Tag Archives: Planning

Chamber of Commerce vs. County Commission Re: Moody AFB @ LCC 2012-12-11

Received today (yes, I’m a Chamber member). -jsq

From: “Tim Jones, Chairman of the Board ” <chamber@valdostachamber.com>

Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2012 12:47:01 -0500 (EST)

Subject: Alert: Chamber needs your help to protect Moody!

Dear Chamber Member,

Our Chamber recognizes the $448 million economic impact Moody Air
Force Base has on our regional economy each year. We meet with Air
Force officials at the Pentagon annually and ask them, “What else
can our community do to protect MAFB from the next BRAC?” The
answer, every year: prevent encroachment, and the best way to do
that is by protecting the Military Activity Zone (MAZ).

Today

(Tuesday, Dec. 11) at the Lowndes County Board of
Commissioners meeting there are two agenda items that could put
Moody at risk.



Spot zoning for a proposed densely settled subdivision in the MAZ
is an invitation to other developments and inherently sets a precedent.
It’s a very slippery slope. How will the County tell the next one
“no”?

The second agenda item would

change the zoning ordinance
to allow even more densely settled neighborhoods in the MAZ.

One of the reasons we’ve been able to keep MAFB here

for more than
70 years is because MAFB can be utilized for a number of types of
missions, largely because of the protected activity zone. Both
agenda items, if passed, could increase encroachment into the MAZ
and could very well limit MAFB’s future mission possibilities.

Another Georgia community (Warner Robins)

is actually using taxpayer dollars
to buy back residential properties in

their military activity zones
as a result of their failure to prevent encroachment.

The Planning Commission voted unanimously to deny this subdivision,
and

to deny the proposed changes to the MAZ that would allow more
dense residential development. The County Commission should vote to
deny, too.

The

Chamber’s GAC Executive Committee voted unanimously to oppose
actions that allow encroachment and weaken the MAZ. The Chamber
encourages our members to contact our County Commission members to
let them know how you feel about protecting MAFB. The Chamber
encourages our members to attend the County Commission meeting at
the Dec. 11 meeting at 5:30 p.m. at the Administation Building.

Please respond to this email to share your thoughts.

Sincerely,

Tim Jones, Chairman of the Board

Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce



I added the links above.
All that Tim Jones said,
plus Crawford Powell’s discovery that the proposed subdivision

would be a fire code violation,
plus

according to Forbes Valdosta MSA housing prices are still dropping,
so

do we even need any more housing, anyway?

-jsq

Videos @ LCC 2012-12-10



A surprising amount of discussion at yesterday morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session,
on ZBOA appointment, alcohol Sunday sales, rezoning next to Moody,
and more.
They said nothing about the solid waste ordinance, however;
maybe they’ll table that loser again.
They vote tonight:

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor

Here’s

a video playlist of the Work Session,
followed by the agenda with the videos linked into it.


Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 December 2012.

Here’s

the agenda,
this time with links to the videos and some notes.

Continue reading →

Refinancing Bonds and the Public Facilities Authority @ LCC 2012-12-10



More than a million dollars will be saved by refinancing county bonds,
the Chairman and staff indicated at
yesterday morning’s

Lowndes County Commission Work Session.
Congratulations!
But who is this shadowy Lowndes County Public Facilities Authority
that is responsible for that?

8.i. Refunding Revenue Bonds

County Manager Joe Pritchard said
the county was refinancing two bond packages, for the
Public Facilities Authority
and for the
Central Valdosta Development Authority.
County Attorney Walter Elliott said the
Public Facilities Authority was meeting 4PM tomorrow (now today 11 Dec 2012)
to approve an ordinance similar to what the County Commission was
being asked to approve Tuesday night.
There’s also a purchase agreement with the underwriter,
in the packet only the board gets to see.
Chairman Ashley Paulk said he spoke Friday to somebody named Mr.
Bucky Kensey(?) who wouldn’t tell him a number but said the
bond market had moved in the county’s favor.
The Chairman also said:

I want the public to understand these are not new bonds
these are old bonds that are at a higher interest rate
that are going to be refinanced at a lower rate,
and I believe the last savings was close to a million dollars.

The Chairman indicated Mr. Kensey(?) thought there would be a pleasant
surprise with even more savings than that.



