Tag Archives: Moody AFB

Ground-penetrating radar and karst topography –Michael Noll @ LCC 2013-08-13



Yes, we can look under the ground at the Moody Family Housing site,
and it won’t take very long,
said a VSU professor
at the

13 August 2013 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

Dr. Michael Noll further answered

Commisioner Richard Raines’ previous question
as to what Dr. Noll was offering
regarding REZ-2013-09 Moody Family Housing
by saying


VSU does have ground-penetrating radar equipment on campus,
and a survey would take only a few weeks.
Here’s

an example of VSU work using that equipment.

Here’s

the video:



Ground-penetrating radar and karst topography –Michael Noll

Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 13 August 2013.

-jsq

Grassy Pond Sinkhole –April Huntley


When I was going down there from 2010-2011 this area of land was roped
off with caution tape (not the temporary kind). I was told when they had
problems with their piping and had to drain down the pond to fix it, when
they refilled it, they did so too fast and caused a sink hole here. I’m
not sure what kind of info can be found on it since it is

a military installation.
Chris says years back he went down there and the docks
were sinking, he was told there was a sinkhole in the pond, I think. A
couple more pics of the area I saw to follow. I guess it was remediated.

-April Huntley


Continue reading →

Traffic study? –John Page; Who pays? Richard Raines; Tax exemption –Demarcus Marshall @ LCC 2013-08-13

Traffic and taxes were discussed by Commissioners about REZ-2013-09 Moody Family
Housing on Val Del Road,


but none of them thought those topics important enough to make them conditions,
and they didn’t even discuss

use of local contractors
or

sinkholes

like the one in the Phase II site,
or the missing

geotechnical study
mentioned in the

USAF Draft Environmental Assessment whose comment period wasn’t even ended
when they voted
at

the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.


Traffic study? --John Page
As he had at the previous morning’s

Work Session,
Commissioner John Page wanted to know if that traffic study
was going to be required before the development could start.
Planning Commissioner Tommy Willis had also asked about that

back in July.
This time Page didn’t ask about GA 122 or anywhere other than
“Val Del and that area”.

Answer from County Engineer Mike Fletcher: Continue reading →

Karst subsidence beneath a house in Lowndes County –Don Thieme @ LCC 2013-08-13

Received yesterday on

Florida sinkholes spreading real estate effects in same Aquifer as under Lowndes County. -jsq


Scanning
John — Thank you for pressing forward on this important issue for the
airmen and their families at Moody AFB as well as for all citizens of
Lowndes County. My colleagues and I are also concerned and hope that we
can eventually obtain the Phase I geotechnical study. Of course, we have
our own research agendas as well as a desire to see our students working
on these problems close to their own university campus. In particular,
one of my undergraduate students just completed his thesis on karst
subsidence beneath a house in Lowndes County. Here is a link to a poster
where he presented those finding to our undergraduate research conference:

GPR Investigation of Subsidence.

-Don Thieme

Ground-Penetrating Radar Investigation of Subsidence

in Covered Karst near Valdosta

Benjamin Davis, Department of Physics, Astronomy, and Geosciences

Faculty Sponsor: Donald M. Thieme

Abstract

Continue reading →

Florida sinkholes spreading real estate effects in same Aquifer as under Lowndes County

Florida real estate effects of sinkholes in the same Floridan Aquifer
that underlies Lowndes County
would be worth looking at
before rushing to build Moody Housing around a sinkhole on Val Del Road.
It’s not just the sinkhole that may widen, it’s housing prices that may drop.

Diana Olick wrote for CNBC 15 August 2013,

Overdevelopment widens Florida sinkhole problem,




DAVID MANNING / Reuters

A section of the Summer Bay Resort lies collapsed after a large sinkhole opened on the property’s grounds in Clermont, Fla. on Aug. 12.

Sinkholes may be as old as the earth itself, but the increase in
sinkhole activity is new. The rush to reason why has put scientists,
engineers and real estate developers at odds.

Some geological experts believe the sinkhole activity is increasing
because developers are pumping more water out of the ground for new
projects or for agricultural use. While acid in the water itself is
what causes the limestone under much of Florida to dissipate and
create the holes, the water also acts as a support. Add water from
heavy rains on the top soil, and you’ve got a bigger problem.



It is even beginning to weigh on the recovering real estate market
in Florida.

