Tag Archives: Johnson Road

Videos: DBHDD appointments, VAWA, Juvenile Justice, Naylor Tower Top Amp, LMIG Resurfacing @ LCC Regular 2025-04-22

It is mysterious why

7.b. Val Del Rd and N. Valdosta Rd. Intersection improvement was only

added in this Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.
They’ve been leading up to it for a long time.
Apparently the two bids were only opened the previous day;
I thought bid openings were scheduled.


[Collage @ LCC 21 April 2025]

Collage @ LCC 21 April 2025

In this meeting, they talked about that intersection for almost seven minutes,
which is very long for this body.
The intersection will completely close starting May 27,
probably for most of the summer.
It will end up with two lanes going north, and three lanes going south: one left only, one left or straight, one right only.

The old US 41 North facebook group has renamed itself to follow this development

https://www.facebook.com/LowndesCoHwy41WideningRoadProjectUpdates

Second longest was Continue reading →

Videos: DBHDD appointments, VAWA, Juvenile Justice, Naylor Tower Top Amp, LMIG Resurfacing @ LCC Work 2025-04-21

Update 2025-04-29:
Videos: DBHDD appointments, VAWA, Juvenile Justice, Naylor Tower Top Amp, LMIG Resurfacing @ LCC Regular 2025-04-22.

It took 14 minutes, the Monday morning Work Session.
Much of that the Lowndes County Commission spent on the LMIG road resurfacing item
and on the two court grant items.

They voted this evening at 5:30 PM: LAKE videos to come.


[Collage @ LCC 21 April 2025]

Collage @ LCC 21 April 2025

At the Work Session, Lowndes County Commissioner Michael Smith volunteered for one of the two posts
available on

5.a. Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD),
with Juliana Powell having already applied for one of them.

Commissioner Demarcus Marshall wanted to know whether there were any problems
with DEI on the

6.a. Acceptance of the VAWA Continuation Grant Award for 2025.
Nobody seemed to know, or to address the question.

Commissioner Marshall asked a similar question about

6.b. FY2026 Juvenile Justice Incentive Grant Application.
County Manager Paige Dukes said basically that with things changing daily
in the federal goverment, nobody knows.
Commissioner Michael Smith had a question about service areas.

There was some chit-chat about

6.c. Emergency Purchase – Naylor Tower Top Amp Replacement.

There was some discussion of districts, specific roads, and state funding,
after
Commissioner Wisenbaker asked to have the list of roads being repaved read out for

7.a. 2025 LMIG Resurfacing Bids (Project #: ENG 2025-01).

Here are LAKE videos of each agenda item, with a few comments by Gretchen Quarterman,
followed by a LAKE video playlist. Continue reading →

Packet: DBHDD appointments, VAWA, Juvenile Justice, Naylor Tower Top Amp, LMIG Resurfacing @ LCC 2025-04-21

Update 2025-04-22:
Videos: DBHDD appointments, VAWA, Juvenile Justice, Naylor Tower Top Amp, LMIG Resurfacing @ LCC Work 2025-04-21.

It’s a pretty light agenda for the Lowndes County Commission Work Session
Monday morning, April 21, with voting the Regular Session Tuesday evening, April 22.

Two posts are open with only one applicant for appointment to the
Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD).

There is a regular court grant renewal and an application for another.

Lightning caused the
Emergency Purchase – Naylor Tower Top Amp Replacement.

And there are road resurfacing projects using state and SPLOST funds.


[Collage @ LCC Packet 2025-04-21]

Collage @ LCC Packet 2025-04-21

Of those projects, two are mostly or completely reimbursed from funds outside the county.
So it is hard to add them up in a simple table like this.

Cost What
$-36,776.00 Emergency Purchase – Naylor Tower Top Amp Replacement (Capital funding)
$-342,493.00 FY2026 Juvenile Justice Incentive Grant Application (reimbursed by CICC)
$-1,478,673.94 2025 Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant (LMIG) Resurfacing Bids (Funding: SPLOST/LMIG)
$-1,857,942.94 Total

Here is the

agenda.

