Newsflash: Lowndes County Commission does right thing about rezoning!
Commissioner Raines expressed puzzlement as to what to do about rezoning for Nottinghill on Cat Creek since he thought the previous day that there was a deal between the developer and the neighbors, but it turned out there was not. Commissioner Powell recommended tabling until next meeting so the developer and the neighbors could try again to work something out.
Commissioner Powell made a motion Continue reading
Speaking for the Nottinghill rezoning request on Cat Creek Road,
Bill Nijem said it was nothing like
Glen Laurel.
Nothing like repudiating your work of last year….
Commissioner Richard Raines thanked Nijem for sitting down with the neighbors.
As David Rodock wrote in the VDT the next day, Citizens speak against Cat Creek crowding: Disapprove of the proposal to build residential areas
Bill Nijem, representative of the applicant, brought forward information demonstrating his client’s willingness to work with neighbors, in that lot sizes were increased by 20 percent and that the average lot size would range from a minimum of 12,000 square feet to 20,000 square feet. Nijem also reminded commissioners that the applicant was willing to install any necessary buffers or fences to prevent children from playing in the neighboring fields and would have water and sewer installed with his own financial resources.Carolyn Selby reminds me that Mr. Nijem didn’t say Continue reading
Continue readingMiss Kitty was Lowndes County’s “shelter cat” she free roamed our shelter for more then 7 years, around the beginning of 2010 she started loosing her hair and chewing holes in herself.. and hiding from everyone. She was loosing more hair and bleeding all over paper work and counter where people came to ask about adoptions, she then was stuffed in a dog create with towels
Arizona recently greenlit a new private prison slated to host over 5,000 beds.
Private prison supporters have long argued that private prisons save the state money. Now new research by the American Friends Service Committeesuggests Arizona’s private prisons are generally costing the same amount, if not more than state prisons.
“There’s an abundance of evidence that private prisons aren’t saving us money, are not entirely safe, and are really not good for the state of Arizona,” says Caroline Isaacs, program director of the committee, tells Arizona Illustrated.
Caroline Isaacs, program director, American Friends Service Committee
We don’t need a private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia. Spend those tax dollars on rehabilitation and education instead.
-jsq
Continue readingQuestions abound: Why is it that Lowndes County residents will not be voting on the most important issue to face their school system since its inception in 1950?
If I lived in the county I’d be mad that CUEE and the Chamber of Commerce chose to leave my vote out of such a very important decision.
Quick fact: Consolidation alone will not save money & Consolidation alone will not improve academic success, according to the Vinson Institute report commissioned by CUEE and the Chamber.
Further Query: Why would CUEE and the Chamber of Commerce spend $50 grand to collect the signatures for the petition causing the City of Valdosta to spend thousands of tax dollars (2 staff dedicated to task & 4 temps hired) to verify the signatures on the petition?
If somebody puts a subdivision next to your field, beware of trash,
and the same if you buy a lot in it.
For that matter, why do we need more houses?
Some of what I said:
To expand a little bit on that subdivision next to our west field, one of the builders continued to push trash into our field until I had to sue him for trespass in Superior Court to get him to stop.I meant to say in Magistrate’s Court.
I called code enforcement multiple times and they did nothing to help stop it. Now that there’s a new fire chief perhaps things are better, but anybody who’s got a field nearby might want to watch for that.You can see for yourself what happened in May of last year: Continue readingAnyone who hopes to buy houses in the subdivision might want to watch to see if there are any dumpsters in there, because the subdivision near us, the trash was buried in the yards; you can ask anyone who owns one of those lots.
As far as needing houses for Moody, there are usually ten houses for sale in that subdivision, and roughtly 10 or 15 more that are for rent. So it’s not clear we actually need more houses.
As far as lot size, this is the same issue as came up last year with Glen Laurel on Old Pine Road. … The room was filled with people for the same reasons that you’re hearing now. At that time the commission decided to say ….
“We were not able to substantiate … accusations other than that … castration of pig.”Yet he was notified in March of a euthanasia violation and missing drugs.
This PDF contains an inspection report dated “03-18-11” from the Ga. Dept. of Ag. Animal Protection Section. The images contain excerpts related to a euthanasia violation. -jsq
Recordkeeping – Page 186 on 01-26-11 wasContinue reading
missing on the Euthanasia paperwork. Total of 36cc
unaccounted for. Violation 40-13-13.08 [11] issued.
David Rodock wrote in the VDT 13 July 2011,
Citizens speak against Cat Creek crowding:
Gretchen Quarterman also spoke against the proposition, citing that extending residential areas further out into undeveloped Lowndes County would create greater strain on an already tight fiscal operating budget.
She referred to a report County Planner Jason Davenport
commissioned from
Prof. Jeffrey H. Dorfman of UGA,
Local Government Fiscal Impacts of Land Use in Lowndes County,
December 2007,
in which he recommended development close in to existing services
for the most benefit to all parties.
As
Prof. Dorfman has said,
He noted“Local governments must ensure balanced growth, as sprawling residential growth is a certain ticket to fiscal ruin*
* Or at least big tax increases.”
“The same growth done more densely and contiguously saves both money, farmland, and provides environmental amenities.”Prof. Dorfman has even quantified national averages for Continue reading
Schoolchildren, safety, and farmland: three topics that often seem forgotten in discussions of development.
Opposing the
proposed rezoning for Notthinghill,
neighbor Thomas E. Stalvey Jr. noted
that traffic on Cat Creek Road
is already a problem, and adding a subdivision would make it worse.
He noted that it’s traffic routed down Cat Creek to Moody that
accounts for a lot of it.
He said school children stood out on the road and they were already in danger.
“If we put 49 more houses out there, it’s just going to up the risk.”
He explicitly linked road widening to development: Continue reading
Outgoing chairman Jerry Jennett asked nominating committee chair Tom Call
to read the slate of officers discussed
last time
to server for FYE 2012.
They were:
Roy Copeland Chairman, Mary Gooding Vice-Chairman, and Norman Bennett Secretary-Treasurer.
The board voted unanimous to approve that slate, and Jennett
practically threw the Here’s Part 1 of 3: Continue reading