Tag Archives: Gretchen Quarterman

SPLOST VII Resolution and mystery proclamation and appointment @ LCC 2013-09-09

Presumably the SPLOST VII Resolution is to put it on the ballot in November. So much for those town halls that never happened. I’m guessing the ZBOA appointment is for the finally-expired term of Dave Kirk; they appointed John “Mac” McCall last December to the unexpired part of Kirk’s term, so McCall would be the odds-on reappointment. Maybe the Proclamation is for South Georgia Pride like Valdosta Mayor John Gayle refused to proclaim last year. Why do we have to guess what all those items are for, anyway? Why don’t they just make the agenda items descriptive, or, even better, link the board packet items in with the agenda? The two For Consideration items are more intelligible, but would still make more sense with those board packet materials.

Here’s the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Flood control measures encourage settling too close and provoke severe flooding events

Flood control to keep water out of houses seems like a good idea, but it turns out that it causes the flood control measures to keep needing to be raised higher, and it encourages people to build too close to flooding areas, plus “rare and catastrophic events take place”. Like the 2009 “700 year flood” and the four or more floods this year that have overflowed the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant. In our case, there are also the issues of widespread clearcutting and buildings and streets with impervious cover. The local runoff containment requirements in the various local government zoning codes may be like levees: “flood control structures might even increase flood risk as protection from frequent flooding reduces perceptions of risk”.

This encourages human settlements in floodplain areas, which are then vulnerable to high-consequence and low-probability events.
Much simpler just not to give out building permits for flood zones. Or we could put medical buildings right next to a creek, assuming because it’s never flooded it never will….

Socio-hydrology: conceptualising human-flood interactions, G. Di Baldassarre, A. Viglione, G. Carr, L. Kuil, J. L. Salinas, and G. Bloschl, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 3295–3303, 2013 doi:10.5194/hess-17-3295-2013, © Author(s) 2013. CC Attribution 3.0 License.

Abstract. Over history, humankind has tended to settle near streams Continue reading →

Developing across Two Mile Branch and a sidewalk @ VCC 2013-09-05

Magaret Ellen Hill is Employee of the month, and they rejected the sidewalk bids putting them out for rebid, after they unanimously approved the medical development to span One Two Mile Branch at the Valdosta City Council Regular Session of 5 September 2013.

Here’s the agenda, with links to the videos, and a few notes.

AGENDA
REGULAR MEETING OF THE VALDOSTA CITY COUNCIL
5:30 PM Thursday, September 5, 2013
COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL
  1. Opening Ceremonies
    1. Call to Order
    2. Invocation
    3. Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag
  2. Awards and Presentations
    1. Consideration of the September, 2013 Employee of the Month Award (Margaret Ellen Hill, Main Street Department).

      She helped extend Downtown Valdosta Farm Days by two months.

  3. Minutes Approval
    1. Valdosta City Council – Regular Meeting – Aug 22, 2013 5:30 PM

      Approved unanimously with no changes.

  4. Public Hearings

    UHS Pruitt VA-2013-12 CU-2013-02 Continue reading →

Dollar General (Teramore Development) @ GLPC 2013-08-26

Commissioner Franklin Bailey summed up the Dollar General proposal for Hahira:

There’s just a lot here we don’t have.

Hahira City Council votes tonight on the Teramore Development items, which are for a Dollar General (like the one in Naylor), as we discovered at the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission Regular Session 26 August 2013, even though the agenda doesn’t say. GLPC recommended for it, even though engineering details hadn’t been done for water management, the site plan wasn’t finalized, and no solution was proposed for Dollar General’s corporate habit of using sidewalks for cart storage, among many other issues.

309 W Main, Hahira, Tax Assessors map

Planning Commission Agenda for 2013-08-26, with links to the videos: Continue reading →

Pruitt Corp. across One Mile Branch and a sidewalk @ VCC 2013-09-05

The medical development to span One Mile Branch recommended by the Planning Commission is up for a vote tonight, along with sidewalk bids elsewhere, by the Valdosta City Council.

Plus September, 2013 Employee of the Month is Margaret Ellen Hill, Main Street Department.

Here’s the agenda:

AGENDA
REGULAR MEETING OF THE VALDOSTA CITY COUNCIL
5:30 PM Thursday, September 5, 2013
COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL
  1. Opening Ceremonies
    1. Call to Order
    2. Invocation
    3. Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag
  2. Awards and Presentations
    1. Consideration of the September, 2013 Employee of the Month Award (Margaret Ellen Hill, Main Street Department).
  3. Minutes Approval
    1. Valdosta City Council – Regular Meeting – Aug 22, 2013 5:30 PM
  4. Public Hearings
    1. Consideration of an Ordinance to rezone 4.96 acres from Single-Family Residential (R- 6) and (R-10) to Office-Professional (O-P) as requested by UHS Pruitt Corporation (File No. VA-2013-12). The property is located at 1501 North Lee Street. The Greater Lowndes Planning Commission reviewed this request at their August Regular Meeting and recommended approval (7-0 vote).
    2. Consideration of an Ordinance for a Conditional Use Permit to allow a Residential Care Facility in Office-Professional (O-P) zoning as requested by UHS-Pruitt Corporation (File No. CU-2013-02). The property is located at 1501 North Lee Street. The Greater Lowndes Planning Commission reviewed this request at their August Regular Meeting and recommended approval with five conditions (7-0 vote).
  5. Bids, Contracts, Agreements and Expenditures
    1. Consideration of bids for the Sidewalk Installation Project on Lamar Street and North Oak Street.
  6. City Manager’s Report
  7. Council Comments
  8. Citizens to be Heard
  9. Adjournment