The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request,
is
on the LAKE website.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 21, 2025, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2025, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Unanimously voted down: Miller Bridge Road subdivision @ LCC 2022-02-08

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.

They also unanimously approved

6.a. Transportation Investment Act (TIA) Local Project – Coleman Road NW
and

6.b. Transportation Investment Act (TIA) Local Project Kinderlou-Clyattville Rd.
Road building and improvement projects attract subdivisions.
But the opponents to the Miller Bridge Road subdivision had

already left after that one item.
Chairman Bill Slaughter mentioned that the crowd was gone in

6.c. Internal Network Firewalls.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, with a few notes,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.
See also the
LAKE videos of the previous morning’s Work Session,
the
agenda and board packet
and the
LAKE videos of the preceding Planning Commission meeting,
as well as
Secrecy of Lowndes County Commission and Staff.

Here’s

a LAKE video playlist:



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),

Applicant Slides REZ-2022-03 Miller Bridge Road

How did we get them? The County Manager handed them to LAKE’s Gretchen Quarterman at the previous morning’s Work Session.

Images below (apologies for the accidental cropping of the right side), and the whole thing as
PDF.

The developer’s last point in their

Justification for Zoning Request
does identify a widespread problem:

7. Almost every subdivision built in Lowndes County is adjacent to some form of agriculture or timber production

However, there is no need to make it worse.

Another point in that same slide is plain wrong:

5. There will be minimal impact to County facilities or services, while increasing the taxes of the county approximately $70k per year

The Dorfman Report


sprawl

The Local Government Fiscal Impacts of Land Use in Lowndes County:
Revenue and Expenditure Streams by Land Use Category,
Jeffrey H. Dorfman, Ph.D., Dorfman Consulting, December 2007.

As Dr. Dorfman summarized in a different presentation,

Local governments must ensure balanced growth, as

sprawling residential growth is a certain ticket to fiscal ruin*

* Or at least big tax increases.

It’s interesting that the developers put Groundwater Recharge Area first in
their

OPPOSITION POINTS ADDRESSED:

  1. Groundwater Recharge Area:

    1. Lowndes County adheres to Local and State standards when in the Groundwater Recharge Area

    2. Notable Developments in Recharge Area in Lowndes County)

      1. Landfill
      2. Kinderlou Forest and Foxborough Subdivisions

      3. Valdosta Regional Airport

      4. Moody Airforce Base

      5. City of Dasher

      6. City of Lake Park and surrounding area

      7. 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.

[WINDY HILL SUBDIVISION, Lowndes County Rezoning Application, REZ-2022-03]

WINDY HILL SUBDIVISION, Lowndes County Rezoning Application, REZ-2022-03

-jsq

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!

Ten minute Work Session @ LCC 2022-02-07

Update 2022-03-18:
Unanimously voted down: Miller Bridge Road subdivision @ LCC 2022-02-08.

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.

[Chairman and Miller Bridge Road rezoning]

Chairman and Miller Bridge Road rezoning

Continue reading →

Board’s Pleasure should be Deny: Miller Bridge Road rezoning @ LCC 2022-02-07

Update 2022-03-08:
Ten minute Work Session @ LCC 2022-02-07.

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.

For
REZ-2022-01 Hamilton Green Townhomes, Bemiss Rd., 045D 006A, they cited a parcel that does not exist.
The correct parcel number,

0145D 006A, was in the

Planning Commission agenda.

[Miller Bridge Road rezoning: Petition, Opposition parcels; Bemiss Road rezoning]

Miller Bridge Road rezoning: Petition, Opposition parcels; Bemiss Road rezoning

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.

Cost What
$72,653.86 Internal Network Firewalls
$72,653.86 Total

Here is the agenda, and the board packet,
on the LAKE website,
received in response to a LAKE open records request.
See also Continue reading →

Videos: Maybe revisit lowering millage rate @ LCC 2020-08-10

There was pushback on

lowering the millage rate at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session yesterday morning.
They will decide this evening at 5:30 PM at the Regular Session.

