Two presentations the Lowndes County Commission will hear tomorrow morning:
on Broadband and Fire Prevention.
That’s at the Work Session.
Tomorrow evening there will be a Proclamation on Operation Greenlight, whatever that is.
Most of the board packet consists of details on Enhanced and Basic Decorative Lighting Districts
and bids for aspects of renovation of the historic Lowndes County Courthouse.
There are also items on repairing lightning damage to the Public Safety Radio System,
a grant acceptance, and a service provider. Continue reading →
The Commissioners unanimously denied the rezoning for the
subdivision on Miller Bridge Road.
Applicants spoke a minute over their time, yet did not present the slides
they said the previous morning they were going to present;
we include scans of those slides here for historical reference,
for when the next subdivision like this comes up, next week or next year.
Commissioners unanimously approved the other two rezonings.
Commissioner Mark Wisenbaker wanted to know if this was for private wells.
County Planner JD Dillard said the application was for a community well,
and while the lots were big enough for private wells, the soils had
not been tested for that.
Don Powell spoke for the applicant.
Jesse Bush also spoke for, listing many things they were not there to talk about,
including aquifer recharge or community wells.
He said the only question was six homes (which the landowner can do by right anyway) or twelve homes.
Chairman Bill Slaughter cut them off saying he’d given them an extra minute,
and he’d give the other side an extra minute.
Brad Folsom spoke against on behalf of a room full and a 360-signer petition of opponents.
He reminded the Commissioners that the subject property was in an Agricultural and Forestry Character Area.
While R-A was permissible in such an Area, it was not appropriate.
He discussed nearby zonings and lots that had been brought up by staff previously.
Among the many other points he brought up was flooding would be exacerbated by tree cutting and paving for a subdivision.
He reminded the Commissioners that they had told him they did not want any more community well systems.
Somebody else (unnamed, but see below) speaking against said it would be spot zoning.
He said he owned 320 acres and had been there for more than a hundred years.
This rezoning would change the character of the community and would be
a precedent for other rezonings.
He said he owed this community a debt and he would like to repay it.
Elton D. Redding, 7649 Webb Road, representing the Redding property,
John L. Redding his brother.
Demarcus Marshall moved to deny, Mark Wisenbaker seconded, unanimous vote to deny.
Unanimously voted down: Miller Bridge Road subdivision @ LCC 2022-02-08
Lowndes County Commission Regular Session, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Lowndes County adheres to Local and State standards when in the Groundwater Recharge Area
Notable Developments in Recharge Area in Lowndes County)
Landfill
Kinderlou Forest and Foxborough Subdivisions
Valdosta Regional Airport
Moody Airforce Base
City of Dasher
City of Lake Park and surrounding area
Lake Park Industrial Park
While probably all these points are true (I haven’t checked each location),
most of them precede current concerns about groundwater recharge,
and there is no need to make the problem worse.
Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!
The developer of the proposed
5.c. REZ-2022-03 Windy Hill Subdivision, 7532 Miller Bridge Rd.
plans to make a presentation this evening at the voting Regular Session,
we heard at yesterday morning’s February 7, 2022, Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission.
Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, with a few notes by Gretchen, who was there, followed by a LAKE playlist.
See also the agenda and board packet,
and that post has links to the previous relevant meetings and materials.
On the agenda for tomorrow morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session,
county staff included the petition against
REZ-2022-03 Windy Hill Subdivision, 7532 Miller Bridge Rd..
County staff note “RECOMMENDED ACTION: Board’s Pleasure or Deny”,
unlike the other two options, where the second option is “Approve”.
Those who do not want that rezoning to pass would do well to contact their Commissioners before the meetings, and then show up at the meetings,
or at least the Tuesday 5:30 PM voting Regular Session.
As usual, county staff say rezonings do not cost the county anything.
Nevermind that subdivisions far from county services will never pay enough
in property taxes to fund sending school buses, fire trucks, and Sheriff vehicles,
so all the taxpayers subsidize those costs.
At yesterday morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session,
there was no discussion by the Commissioners about
5.k. Property Purchase – Building Valdosta, LLC,
but new wrinkles did come to some small light.
County Manager Paige Dukes said
“This is a follow up on the Building Valdosta purchase of property we have discussed with you several times…”
In what public meeting did those discussion take place?
She also said the county attorney had worked out an agreement with Building Valdosta, yet that agreement was not in the board packet.
And she remarked, “Any other claims related to this will continue through, um, any process with ACCG that they may have for lost profits.”
She immediately called for
an Executive Session for “Client-privileged communication regarding potential or pending litigation and for the purchase of property.”
Sounds like the county got sued by a developer, or was threatened with a lawsuit, and is resolving that by bailing out the developer with half a million of our tax dollars.
But the County Commission agenda does contain
two examples of how taxpayers are subsidizing development in Lowndes Counta.
The $45,742.00 for the
5.d. Nelson Hill Lift Station Pump Upgrade is “Due to growth in the area”: growth the county is actively promoting.
The $568,971.00 for
5.k. Property Purchase – Building Valdosta, LLC is
a markup of $323,971 over the price that property sold for last year,
supposedly to protect Moody AFB, even though how is not said and it’s 2.4 miles away.
On the one hand, I commend Lowndes County Utilities for staying ahead of
sewer system demand and thus preventing sewage spills.
