Gretchen Quarterman also spoke against the proposition, citing that
extending residential areas further out into undeveloped Lowndes County
would create greater strain on an already tight fiscal operating budget.
Schoolchildren, safety, and farmland: three topics that often seem forgotten in discussions of development.
Opposing the
proposed rezoning for Notthinghill,
neighbor Thomas E. Stalvey Jr. noted
that traffic on Cat Creek Road
is already a problem, and adding a subdivision would make it worse.
He noted that it’s traffic routed down Cat Creek to Moody that
accounts for a lot of it.
He said school children stood out on the road and they were already in danger.
“If we put 49 more houses out there, it’s just going to up the risk.”
The only real public dialog about unification or education that
I’ve heard of
was at the May 2011 Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP) meeting,
organized by LCDP Chair Gretchen Quarterman.
You can see it either of two ways:
Through the YouTube video
playlist.
Each video has a link to the relevant blog post.
School unification dialog at Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP)
Videos by John S. Quarterman, Jim Parker, Gretchen Quarterman, 2 May 2011.
At that LCDP meeting I pointed out
that the CUEE education committee was not scheduled to report back
until after the proposed referendum vote, and nobody had any rebuttal.
Somebody finally called a developer’s bluff!
Answering Commissioners’ questions about
his opposition to rezoning for Nottinghill on Cat Creek Road,
Calvin Marshall did what I’ve never seen anyone do before in opposing a subdivision:
he upped the ante.
Commissioner Richard Raines said he would require Nottinghill lots to have:
“Not perhaps, but a fence around the edge of the property.
…
Need to make sure that bicycles and fourwheelers, that children are not playing
in a field that is used to grow crops.”
Seems fair, except that he seemed to be talking about each individual
eventual property owner having to put up a fence, and I can tell you by
experience that that won’t happen without the neighboring landowner
personally insisting to each lot owner.
Unless the Commission insists that county code enforcement actually
enforce such a condition, which would be a good thing for a change.
Then Commissioner Raines asked Calvin Marshall:
“Is it still your position that 12-15,000 square foot lots are OK?”
Neighboring landowner demolishes developers’ arguments; explains agriculture to Lowndes County Comission.
Neighboring landowner Calvin Marshall,
speaking against rezoning for
REZ-2011-10 Nottinghill,
said neighbors,
“We’re not interested in a Bluepool,
We’re not interested in a Chatham Place.
And we’re certainly not interested in what they built out on Val Del Road.
We’ve also looked at what they’ve done with Old Pine,
and we’re definitely not interested in that, either.
Too small lots, small homes.”
That last one is presumably
Glen Laurel,
which had a roomful of neighbors opposing it last year.
Calvin Marshall asked for the Commissioners to deny the Nottinghill
rezoning request.
He also asked:
“The other thing that we asked the developer … what you going to do about
the neighbors that have got a farm on each side?
What kind of buffer are you going to put there?
…
We farm that land, we grow crops,
we run cows,
we run goats,
we run hogs,
and we’re going to continue to do that.
…
We don’t have an answer as to what they’re going to do for a buffer.”
Calvin Marshall continued with the economic argument:
“There’s three or four generations of property owners in this room tonight.
These people go back for three or four generations.
And these people have worked hard.
County Planner Jason Davenport introduced REZ-2011-10 Nottinghill, Cat Creek Rd, 0144 0255-0258, ~15.75 ac., 49 lots, Co W/S, R-1 to R-10.
He said the TRC recommended approval with a condition,
the Planning Commission recommended approval with a different condition,
and now staff preferred requiring a minimum lot size of 12,000 square feet.
Nottinghill, Cat Creek Road, rezoning —Jason Davenport
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 12 July 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
It was during the meeting, as in this video.
I was confused because I left the room briefly and didn’t see it.
Fortunately, Gretchen had a camera going.
I was disinvited to be on Black Crow radio —Ashley Paulk
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 12 July 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
The town of Quartzsite, AZ, population 3,466, is in disarray after a
video showing police hauling away a citizen for speaking at the town
meeting podium went viral. The woman was saying that the town council
had been violating open meeting laws.
It was the second citizen arrested at a Quartzsite town meeting in two weeks.
Should it take more than six months to find the county ordinances
that code enforcement needs?
Gretchen Quarterman thanked County Clerk Paige Dukes for
helping her in the “neverending answering to my list of questions.”
She noted that:
The chairman thinks I’m badgering,
but really I’m not.
This body makes ordinances, and
some of the ordinances are on the website.
If you
go to the state website, and find out where all the laws of the state are;
go to the city of Valdosta’s website, and find out where all the laws of Valdosta are.
Go to our website and only find out some of the ordinances.
Paige says she has been diligently working on this
and I absolutely positively believe her.
And I know it’s very complicated
But I really encourage y’all as a body
— I’m not trying to tell you how to do your job —
but to keep the business of our county in order.
Thank you.
She’s been trying to get public access to all the ordinances since December.
The county doesn’t even have a list of all the ordinances.
Should it take more than six months to find the local laws
that code enforcement needs?
Chairman Ashley Paulk and 2 of 3 voting Commissioners, Crawford Powell and Richard Raines,
are businessmen.
Could they run a business when resolutions of the board were nowhere
to be found?
Paulk and Pritchard wrapped up the budget hearing,
quite well, except at the very end,
when about 2 seconds were allowed for citizens to say they
wanted to speak before the hearing was ended.
So that’s two budget hearings with no citizen input:
the first one nobody knew about,
and this one where nobody was permitted to speak.
Chairman Ashley Paulk thanked county employees for their cooperation.
He noted that even the constitutional officers, who could appeal
their budgets, had not.
He noted the jail accounted for about half the sheriff’s budget,
calling it an expensive operation.
He said that his office had accounted for 3 of the 8 layoffs
last time, and fortunately there were no more this time.
He said:
Continue reading →
David Rodock wrote in the VDT 13 July 2011,
Citizens speak against Cat Creek crowding:
She referred to a report County Planner Jason Davenport
commissioned from
Prof. Jeffrey H. Dorfman of UGA,
Local Government Fiscal Impacts of Land Use in Lowndes County,
December 2007,
in which he recommended development close in to existing services
for the most benefit to all parties.
As
Prof. Dorfman has said,
“Local governments must ensure balanced growth, as sprawling residential growth is a certain ticket to fiscal ruin*