The Commissioners, like some of the public, also wanted to know when there will be a new County Clerk.
Answer, from the former County Clerk, Paige Dukes, who is now the County Manager:
not yet; maybe next meeting (two weeks from now).

The $0.9 million low bid from Reames for road paving and a box culvert got no discussion from Commissioners.

The

Scruggs Company was offered a special exception to the Comprehensive Plan;
one that actually makes sense.

Yes, the
Copeland property
backs up to PCA.

The

Verizon tower got no questions from Commissioners.

Below are links to each LAKE video with a few notes,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.
See also the

agenda and board packet,
and the
millage rate hearing at 5PM today (Tuesday).

Packet: $0.9 million paving project, reduction of millage rate, 3 small rezonings @ LCC 2020-08-10

For the Monday morning Work session and Tuesday evening voting Regular Session,
the Lowndes County Commission has
only one item that has “BUDGET IMPACT” in its agenda sheet, but it’s a doozy:

Cost What
$899,744.40
Ridgecrest, Woodland and Glenview Paving & Drainage Project
$899,744.4 Total

The agenda sheet says:

Lowndes County solicited bids for Ridgecrest, Woodland and Glenview
Grading, Drainage, Base and Paving. The project will consist of
Grading, Drainage, Base and Paving of Ridgecrest and Woodland and
the installation of a box culvert under Glenview Drive. Vendors
present for the pre-bid meeting held on July 21, 2020, were James
Warren & Associates, Southland Contractors, Reames & Son
Construction, Rountree Construction, and The Scruggs Company. Three
bids were received on August 4, 2020.

Here are the bids:

[Bids, NC-TIA 2019-04: Ridgecrest Street and Woodland Drive]

Bids, NC-TIA 2019-04: Ridgecrest Street and Woodland Drive

Where is that?
South of the west end of W Savanna Ave, near I-75 Exit 16.

[Google map: Ridgecrest Street & Woodland Drive]


Google map:

Ridgecrest Street & Woodland Drive

Ah, yes, I got stuck in traffic there not so long ago,
trying to get around a stopped train.

We know this much because LAKE obtained a copy of the board packet
through an open records request; it’s
on the LAKE website.

I suppose if we rummage around enough we’ll find details of
NC-TIA 2019-04 somewhere on the county’s website.

Here is
the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, AUGUST 10, 2020, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, AUGUST 11, 2020, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Videos: Peace Officers, Public Works GA-EPD request, Regional T-SPLOST, 2 ZBOA appointments, 2 rezonings, surplus, quit claim, lift station pump, and Naylor Community Center bids @ LCC 2017-05-09



The T-SPLOST motion passed, but as a very unusual split vote, two weeks ago in the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session, 9 May 2017.


4. Peace Officers Memorial Week Proclamation Presentation,

Vice-Chair Joyce Evans presiding, they spent about five minutes on this item,
including

a speech by Sheriff Ashley Paulk, in which he said his department
would be having a bigger presence.
Chairman Bill Slaughter returned from his “good little trip”
some time in there
and took up the gavel after the minutes to be approved.


6. ZBOA appointments,

They reappointed Continue reading →

Videos: Public Works GA-EPD request, Regional T-SPLOST, 2 ZBOA appointments, 2 rezonings, surplus, quit claim, lift station pump, and Naylor Community Center bids @ LCC 2017-05-08



Not on the agenda this morning:

Public Works is applying to GA-EPD for a grant for
tire disposal amnesty.
11 of 18 counties have voted to hold a
Regional T-SPLOST referendum,
and Lowndes County now needs to decide whether to support or oppose that: they vote Tuesday at 5:30 PM.

County Manager Joe Pritchard asked why all the lift station pump repairs.
Utilities Director Steve Stalvey said the county has 114 lift station pumps,
all either duplex or triplex, with the duplication very important to maintain
service.
They typically last about 15-20 years,
there were periods when money was short and maintenance was slack,
and quite a few of them are coming to end of life,
most recently this one

at US 84.

They spent the longest time, 3 3/4 minutes, on
the Continue reading →