Tag Archives: LAS

Videos: Tourism Authority appointments, rezonings, water repairs, hurricane damage @ LCC Regular 2024-12-10

At their December 10, 2024, Regular Session, the Lowndes County Commission reappointed Rick Williams to the 5.a. Valdosta Lowndes County Conference Center and Tourism Authority, and appointed Amanda Peacock to replace Michael Smith (who was recently elected to join the Lowndes County Commission in 2025)

[Collage @ LCC 10 December 2024]
Collage @ LCC 10 December 2024

There was quite a bit of opposition to 6.a. REZ-2024-18 LSO Invest, 3910 Old US 41 N, ~0.93ac, R-21 to C-C. Previously, GLPC recommended Denial 7:1. Lowndes County Commissioner Scottie Orenstein recused himself. The other County Commissioners unanimously approved this rezoning. Disgruntled citizens filed out, with grumbling and finger pointing at a certain Commissioner.

The applicant withdrew 6.c. REZ-2024-20 Wilson Estate, 5917 Thunder Bowl Rd., ~1.7ac, E-A to R-1.

The Lowndes County Commissioners unanimously approved everything else.

Not on the agenda: Continue reading →

Packet: Tourism Authority appointments, rezonings, water repairs, hurricane damage @ LCC 2024-12-09

Update 2025-01-14: Videos: Tourism Authority appointments, rezonings, water repairs, hurricane damage @ LCC Regular 2024-12-10.

The board packet for the Lowndes County Commission meetings of December 9 and 10, 2024, received in response to a LAKE open records request, is on the LAKE website.

[Collage, Packet @ LCC 2024-12-09]
Collage, Packet @ LCC 2024-12-09

See also the agenda and the LAKE videos of the December 9 Work Session.

Plus the packet and LAKE videos of the preceding Planning Commission Meeting.

-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!
http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/donate

Continue reading →

Videos: Tourism Authority appointments, rezonings, water repairs, hurricane damage @ LCC Work 2024-12-09

Update 2024-12-23: Packet: Tourism Authority appointments, rezonings, water repairs, hurricane damage @ LCC 2024-12-09.

Almost an hour might be a record for the Lowndes County Commission Work Session yesterday morning.

Part of that was three Special Recognitions and a twelve-minute Special Report – Ashley Tye and FEMA Deputy Director, none of them on the agenda.

[Collage @ LCC 9 December 2024]
Collage @ LCC 9 December 2024

The longest actual agenda item was 6.a. REZ-2024-18 LSO Invest, 3910 Old US 41 N, ~0.93ac, R-21 to C-C at three and a half minutes. Remember the Planning Commission voted 7-1 to recommend denial, and I hear the underlying applicant is a County Commissioner.

Then the $3,068,176.54 TSPLOST project, 8.a. PI# 0016279 TIA-07 Coleman Road NW Paving and Drainage Improvements Bids, at three minutes.

All others took less than two minutes each.

They vote tonight at 5:30 PM.

Below are LAKE videos of each agenda item (or Special Recognition), with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman, followed by a LAKE video playlist.

See also the agenda. Continue reading →

Agenda: Tourism Authority appointments, rezonings, water repairs, hurricane damage @ LCC 2024-12-09

The Lowndes County Commission be busy Monday morning at their Work Session and Tuesday evening at their voting Regular Session.

[Collage @ LCC 2024-12-09]
Collage @ LCC 2024-12-09

It will be interesting to see what they do with REZ-2024-18 LSO Invest, 3910 Old US 41 N, since the Planning Commission voted 7-1 to recommend denial, and I hear the underlying applicant is a County Commissioner.

They will vote on two members for the Valdosta Lowndes County Conference Center and Tourism Authority, one reappointment, and one to replace Michael Smith, who was elected to the Lowndes County Commission.

They will also be voting on close to $5 million, most of it in one paving project, of Coleman Road NW, that one using TSPLOST funds.

