Tag Archives: History

County proceeding on a fixed library line @ LCC 2012-12-10



Scoring for library architect selection seems more rigorous now,
at yesterday morning’s

Lowndes County Commission Work Session.
But where are the scores?
And what are the names of the two finalists?
They vote or table tonight at 5:30 PM.

8.h. New Main Library — Construction Manager At Risk Selection

Project Manager Chad McCleod said
proposals had been received from nine firms,
and “using a score sheet with certain grading criteria”
staff narrowed them down to three offers.
Each firm gave a one-hour presentation last Friday to
the selection committee which again
“used certain grading criteria to score each firm”.
The top two scorers were Coffee[?] Construction and
Quillian Powell Construction.

I applaud actually using scoring, instead of what appeared to happen
for the main library architect selection, with

a relatively elaborate selection process including a scoring sheet
that then apparently wasn’t actually used in the architect selection.
But where are these filled-out score sheets for the applicants this time,
so we the taxpayers can see them?

The Commission could have staff

Continue reading →

Trash on the table again? @ LCC 2012-12-10

Will the County Commission table trash again,
or will they make a hasty decision to privatize,
granting a monopoly in a public-private partnership,
and leaving many people in the unincorporated parts
of Lowndes County to burn their trash, probably including
materials that the rest of us don’t want to breathe?
We can’t tell from yesterday morning’s

Lowndes County Commission Work Session.
They vote or table tonight at 5:30 PM.


6.b. Solid Waste Ordinance.


County Manager Joe Pritchard reminded the Commissioners
they tabled it last time.
Maybe they’ll table it again tonight.
They said nothing yesterday morning.

Here’s

Part 1 of 2:


Trash on the table again? Part 1 of 2:

Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 December 2012.


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

Staff finally told us publicly that

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Additional license fee for Sunday alcohol sales? @ LCC 2012-12-10



Why should businesses have to pay an additional license fee
for Sunday alcohol sales, if the only justification is
to raise money to pay for administering that license?
That was a topic at yesterday morning's

Lowndes County Commission Work Session
for agenda item
6.a.
Revision to the Lowndes County Alcoholic Beverage Ordinance.

Finance Director Stephanie Black mentioned the things

we already heard from the staff,

brown bagging,
social hosts (serving alcohol at private events to underage drinkers),
and the
Sunday package sales.
She said for the

voter-approved Sunday alcohol sales
the license fee would be $250,
plus a requirement for an immigration affidavit.
Commissioner Powell took exception to that additional license fee,
which would be on top of a license fee already necessary for the
rest of the week.
Black and Chairman Paulk defended it as necessary to collect
money to administer the license fee.
Powell wondered if they'd need the money if they didn't
have the license fee.
Paulk said the city of Valdosta charges $1000 for a Sunday license.
Powell said he disagreed with that, too.

Here's

the video:


Additional license fee for Sunday alcohol sales?

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

Privatization: if it’s bad for Moody AFB, it’s bad for county trash collection

Why is Lowndes County Chairman Ashley Paulk decrying alleged privatization
of Moody Air Force Base while promoting actual privatization
of a basic Lowndes County public service, trash collection?

Jason Shaefer wrote for the VDT
5 December 2012,

County disagrees with proposed zoning amendment,



Paulk alleged Moody’s intervention has prevented development
before—the establishment of a small schoolhouse within a
church near the base, for example, he said. He told the committee
that Moody had 30,000 acres to the east on which to build, and that
the air base has become “privatized.”

According to

the free dictionary:

pri·va·tize: To change (an industry or business, for example) from governmental or public ownership or control to private enterprise:

And yet at the

upcoming commission meeting,
Chairman Paulk will ask the commissioners to vote on this agenda item:

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



Seems to me that’s a privatization of one of our own county governmental
services.
Perhaps the commissioners will reconsider the “curbside only
by a private firm” path they are on and conduct some public hearings in an
effort to understand what the citizens might want in solid waste disposal.