-jsq

Medical development to span One Two Mile Branch in downtown Valdosta? @ GLPC 2013-08-26

That looks like a creek running through 1501 North Lee Street, as Valdosta City Council Sonny Vickers asked Tuesday and is on the Valdosta City Council agenda for a vote tonight, after being considered for a recommendation at the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission Regular Session 26 August 2013.

Matthew Woody wrote for the VDT yesterday, City discusses zoning request,

Councilman Sonny Vickers expressed concern about the facility being too close to the stream. He asked if the City approved this and there was a flood, would the City be liable. He asked if any of the surrounding areas have been flooded in the past, and Martin said that in the past 43 years, there has never been an issue.

And what about waste flowing downstream or into the aquifer?

Extract from the Planning Commission agenda with links to the videos:

CITY OF VALDOSTA CASES:

FINAL ACTION by the City of Valdosta Mayor-Council
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Valdosta City Hall, 216 E. Central Avenue, Valdosta, Georgia
Council Chambers, 2nd Floor
5:30 p.m.
  1. VA-2013-12 UHS Pruitt Corporation
    Property Location: 1501 North Lee Street (Parkwood Development Center)

    VA-2013-12: Adjacent

    Continue reading →

Minimum wage law increased to livable wage? @ VLCoC 2013-09-04

Rep. Scott doesn’t want any federal laws about employment.

Alvin Payton (Valdosta Mayor Pro Tem and City Council District 4) asked:

What is your view or your stance on this current minimum wage law being increased to livable wages?
This was at the Chamber Federal Legislative Lunch with Rep. Austin Scott (R GA-08) yesterday.

Minimum wage law being increased to livable wages? --Alvin Payton (D Valdosta Mayor Pro Tem)

Answer from Rep. Scott: Continue reading →

Moody Family Housing is in aquifer recharge zone @ LCC 2013-08-27

The Moody Family Housing just rezoned is in a recharge zone for our drinking water supply, the Floridan Aquifer. What will keep runoff from this subdivision from feeding through the wetlands and sinkhole into the aquifer? Should we depend on county engineering, which never put in the traffic calming measures required for nearby Nelson Hill, or other county staff, who gave waivers for other required items there, or just didn’t require them to be implemented? What assurances can we get from our county government that Moody Family Housing won’t pollute our drinking water?

WRPDO Title Alone The above map is a detail from Lowndes County’s own Water Resource Protection Districts Ordinance (WRPDO) overlay Map. Here’s an even more detailed view courtesy VALOR GIS (turn on Streams and Waterbodies, NWI Wetlands, Muncipal Boundaries, and Groundwater Rechard Areas): Continue reading →

Videos: New judge, river gauge, park deed, personnel costs, pest control, and retirement @ LCC 2013-08-27

Unanimous approval for a third no-bid contract this month for Lovell Engineering, this time for for a sports complex in Hahira, but surprisingly the opaque pest control bids were tabled indefinitely. Also unanimously approved were three new fine-processing positions for the Clerk of Court, the Little River stream gauge, The special presentation was for the retirement of Gene Roberts from Public Works. No mention of the previous morning’s presentations by Judge John Kent Edwards Jr. asking for a new State Court Judge or about fines moving from Sheriff to State Court. Dr. Michael Noll said Moody AFB once again couldn’t get access to the site for the Moody Family Housing the Commission already approved, despite the sinkhole on the adjoining land.

Here’s the agenda, with links to the videos and a few notes. See also videos of the previous morning’s Work Session.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Moody can’t get onto site for Moody Family Housing –Michael Noll @ LCC 2013-08-27

Dr. Michael G. Noll of VSU said representatives of Moody Air Force Base for the second time could not get permission to go on the site for the Moody Family Housing the Commission approved rezoning for two weeks before, at the 27 August 2013 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

He also handed the Commission and interested parties copies of a public comment he and VSU professors Don Thieme and Can Denizman had sent to USAF. Michael G. Noll handouts Plus the developer still refused to provide a copy of the geotechnical report the Air Force’s Environmental Assessment says the developer is required to send to the Air Force.

If there is nothing to hide, if there are no problems with possible developments of the area, why not share the report?

Two different people report seeing Commissioner Richard Raines catch Dr. Noll on the way out of the building and ask him what would be involved in doing the geophysical survey Dr. Noll has repeatedly asked to do.

See also Continue reading →