Recent sinkholes of note in Lowndes County include: Continue reading →

How will Moody personnel go to housing on Val Del Road? –Gretchen Quarterman @ LCC 2013-08-13



Gretchen Quarterman said she was concerned not just about traffic on Val Del Road, but

Once they leave Val Del, how will they get to the base safely?

Also what happened at Nelson Hill,
just up Val Del Road, even though she was neither for nor against REZ-2013-09,
at

the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.


Gretchen Quarterman on REZ-2013-09 and Nelson Hill both on Val Del Road
She specifically expressed concerns about GA 122, Hambrick Road
and Radar Site Road, among others,
as she had done

at the Planning Commission.
The previous morning at the Work Session,

Commissioner John Page had asked about
McMillan Road and GA 122
and had gotten an answer from County Engineer Mike Fletcher
which only addressed Val Del Road.



Gretchen Quarterman also expressed concern about another development
out in the county going bad like Nelson Hill did,

with many of its 13 conditions not being met.

Here’s

the video:

Continue reading →

USAF Environmental Assessment for Moody Housing on Val Del Road (REZ-2013-09) @ LCC 2013-08-13

No geotechnical study was seen from the developer before
drawing the sinkhole buffers shown in the

the Air Force Draft Environmental Assessment
for

the proposed Moody Housing on Val Del Road,
just rezoned as

REZ-2013-09, PDF
courtesy of Prof. Michael Noll of VSU.
You can see sinkholes and wetlands in its maps:


Most of the site area, including all of the Phase I area subject of REZ-2013-09,
is colored for

medium wetland habitat quality: Continue reading →

Geotechnical conditions and maybe sinkholes –Michael Noll @ LCC 2013-08-13



A VSU professor
said he was in favor of the economic benefits,
but geotechnical issues should determine whether

the new Moody Housing on Val Del Road
(REZ-2013-09)
should be built, and those were still unclear,
at

the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

Dr. Michael Noll of VSU
said he was speaking because he had been referred to by previous speakers
(Jason Davenport
and
Tom Kurrie), and he was neither for nor against
REZ-2013-09.
Dr. Noll’s neither-in-favor-nor-against position seemed to puzzle
County Engineer Mike Fletcher.
Noll said he and his colleagues had looked at

the Environmental Assessment (EA)
which has been available at the public library
and concluded that they had a number of questions they’d like answered,
and he was sure the developers had similar concerns for safety of the project.

Dr. Noll
said they’d been trying to get a copy of the geotechnical analysis Continue reading →

Not botched like the old Moody housing –Tim Coombs @ LCC 2013-08-13



“Officers can’t even entertain guests at the houses they are living in”
said a Hahira business man,
at

the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session,
speaking in favor of

REZ-2013-09 for proposed new Moody Housing on Val Del Road.

Previously at the Planning Commission Coombs had

asked for use of local contractors
at this new Moody Family Housing project.


Both at GLPC and at this County Commission meeting Coombs
expressed concern about what he called that “botched” previous housing
project.
(Much more detail on Magnolia Grove
here.)
This time he said he thought the new project would be
“of great economic impact in a time when it is really needed”.
What happened to his concerns about use of local contractors?

Here’s

the video:

Continue reading →

Sinkholes at proposed Moody Family Housing? –Scott Rafshoon @ LCC 2013-08-13

All about public-private partnerships (PPP) and military rank waterfalls
by an Atlanta and K Street lawyer
at

the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
about

REZ-2013-09,
introduced by

local lawyer Tom Kurrie
to answer a question by

Commissioner John Page.


Scott Rafshoon

G. Scott Rafshoon of

McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP
of Atlanta and K Street in DC spoke for.
His law firm bio says in part:

G. Scott Rafshoon has a diverse legal practice that includes
corporate law, government affairs and project finance. Combining
these disciplines, Mr. Rafshoon is a leader in the Firm’s
public-private partnership (“P3”) practice….



Manages the Firm’s representation of Balfour Beatty Communities, a
subsidiary of Balfour Beatty plc, in the privatization of family and
unaccompanied personnel housing at military installations around the
country. To-date, Mr. Rafshoon has assisted Balfour Beatty with
privatizing facilities at 48 Army, Navy and Air Force installations
in 23 states and the District of Columbia, in separate transactions
valued at more than $4 billion.

This is apparently the same Continue reading →