Tag Archives: Gretchen Quarterman

Traffic study? –John Page; Who pays? Richard Raines; Tax exemption –Demarcus Marshall @ LCC 2013-08-13

Traffic and taxes were discussed by Commissioners about REZ-2013-09 Moody Family
Housing on Val Del Road,


but none of them thought those topics important enough to make them conditions,
and they didn’t even discuss

use of local contractors
or

sinkholes

like the one in the Phase II site,
or the missing

geotechnical study
mentioned in the

USAF Draft Environmental Assessment whose comment period wasn’t even ended
when they voted
at

the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.


Traffic study? --John Page
As he had at the previous morning’s

Work Session,
Commissioner John Page wanted to know if that traffic study
was going to be required before the development could start.
Planning Commissioner Tommy Willis had also asked about that

back in July.
This time Page didn’t ask about GA 122 or anywhere other than
“Val Del and that area”.

Answer from County Engineer Mike Fletcher: Continue reading →

Karst subsidence beneath a house in Lowndes County –Don Thieme @ LCC 2013-08-13

Received yesterday on

Florida sinkholes spreading real estate effects in same Aquifer as under Lowndes County. -jsq


Scanning
John — Thank you for pressing forward on this important issue for the
airmen and their families at Moody AFB as well as for all citizens of
Lowndes County. My colleagues and I are also concerned and hope that we
can eventually obtain the Phase I geotechnical study. Of course, we have
our own research agendas as well as a desire to see our students working
on these problems close to their own university campus. In particular,
one of my undergraduate students just completed his thesis on karst
subsidence beneath a house in Lowndes County. Here is a link to a poster
where he presented those finding to our undergraduate research conference:

GPR Investigation of Subsidence.

-Don Thieme

Ground-Penetrating Radar Investigation of Subsidence

in Covered Karst near Valdosta

Benjamin Davis, Department of Physics, Astronomy, and Geosciences

Faculty Sponsor: Donald M. Thieme

Abstract

Continue reading →

How will Moody personnel go to housing on Val Del Road? –Gretchen Quarterman @ LCC 2013-08-13



Gretchen Quarterman said she was concerned not just about traffic on Val Del Road, but

Once they leave Val Del, how will they get to the base safely?

Also what happened at Nelson Hill,
just up Val Del Road, even though she was neither for nor against REZ-2013-09,
at

the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.


Gretchen Quarterman on REZ-2013-09 and Nelson Hill both on Val Del Road
She specifically expressed concerns about GA 122, Hambrick Road
and Radar Site Road, among others,
as she had done

at the Planning Commission.
The previous morning at the Work Session,

Commissioner John Page had asked about
McMillan Road and GA 122
and had gotten an answer from County Engineer Mike Fletcher
which only addressed Val Del Road.



Gretchen Quarterman also expressed concern about another development
out in the county going bad like Nelson Hill did,

with many of its 13 conditions not being met.

Here’s

the video:

Continue reading →

USAF Environmental Assessment for Moody Housing on Val Del Road (REZ-2013-09) @ LCC 2013-08-13

No geotechnical study was seen from the developer before
drawing the sinkhole buffers shown in the

the Air Force Draft Environmental Assessment
for

the proposed Moody Housing on Val Del Road,
just rezoned as

REZ-2013-09, PDF
courtesy of Prof. Michael Noll of VSU.
You can see sinkholes and wetlands in its maps:


Most of the site area, including all of the Phase I area subject of REZ-2013-09,
is colored for

medium wetland habitat quality: Continue reading →

Geotechnical conditions and maybe sinkholes –Michael Noll @ LCC 2013-08-13



A VSU professor
said he was in favor of the economic benefits,
but geotechnical issues should determine whether

the new Moody Housing on Val Del Road
(REZ-2013-09)
should be built, and those were still unclear,
at

the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

Dr. Michael Noll of VSU
said he was speaking because he had been referred to by previous speakers
(Jason Davenport
and
Tom Kurrie), and he was neither for nor against
REZ-2013-09.
Dr. Noll’s neither-in-favor-nor-against position seemed to puzzle
County Engineer Mike Fletcher.
Noll said he and his colleagues had looked at

the Environmental Assessment (EA)
which has been available at the public library
and concluded that they had a number of questions they’d like answered,
and he was sure the developers had similar concerns for safety of the project.

Dr. Noll
said they’d been trying to get a copy of the geotechnical analysis Continue reading →

Not botched like the old Moody housing –Tim Coombs @ LCC 2013-08-13



“Officers can’t even entertain guests at the houses they are living in”
said a Hahira business man,
at

the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session,
speaking in favor of

REZ-2013-09 for proposed new Moody Housing on Val Del Road.

Previously at the Planning Commission Coombs had

asked for use of local contractors
at this new Moody Family Housing project.


Both at GLPC and at this County Commission meeting Coombs
expressed concern about what he called that “botched” previous housing
project.
(Much more detail on Magnolia Grove
here.)
This time he said he thought the new project would be
“of great economic impact in a time when it is really needed”.
What happened to his concerns about use of local contractors?