-gretchen

Re: The proposed text amendments —Richard Raines

Richard Raines answered again.
He continues to be communicative and genial.
-gretchen

From: Richard Raines

To: Gretchen Quarterman

Subject: RE: Text Amendment

The motion to table the issue is made by the Commissioners. Chairman


Paulk thinks (and I agree) that this issue cannot be satisfactorily
settled by December 11th and that the new Commission should take it
up. It is not unusual for Chairman Paulk to weigh in on whether or
not we should table an item. Often times he is in a unique position
to give an informed opinion and in this case I concur.

The proposed text amendments, if approved, do not endanger Moody’s
mission or survival. If I have my way, the MAZ will be strengthened
in the areas closer to the base while easing development
restrictions in the areas furthest away. Even a cursory glance at
the ULDC and MAZ 1-3 reveals certain issues which must be addressed
in an effort to be equitable.

I reject the template which argues

Continue reading →

New biomass plant near Dublin, GA: what it’s really about

Not really about jobs, and not about feeding electricity into the grid:
the new biomass plant near Dublin, GA is about saving that company money on electricity: but at what cost to the state and to local residents?



Mike Stucka wrote for Macon.com 6 December 2012,

Deal announces $95 million biomass power plant for Laurens County,

A new biomass power plant announced Thursday is expected to bring
hundreds of related jobs and a direct $95 million investment.

A statement from the office of Gov. Nathan Deal said the plant
itself will bring 35 permanent jobs to Laurens County.

Compare 35 permanent jobs for $95 million to

MAGE SOLAR’s 350 jobs for $30 million.
That’s about $2,700,000 per job for this deal,
vs. $85,714 per job for MAGE SOLAR.
Which would make MAGE SOLAR’s facility more than 30 times more effective
at producing permanent jobs.

OK, but what’s this one supposed to do?

Continue reading →

Houston County has exclusion zones around Warner Robins AFB like the Lowndes County MAZ

Lowndes County is not

“the only community in the country with a MAZ”:
Houston County has very similar zones of encroachment protection around
Warner Robins Air Force Base (RAFB).

As we’ve already seen,

Houston County is buying up houses around RAFB
using $7.5 million from the state of Georgia.
That’s in addition to $6 million from Bibb County and
some unspecified amount from the Defense Department.
Plus Houston County
allocated $7 million from SPLOST funds,

and their SPLOST won by a landslide, apparently partly for that reason.

But what are

Warner Robins Air Force Base encroachment zones

those encroachment zones around Warner Robins AFB
depicted on the buyback map?
I called Houston County to find out.
Their Community Planner, Jacob Cox, said yes, Houston County
has crash zones, and noise attenuation zones in which they can
have businesses but not residences.

He pointed me to

The Robins Air Force Base and Middle Georgia
2004 Joint Land Use Study,
which notes:

The 2004 JLUS examines land issues as they relate to RAFB flying
missions and suggests measures to ensure compatible land use in the
Base environs now and into the future. The 2004 JLUS process
utilizes information provided in the 1998 RAFB Air Installation
Compatibility Use Zone study (AICUZ) to evaluate land use
compatibility and regulatory adequacy in areas subject to air hazard
potential and noise impact. Additional considerations related to air
navigation, including air protection surfaces are examined. Clear
Zones and Accident Potential Zones are all considered compatible
with AICUZ guidelines. Incidences of incompatible development are
predominantly restricted to a limited number of non-noise attenuated
residences built prior to 1994.

The results of the 2004 JLUS demonstrate that previously adopted
land use regulations have been effective in limiting incompatible
development within the Base environs. The 1994 adoption of the Base
Environs Zoning District (BEZD) model by the surrounding communities
has served to check most encroachment-type development. Only a very
low number of sporadic, isolated examples of noise-related
incompatible development was observed to have been built since
implementation of the BEZD land regulation strategy. Consistent
local government implementation of adopted provisions must be
maintained in order to continue to provide the protection necessary
to prevent incompatible development from restraining Base operations
in the future.

So as far back as 1994 the communities around RAFB were using zoning
to limit base encroachment.
The 1998 AICUZ recommended further
Clear Zones and Accident Potential Zones.
Why?
Mission changes at RAFB.
So the 2004 JLUS made recommendations and the local governments, including Houston County,
decided to go ahead and do something about it.

Continue reading →