Houston County would love it if Lowndes County encroached
enough on Moody AFB that Moody’s missions moved to Robins AFB.

-jsq

Solid Waste, Developer Favors, Dollar General, Library, and Alcohol: Agenda @ LCC 2012-12-10

Updates 9 Dec 2012: Marked with *.

Will the Lowndes County Commission Tuesday evening
finish railroading through their non-solution to solid waste disposal,


without shouldering its legal responsibility to protect
the environment and the public health, safety, and well-being from solid waste,
and what’s this about a vendor change?
Will the Chairman once again invite a developer to speak in Monday morning’s
Work Session without letting anyone else speak?
Will the Commission change the zoning code and rezone inside and against
the Moody Exclusion Zone for that same developer they already
provided $130,000 in road construction labor to back in 2007?
Does Naylor need the area’s nineteenth Dollar General, and who’s behind it, anyway?
How come the Five Points library is still on the agenda even though SPLOST VII failed?
And what are they doing to the Alcoholic Beverage Ordinance this time?
Come Monday morning at 8:30 AM and Tuesday evening at 5:30 PM and see!
Better yet, also call or write your Commissioner before then.

Trash

6.b. Solid Waste Ordinance

Will the Commissioners finish

railroading through their



already-failing non-solution to solid waste disposal
in the last session of this Chairman?
The plan for which they held

zero public hearings while any of
the Commissioners who voted on it this October were on the Commission,
yet someone down there feels free to

anonymously ridicule concerns about that plan failing?
Two citizens

spoke up anyway,
even though

Citizens Wishing to Be Heard
was after the scheduled vote last time,
and

another on this blog,
all willing to state their names, unlike the anonymous pro-trash-railroad
ridiculer.
What was that

unspecified new information
that caused them to table it last time, anyway?

8.b. Exclusive Franchise Agreement for Residential Solid Waste Collection Services with Advanced Disposal Services of Central Alabama, Inc.

What happened to Veolia;

Continue reading →