On the other hand, look at why the agenda sheet says: Continue reading →
Below are LAKE videos of each agenda item with a few notes, followed by a LAKE video playlist.
See also
the agenda and the Hahira agenda packet item.
The packet items for the four Lowndes County cases are
also on the LAKE website,
received Wednesday, two days after the GLPC meeting, in response to a LAKE open records request.
We look forward to the county putting its board packets online like many other
counties in Georgia and Florida have been doing for years. Continue reading →
Very unusual: two Commissioners
commented at the end.
Chairman Bill Slaughter had already been quite clear that the new fire department millage was
to aid population growth in unincorporated parts of the county.
Mark Wisenbaker thought the fire department millage was premature
because it did not consider land with no structures, agricultural land, etc.
He was the only Commissioner to vote against
5.l. Adoption of Unincorporated Fire Millage.
Clay Griner thought it was something they could improve as they go along.
None of them mentioned that the fire millage applies to personal property
as well as to real estate (land).
At least one of the Commissioners was unaware of this,
and, since none of them ever seem to have mentioned it to the public,
I’d bet the public is unaware unless they carefully examined their property tax statements.
Applying that fire millage also to personal property is apparently how they kept it as low as they announced in the
millage rate hearing.
Nevermind such a personal property millage falls heaviest on companies
with the most personal property, which would likely be Packaging Corporation of America (PCA), commonly known as the paper mill at Clyattville.
It’s not clear that companies with much personal property are the most in need of new fire services.
The County’s support of unincorporated growth
apparently includes building next to wetlands, or in areas
the Army Corps of Engineers recently declared not to be wetlands,
since that had
just been discussed
by County Manager Paige Dukes and the Chairman.
Local governments must ensure balanced growth, as
sprawling residential growth is a certain ticket to fiscal ruin*
* Or at least big tax increases.
Trees and crops don’t call the Sheriff or the Fire Department much and don’t need school buses,
but subdivisions do,
so forestry and agriculture are far more cost-effective in tax collection vs. services.
The Lowndes County Commission votes tonight at 5:30 PM, after minimal discussion yesterday morning.
At the end of yesterday morning’s Work Session,
County Manager Paige Dukes
asked for an Executive Session
to discuss pending litigation, plus a bigger than usual room to meet in,
due to wanting many department heads there.
Earlier, Chairman Bill Slaughter asked
to add an agenda item for sale of real property to the Industrial Authority.
There was no discussion of this item, simply the addition of the item to the agenda for the voting session. Apparently all the commissioners know all about this from some executive session. The public knows nothing.
Three million dollars for discussion this morning and voting tomorrow evening
at the Lowndes County Commission, including
an emergency manhole repair, 911 consoles, and roads north of Moody AFB.
Plus more expenses will come from accepting two subdivision roads
plus two dirt roads as county roads.
And the never-ending Lake Alapaha subdivision water treatment plant, which has attracted a GA-EPD Consent Order.
The County will be reducing the overall millage rate, while adding the
the unincorporated fire millage.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, AUGUST 23, 2021, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2021, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
![[Collage @ LCC Packet 2022-11-07]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-11-07--lcc-packet/many.jpg)
![[WINDY HILL SUBDIVISION, Lowndes County Rezoning Application, REZ-2022-03]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-02-08--lcc-videos/REZ-2022-03-applicant-slides-0001.jpg)
![[Requested Zoning Change]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-02-08--lcc-videos/small/REZ-2022-03-applicant-slides-0002.jpg)
![[WINDY HILL SUBDIVISION CHARACTERISTICS]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-02-08--lcc-videos/small/REZ-2022-03-applicant-slides-0003.jpg)
![[Location of Property]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-02-08--lcc-videos/small/REZ-2022-03-applicant-slides-0004.jpg)
![[Justification for Zoning Request]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-02-08--lcc-videos/small/REZ-2022-03-applicant-slides-0005.jpg)
![[Zoning map]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-02-08--lcc-videos/small/REZ-2022-03-applicant-slides-0006.jpg)
![[OPPOSITION POINTS ADDRESSED (1 of 3)]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-02-08--lcc-videos/small/REZ-2022-03-applicant-slides-0007.jpg)
![[OPPOSITION POINTS ADDRESSED (2 of 3)]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-02-08--lcc-videos/small/REZ-2022-03-applicant-slides-0008.jpg)
![[OPPOSITION POINTS ADDRESSED (3 of 3)]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-02-08--lcc-videos/small/REZ-2022-03-applicant-slides-0009.jpg)
![[Chairman and Miller Bridge Road rezoning]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-02-07--lcc-videos/many.jpg)
![[Miller Bridge Road rezoning: Petition, Opposition parcels; Bemiss Road rezoning]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-02-07--lcc-packet/many.jpg)
![[Joyce Evans presiding]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-01-24--lcc-videos/many.jpg)
![[Agenda, Nelson Hill Lift Station]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-01-24--lcc-packet/many.jpg)
![[Godfrey, Hahira, Tower, Sineath]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/glpc/2021-10-25--glpc-videos/many.jpg)
![[Hightower Road, Fire Millage, Mud Swamp Road, Commissioner Comments]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2021-08-24--lcc-regular/many.jpg)
![[Alcohol, Subdivision, Communications]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2021-08-23--lcc-packet/many.jpg)