Five minutes and 46 seconds Sixteen minutes to vote on the people’s business in the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
Where do they actually discuss things?
Second longest at one minute and 46 seconds was the controversial
7 a. North Lowndes Spring Creek Utility Inter-connection Project Phase II,
for which they made a decision about the yellow paper.
They still never said who the rest of the bidders were, nor how much they bid,
on this $3,889,825.23 project.
Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, with Continue reading →
How much solar power is there in Georgia?
Quite a bit, and it’s everywhere, according to Georgia Energy Data map by Southface.
Gold disks indicate individual solar installations; green disks separate into many when zoomed.
There are three 1 megawattt (MW) solar farms in Berrien County
I didn’t know about, and more elsewhere in the Suwannee River Basin,
in almost every county. Continue reading →
They don’t have any wheelchair seating areas, so Jody Hall planted his wheels
in front of the front row, to see the county not tell the public
who bid what on an almost $4 million item.
By far the longest item at almost seven minutes was
North Lowndes Spring Creek Utility Inter-connection Project Phase II,
because one bidder objected that the others did not use the correct color paper.
They never said who any of the bidders were, nor how much they bid,
on this $3,889,825.23 project.
The third longest was
6.f. Water and Sewer Service Areas – Lake Park Area,
as the county continues its plan to encircle Valdosta.
Yet the county has no plan for additional sewage treatment beyond the Land Application Site (LAS),
where Lowndes County sprays sewage onto land near Grassy Pond, close to the state line,
and where they’re reducing the
Row Crop Lease Agreement
by 71 acres for unexplained reasons.
Chair Vicki Rountree
welcomed new member Debbie Sauls from Lake Park,
with no explanation, and the county and Valdosta’s web pages still don’t list her
(they don’t have the Chair correct, either),
but we found out what happened.
Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item,
with a very few notes,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.
See also
the agenda.
Mayor Sandlin stated that Council still needed to appoint a
replacement to the Lowndes County Planning Commission and the MPO
Representative to fill his seat. Member Taylor made a motion to add
the Lowndes County Planning Commission appointment to the agenda,
Member Barr second, all in favor motion passed. Mayor stated he had
recently spoken to Debbie Sauls and she agreed to serve on the
committee. Member Taylor made a motion to appoint Debbie Sauls to be
the City of Lake Park xepresentative to the Lowndes County Planning
Commission, Member Carter second, all in favor, motion passed.
The TRC considered this request. Zoning found this request
inconsistent with the Comprehensive Plan. There were no other
objectionable comments.
Staff found the request overall consistent with the Goals and
Policies of the Comprehensive Plan, however, inconsistent with the
Character Area Map and offers the following condition: The use of
the property shall be limited to the principal use of a terminal for
freight by truck and accessory uses incidental and subordinate to
such a facility.
The GLPC heard this request at their February regular meeting and
recommended for its approval with the condition offered by Staff by
a 7-0 vote. For reference, the applicant’s agent was present to
answer any questions and no one spoke against the request at the
public hearing.
Videos: Freight line rezoning reviewed by Planning Commission
Regular Session, Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 25 February 2019.
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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!
After Gretchen called Lowndes County yesterday,
last month’s GLPC agenda
magically appeared on the county website, along with a
2019 tab for it to appear in.
The Lowndes County Board of Assessors has approved a contract between the Board of Assessors and GMASS to perform maintenance updates to the Rural Land schedules for the 2019 Digest.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MARCH 11, 2019, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2019, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
The longest topic was
water and wastewater, when
elected officials from Lowndes County and its cities, Valdosta,
Lake Park, Dasher, and Hahira (but apparently not Remerton),
gathered on neutral ground to discuss tax revenue allocation,
in a public meeting.
Curiously, the Chairman and the Mayors were not invited.
It’s not clear whether omitting them helped or not.
There was actually mention that
growth close to existing services is better than sprawl.
Below are links to each WWALS video Gretchen took,
with a few notes,
followed by a WWALS video playlist.
See also
the meeting announcement.
Annually Lowndes County and its cities including Valdosta
feed quail to state legislators at the Georgia Railroad Freight Depot
in Atlanta: this is the Bird Supper.
Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter, Valdosta Mayor John Gayle
Gretchen is heading to the Commissioner meeting now with the LAKE video camera.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2019, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2019, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
