Tag Archives: Hotchkiss Landing

Make sure people in my age group know who they’re voting for —Brett Huntley @ LCC 2013-02-26



Brett Huntley responded
to the Commission's mysterious ruling against the public
at the

26 Febuary 2013 Lowndes County Commission meeting,
to close the only public access to the Alapaha River in Lowndes County.
Neither County Manager Joe Pritchard nor County Engineer Mike Fletcher
were paying any attention.

I would like to publicly say that I am shocked with the decision.
I feel the decision was in favor of a sole person, and not in the
interests of the community and the citizens.
We tried to speak and explain our side of the story.
And the county road has not ceased to be used.
It's been being used in our county for over 100 years.
I feel your guys just made a decision that will have an impact
on our culture and heritage in the community that is not good.
It's a bad decision, I feel.

I kind of feel hurt.
I feel it's a personal thing for our community.
That whole road abandonment idea stems from one sole person

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Please deny the closure of County Road 16 leading to the Alapaha River —three neighbors

Received today; they sent it to all the Commissioners. -jsq

To the Lowndes County Commission:

It has been quite an experience dealing with the proposed closing of


a portion of County Road 16. Our quaint spot on the river in Naylor,
Lowndes County is something that can easily be taken for granted,
but it is something that should be treasured and appreciated by the
entire county. While we have learned a rich history about Naylor and
the County Road proposed to be closed, we will not encumber you with
these details. We will let you know in this letter the laws and
reasons why the proposal should be denied.

First off, the landowner did not legally own the land when he made
his request for the closing of the road. The legal date this
property was deeded to Phillip Connell is February 8, 2013. The day
his request was made is unknown because the letter sent had the date
whited out and is an exact copy of the September 10, 2010 letter he
submitted. It is known that the proposal for a public hearing was
made in the Commission meeting January 22, 2013. The county should
not be hearing this proposal for being misled by Phillip Connell.
Why instead is the County claiming that a legal transaction for this
land occurred 2 or 3 years ago and now has extended it to 3 or 4
years ago? Where is the proof for this claim?

Second, the landowner’s claim about liability, trash and trespassing
is

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Reconsider closing this road —James Manes

Received today; he sent it to all the Commissioners. -jsq

James
Manes 107 Shiloh Rd. Ray City,
GA 31605

Regarding
Regular session held Jan 22, 2013; Agenda 7 B, a request for road
abandonment, I would like to state my opinion.

The
road abandonment was to close a section of County Road 16 Old State
Road. I feel this issue is not a open and shut case.

The
county has determined “the road has been ceased to be used by the
public”, and has no “substantial public purpose”.

I
am aware the law (32-7-2 a) states “The department must confer with
the governing authority of the county’s or municipalities
(Unincorporated Naylor GA.), and give due consideration to their
wishes in such abandonment.”

I
have not been able to find any public records of

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Video: two appointments, a public hearing, and two grants @ LCC 2013-02-25



Newsflash! “no new information” and “questions were resolved” about
the proposed abandonment of Old State Road at Hotchkiss Landing
on the Alapaha River, according to the Commission.
They vote tonight at 5:30 PM.

Dr. Bill Grow talked for fifteen minutes about

South Health District,
and managed not to ask the county for money, although the Health Dept.
clearly could use some.
Ashley Tye reported on
local weather conditions
and the county’s Code Red
emergency warning system, in which lack of Internet access by
some county residents came up.

It’s J. Glenn Gregory again for the

South Regional Joint Development Authority
and
Commissioner Joyce Evans for the

Southern Georgia Area Agency on Aging Advisory Council.
They are applying for a grant for the county’s MIDS
bus system and reapplying for a CDBG grant for Second Harvest.

Here’s

the agenda, with links to the videos and some notes,
followed by a video playlist.



LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2013, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2013, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

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Proposed abandonment of a portion of County Road 16/Old State Rd. —Brett Huntley @ LCC 2013-02-25

Received today; he sent it to all the Commissioners. -jsq

To the commission on the proposed idea of road abandonment on County
Rd. #16:



On the morning of 2/25/13 after the county commission’s morning work
session, my wife and I spoke with Joyce Evans and Bill Slaughter on
some of our concerns and new found technical information about road
abandonment, Georgia state waterways, and what the county and state
are expected to protect.

During our conversation we were told that for unexplained legal
reasons the county would have to give the road back to the land
owner. At this time my thoughts and questions come back to: Why if
for legal reasons do we have to give the land back or away, and why
are we even having to have a public hearing on this matter, if the
public has no say?

Also during this conversation Bill mentioned

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Water trails for economic benefit —Bret Wagenhorst

This letter demonstrates many public uses of the Alapaha River at
Hotchkiss Crossing by everyone from Boy Scouts to doctors,
and indicates economic benefits of water trails. -jsq



February 4, 2013

Lowndes County Board of Commissioners

327 North Ashley Street – 3rd Floor

Valdosta, GA 31601

RE: Hotchkiss landing closure

Dear Commissioners:

I have lived in the
South Georgia region for the past 16 years. I am also a practicing
physician and have a love of the out of doors, especially canoeing,
camping and hiking. I also serve on the board of

WWALS Watershed Coalition,
a local river advocacy group trying to promote awareness
and preservation of our local rivers. It has recently come to my
attention that you are considering the potential closure of the
Hotchkiss landing site along the Alapaha River near Naylor. I would
like to put in a word in favor of keeping the landing site open.