The other big ticket items are hurricane damage repair, new motor graders, and several kinds of insurance. Continue reading →

Videos: Project Viking, Reports, and CWTBH @ LCC Regular 2023-06-13

The Project Viking rezoning included an introduction to the new Public Hearing format: 10 minutes for each side, then 2 minutes of rebuttal. This method is in the draft ULDC changes. Nobody spoke against. The rezoning passed unanimously. So did all the other agenda items.

[Collage @ LCC 13 June 2023]
Collage @ LCC 13 June 2023

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman, followed by a LAKE video playlist.

See also:

Continue reading →

Packet: Airport Authority appointment, Project Viking rezoning, 2 court, 3 water including a tractor @ LCC 2023-06-13

Update 2023-06-26: Videos, Project Viking, Reports, and CWTBH @ LCC Regular 2023-06-13.

Update 2023-06-16: Draft Proposed Lowndes County Land Development Code changes 2023-06-13.

Lowndes County Utilities did actually get two bids for the Oak Hill Drive Water Main Extension.

But apparently only one quote for the Stone Creek Onsite Well Pump.

[Collage @ LCC Packet 2023-06-13]
Collage @ LCC Packet 2023-06-13

The packet materials are on the LAKE website.

LAKE looks forward to Lowndes County publishing the packet materials on its own website before the meetings, as many other counties larger and smaller already do in Georgia and Florida.

See also the agenda and the LAKE Videos: surprise ULDC update, DUI Court grant, Project Viking @ LCC Work 2023-06-12.

-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!
http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/donate

Videos: surprise ULDC update, DUI Court grant, Project Viking @ LCC Work 2023-06-12

Update 2023-06-13: Packet: Airport Authority appointment, Project Viking rezoning, 2 court, 3 water including a tractor @ LCC 2023-06-13.

Once again Lowndes County sprung ULDC changes not on the agenda. They took up more than half of the Work Session yesterday morning.

This time County Manager Paige Dukes asked former County Planner and current consultant Jason Davenport to explain to the Commissioners those changes to the Unified Land Development Code. LAKE has sent in an open records request for those changes.

[Collage @ LCC 12 June 2023]
Collage @ LCC 12 June 2023

Second longest was 7.d. Lowndes County DUI Court FY 24 Grant Award. We don’t know why a judge has to come justify a grant that is working, yet applicants for boards do not have to show up before they are appointed.

The mysterious Project Viking conservation rezoning got two minutes.

The water main and well raise interesting questions about who is paying. The county got a local deal on the LAS tractor.

They vote this evening at 5:30 PM.

Below are LAKE videos of each agenda item, with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman, followed by a LAKE video playlist.

See also the agenda. LAKE will publish the board packet after the county sends it to us in response to the LAKE open records request. Continue reading →

Packet: Airport Authority appointment, Project Viking rezoning, 2 court, 3 water including a tractor @ LCC 2023-06-12

Update 2023-06-13: Videos: surprise ULDC update, DUI Court grant, Project Viking @ LCC Work 2023-06-12.

Tuesday evening after the Monday morning Work Session, the Lowndes County Commission will decide whether to reappoint the incumbent Anthony Payton to the Airport Authority (as it usually does), or to apoing David Westberry.

Also on the agenda are two court grant cash matches, three water projects including a tractor for the county sewer system Land Application Site (LAS), and Project Viking.

[Airport, Courts, Water, and Project Viking by Knights Creek @ LCC]
Airport, Courts, Water, and Project Viking by Knights Creek @ LCC

The wetlands of the Project Viking rezoning are next to Knights Creek in the Alapaha River Basin. The agenda does not seem to mention who this rezoning is for, but according to the Tax Assessors maps it’s BASSFORD N L JR. Those maps show the acreage as 80.0, not 69. I don’t know why the discrepency.

It appears that none of the water projects went out for bids. Two of them are for private wells.