Here’s

the video:

Continue reading →

Sinkholes at proposed Moody Family Housing? –Scott Rafshoon @ LCC 2013-08-13

All about public-private partnerships (PPP) and military rank waterfalls
by an Atlanta and K Street lawyer
at

the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
about

REZ-2013-09,
introduced by

local lawyer Tom Kurrie
to answer a question by

Commissioner John Page.


Scott Rafshoon

G. Scott Rafshoon of

McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP
of Atlanta and K Street in DC spoke for.
His law firm bio says in part:

G. Scott Rafshoon has a diverse legal practice that includes
corporate law, government affairs and project finance. Combining
these disciplines, Mr. Rafshoon is a leader in the Firm’s
public-private partnership (“P3”) practice….



Manages the Firm’s representation of Balfour Beatty Communities, a
subsidiary of Balfour Beatty plc, in the privatization of family and
unaccompanied personnel housing at military installations around the
country. To-date, Mr. Rafshoon has assisted Balfour Beatty with
privatizing facilities at 48 Army, Navy and Air Force installations
in 23 states and the District of Columbia, in separate transactions
valued at more than $4 billion.

This is apparently the same Continue reading →

Phase II of Moody Family Housing already has a sinkhole –Tom Kurrie @ LCC 2013-08-13

Tom Kurrie said Phase I has a structural issue and Phase II of
the proposed Moody Housing has a sinkhole,
at

the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.


Existing Sinkhole in Phase II of REZ-2013-09

Tom Kurrie spoke for
the rezoning for Phase I,

REZ-2013-09,
first giving something unknown to the County Clerk,
and then saying:

Bill Holland and I are the applicants,
we represent the owner of the property, the Howard Dasher Company,
as well as the developers of the property, Balfour Beatty Communities.

The ubiquitous Bill Holland had spoken the previous morning

in the Work Session.


Tom Kurrie

This time, Kurrie
said the project had been in the makings for over two years.
(Funny how the county didn’t tell us about it until they were ready
to rush it through.)
He said it was for “prestige housing” for base personnel.
He said it was unusual in being 8 miles west of Moody AFB.
He introduced Ron Nestor, Senior Vice President of Balfour Beatty,
and said it was a public-private partnership.
And use would be restricted to Air Force personnel.
We’d already heard about such restrictions at

the Planning Commission.
He said it would be a “gated community”.
We’ll see if that actually happens this time, unlike at
Nelson Hill just up Val Del Road;
you can see both locations on this map:


Kurrie also mentioned professor Noll and geotechnical issues such
as sinkholes, Continue reading →

Sinkholes at proposed Moody Family Housing? –Jason Davenport @ LCC 2013-08-13



County Planner Jason Davenport said he had heard concerns there could be
sinkholes under the proposed new military housing on Val Del Road,
but he recommended approval anyway,
at

the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

6.a.

REZ-2013-09 Moody Housing, Val Del Rd R-1 to Residential PD, LC Water & Sewer, ~64 acres

See

Work Session video
for context.


This time, County Planner Jason Davenport said “we have an updated copy on the screen” of the site plan.
He mentioned:



…there has been some communications between the applicant’s
agents and really professor Noll and possibly some other
colleagues at VSU about some of the geotechnical aspects of this site plan
I believe they might speak on the soils and possibly the

karst features
in this area or the sinkholes or potential for that.

Pictured here is the older site plan,
because County Clerk still hadn’t responded to Gretchen’s
Open Records Request of the previous morning.
State law says the county can take three days to respond,
which is great for developers, but not so good for the public.

Here’s

the video:

Continue reading →

Nelson Hill waivers by staff @ LCC 2013-08-13

Before

tonight’s vote on Moody Housing on Val Del Road,


maybe somebody should review
these administrative waivers from county staff for Nelson Hill,
one for the minimum lot size, and the other for setbacks for the lots along the “lake”.
I haven’t yet found who waived

the requirement for condominiums,
or for their fronts to be staggered,
or for them to be at least 1800 square feet,
or the traffic calming measures,
or how all this fits the submitted site plans,
nor for that matter what happened to
the gate or guards or the road connecting to Grove Point.
Maybe you can find those things in

the materials about Nelson Hill received in response to
an Open Records Request.
If staff can waive all these things without any of them coming up
again for a vote before the elected Commission in a public hearing,
why do we have the elected Commissioners vote in the first place?



Here’s a waiver for lot setbacks next to the pond

by Joe Pritchard “In my official capacity as County Manager”,
22 September 2009, for AAW-2009-06.

Here’s a waiver for minimum lot sizes

by Jason Davenport, County Planner, 18 July 2011, for AAW-2011-16:

Good afternoon. Based on recent questions from multiple parties
regarding Nelson Hill we thought it best to respond in writing to all.
For us the question is “Will the County require a minimum lot size in
Nelson Hill?” and our answer is Continue reading →