I have canoed dozens of
different sections of the Alapaha River from north of Tifton all the
way to Statenville, as well as portions that join with the Suwanee
River in Florida. Without a doubt, one of the most fun and scenic
sections to paddle is from the put-in near Burnt Church outside of
Lakeland down to the Hotchkiss landing. I have taken various groups

Continue reading →

Agenda: two appointments, a public hearing, and two grants @ LCC 2013-02-25



The county’s website,

down earlier today,
is back up, so we can see there is a Work Session this morning, with voting
at the Regular Session tomorrow evening at 5:30 PM.
The proposed abandonment of Old State Road at Hotchkiss Landing
on the Alapaha River,

tabled two weeks ago,
is on the agenda, although

the Georgia Supreme Court makes me wonder why.
One of the two appointments is to the
South Regional Joint Development Authority

which Andrea Schruijer mentioned at the most recent VLCIA board meeting.
Another is to the
Southern Georgia Area Agency on Aging Advisory Council.
I’m guessing one person to each agency; the agenda doesn’t say
how many nor who the candidates are.
Here’s

the agenda. -jsq

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2013, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2013, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

County can’t “lawfully vacate a public street or highway for the benefit of a private individual” —Georgia Supreme Court

While I don’t know if the proposed closing of the end of Old State Road
leading to Hotchkiss Landing at the Alapaha River is even on the agenda
for this morning’s Work Session (Clarification: Monday 25 Feb 2013; they vote 5:30 PM Tuesday 26 Feb 2013), because

the county’s website is down and I can’t retrieve an agenda,
in case it is, it may be of interest to know that the Georgia Supreme
Court appears to have explicitly forbidden what the county is proposing to do.

Georgia Supreme Court,

GRIFFITH v. C & E BUILDERS,
231 Ga. 255 (1973),
200 S.E.2d 874:

Held:

1. “When a grantor sells lots of land, and in his deeds describes
them as bounded by streets, not expressly mentioned in the deeds,


but shown upon a plat therein referred to as laid out in a subdivision
of the grantor’s land, he is estopped to deny the grantees’ right to
use the streets delineated in such plat. Ford v. Harris [95 Ga. 97,
22 SE 144]; Schreck v. Blun, 131 Ga. 489 (62 SE 705); Wimpey v. Smart,
137 Ga. 325 (73 SE 586); Gibson v. Gross, 143 Ga. 104 (84 SE 373). By
parity of reasoning those claiming under such conveyances are estopped
from denying the existence of the streets so delineated upon the
plat of the subdivision and given as boundaries of lots acquired by
these and others from the grantor or those claiming under him. All
persons claiming under such grantor are forever estopped to deny their
existence. 19 CJ 928, § 127 (b).” Tietjen v. Meldrim, 169 Ga. 678, 697
(151 SE 349); Davis v. City of Valdosta,223 Ga. 523 (156 S.E.2d 345).

I am not a lawyer, but I wonder what a lawyer would say 1. above implies
about the county

doing nothing about a blocked public road?

But the Georgia Supreme Court didn’t stop there:

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Georgia Recreational Use Statute



Suppose you owned land next to a river.
You might have concerns about liability for people getting out of
canoes or kayaks onto your land.
But you’re in luck!
Georgia state law says you’re not liable for most things that could happen.

The Georgia Recreational Use Statute is in

O.C.G.A. §51-3-20 through §51-3-26.
Here are a few excerpts.

§51-3-20. Purpose of article

The purpose of this article is to encourage owners of land to make
land and water areas available to the public for recreational
purposes by limiting the owners’ liability toward persons entering
thereon for recreational purposes.

Does that include boating?

Continue reading →

Tabled for two weeks: proposed Old State Road to Alapaha River @ LCC 2013-02-12

The good news: they didn’t close the road to Hotchkiss Crossing
at the Alapaha River.

Lowndes County Water Resource Protection Districts Ordinance (WRPDO) Overlay Map
They tabled it until their next meeting, which is in two weeks,
26 February 2013. Video will follow tomorrow, in which you will
see the room was packed, mostly with people opposed to the road closing,
some from as far away as Tifton.
All concerned now have two weeks to absorb all the new information
and work out a solution.

Below is what I sent to the Lowndes County Commission at
Commissioner Joyce Evans’ request before the meeting tonight,
followed by a bit more information.

Subject: River Corridor Protection Plan

Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:49:50 -0500

Dear Commissioners and County Planner,

When I was talking to Joyce Evans just now, I mentioned the
100 foot natural vegetative buffer state law requires
local governments to establish next to perennial rivers.
Here is a summary of the state law, the definition it contains,
the GA EPD rules, and some notes on the relevant parts of
the Lowndes County Comprehensive Plan.

Continue reading →