Cost What
$96,095.22Kubota M6-141 Tractor
$64,095.00Stone Creek Onsite Well Pump
$30,750.00 Oak Hill Drive Water Main Extension
$19,509.00Lowndes County DUI Court FY 24 Grant Award
$8,857.00 Lowndes County Juvenile Accountability Court (LCJAC) FY24 Budget & Grant Award
$219,306.22Total

Here is the agenda.

See also the LAKE Videos: Five Valdosta rezonings, one Lowndes County, Lake Park Case pulled @ GLPC 2023-05-22.

LAKE does not have the board packet for this County Commission meeting, because I forgot to file an open records request before today. However, the Project Viking board packet materials from the Planning Commission will probably mostly be re-used for the County Commission meeting.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JUNE 12, 2023, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2023, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

  1. Call to Order
  2. Invocation
  3. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
  4. Minutes for Approval
    1. Work Session – May 8, 2023, Regular Session – May 9, 2023, & Budget Work Session – May 31, 2023
  5. Appointment
    1. Valdosta-Lowndes County Airport Authority

      Documents:Valdosta Lowndes County Airport Authority Appointment.pdf

  6. Public Hearing
    1. REZ-2023-07 Project Viking, ~69 acres, Hunt Road, M-2 & CON to M-2 & CON, City Utilities

      Documents:REZ-2023-07 Project Viking.pdf

  7. For Consideration
    1. Oak Hill Drive Water Main Extension

      Documents:Oak Hill Drive Water Main Extension.pdf

    2. Stone Creek Onsite Well Pump

      Documents:Stone Creek Onsite Well Pump.pdf

    3. Kubota M6-141 Tractor

      Documents:Kubota M6-141 Tractor.pdf

    4. Lowndes County DUI Court FY 24 Grant Award

      Documents:Lowndes County DUI Court FY 24 Grant Award.pdf

    5. Lowndes County Juvenile Accountability Court (LCJAC) FY24 Budget & Grant Award

      Documents:Lowndes County Juvenile Accountability Court FY24 Budget Grant Award.pdf

  8. Reports – County Manager
  9. Citizens Wishing to be Heard-Please State Your Name and Address
  10. Adjournment

-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!
http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/donate

Videos: Howell Road Halfway House approved in split vote @ LCC Regular 2023-04-11

Two weeks ago the Lowndes County Commission appointed Brenda Mims to the Board of Health, Victoria Copeland and Marion Ramsey to ZBOA, and Jane Peeples to the Library Board, all unanimously.

Everything else (except one item) also passed unanimously, including 8.b. Amend 2015 Solid Waste Ordinance raising waste collection fees and reducing collection center hours, as requested by the haulers.

[Collage @ LCC Regular 2023-04-11]
Collage @ LCC Regular 2023-04-11

It became even more obvious why they tabled it a month before: All the Lowndes County Commissioners apparently already knew how they were going to vote on the Howell Road halfway house rezoning before they held the Public Hearing.

The vote was the same as Continue reading →

Videos: Recognitions, Extension Office, Raise waste collection rates, Howell Road halfway house rezoning, appointments to 3 boards @ LCC Work 2023-04-10

Update 2023-04-24: Videos: Howell Road Halfway House approved in split vote @ LCC Regular 2023-04-11.

Yesterday the Lowndes County Commissioners had no discussion about what Chairman Bill Slaughter referred to as “One public hearing item that just will not go away.” That’s 7.a. REZ-2022-10 Campus Transitional Care, 2193 Howell Road, E-A to P-D. The Commissioners vote at the Regular Session this evening at 5:30 PM. They can make it go away for at least a year by denying the rezoning.

[Collage @ LCC 10 April 2023]
Collage @ LCC 10 April 2023

On 8.b. Amend 2015 Solid Waste Ordinance, Gretchen remarked: “In my mind, it seems super inconvenient to shorten the hours of the collection sites on Monday and Friday. If someone works 8-5, then getting their recycling there by 6 is not possible.

“Oh, but this isn’t for the health, safety and well being of the citizens, Continue reading →