At their

12 June 2012 Regular Session
the Commission

appointed to the Lowndes County Public Facilities Authority
Joseph Stevens (they didn’t say, but maybe

Joseph G Stevens CPA),
Steve Gupton (presumably

J. Stephen Gupton, Attorney for the Lowndes County Industrial Authority),
and Lowndes County Commissioner Crawford Powell (to the seat
previously held by Commissioner Richard Lee).
Who are the other Authority board members?
The VDT claimed

“Powell abstained from the vote.”
Neither he nor the Chairman said that when they voted.
According to

the Commission’s minutes of 25 May 2010,
they appointed Harry B. Sullivan and Antonio Henderson.
The VDT reported

22 May 2007 that:

The Commissioners reappointed Antonio Henderson and Harry Sullivan
to the Lowndes County Public Facilities Authority. Their terms will
expire May 31, 2010. Joseph Stevens was appointed, and his term will
expire May 31, 2009.

So that’s five members; is that all of them?
Apparently yes.
In

Preliminary Official Statement Dated November 29, 2012

LOWNDES COUNTY PUBLIC FACILITIES AUTHORITY (GEORGIA)
$8,965,000*

Refunding Revenue Bonds

(Lowndes County Judicial/Administration Complex)

Series 2012 		$7,145,000*

Refunding Revenue Bonds

(Lowndes County Water and Sewerage Project)

Series 2013

So, we’re paying more for the county palace than we are for county water and sewer.
Anyway, on page 4 we find:

LOWNDES COUNTY PUBLIC FACILITIES AUTHORITY

Members

Antonio Henderson

Harry B. Sullivan

J. Stephen Gupton, Jr.

Joseph G. Stevens

Crawford Powell

That Authority met

8 October 2012 in Room 248 at the
Lowndes County Administrative Building (no street address given):

The primary purpose of the meeting is for the Authority to consider
a Bond Resolution to provide for the issuance of Refunding Revenue
Bonds for the purpose of refunding in part Public Facilities Authority
Revenue Bonds (Lowndes County Water and Sewerage Project), Series 2005,
and Central Valdosta Development Authority Revenue Bonds (Lowndes County
Judicial/Administrative Complex), Series 2003, to authorize and approve
the execution and delivery of an Intergovernmental Contract with Lowndes
County, and related purposes. The meeting will be open to the public in
accordance with the Georgia Open Meetings Act.

They do not have a meeting listed

in the same calendar for today.

Bond rating agency Moody’s

reported 15 November 2012

NEW YORK, November 15, 2012 —Moody’s Investors Service has
assigned a Aa2 rating and a stable outlook to Lowndes County’s (GA)
$9.1 million Refunding Revenue Bonds (Lowndes County
Judicial/Administration Complex), Series 2012 and $7.2 million
Refunding Revenue Bonds (Lowndes County Water and Sewerage Project),
Series 2013, both issued by the
Lowndes County Public Facilities Authority.
At this time, Moody’s has also affirmed the Aa2 ratings
to $15.5 million of general obligation bonds and $193.7 million of
bonds issued through the Hospital Authority of Valdosta and Lowndes
County, the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority, the
Central Valdosta Development Authority and the Lowndes County Public
Facilities Authority…

You know, the county could just tell us all this stuff, so we wouldn’t
have to try to google it.
It is our tax money they are spending, after all.

Here’s

the video:


Refinancing Bonds and the Public Facilities Authority

Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 December 2012.

-jsq

County proceeding on a fixed library line @ LCC 2012-12-10



Scoring for library architect selection seems more rigorous now,
at yesterday morning’s

Lowndes County Commission Work Session.
But where are the scores?
And what are the names of the two finalists?
They vote or table tonight at 5:30 PM.

8.h. New Main Library — Construction Manager At Risk Selection

Project Manager Chad McCleod said
proposals had been received from nine firms,
and “using a score sheet with certain grading criteria”
staff narrowed them down to three offers.
Each firm gave a one-hour presentation last Friday to
the selection committee which again
“used certain grading criteria to score each firm”.
The top two scorers were Coffee[?] Construction and
Quillian Powell Construction.

I applaud actually using scoring, instead of what appeared to happen
for the main library architect selection, with

a relatively elaborate selection process including a scoring sheet
that then apparently wasn’t actually used in the architect selection.
But where are these filled-out score sheets for the applicants this time,
so we the taxpayers can see them?

The Commission could have staff

Continue reading →

Trash on the table again? @ LCC 2012-12-10

Will the County Commission table trash again,
or will they make a hasty decision to privatize,
granting a monopoly in a public-private partnership,
and leaving many people in the unincorporated parts
of Lowndes County to burn their trash, probably including
materials that the rest of us don’t want to breathe?
We can’t tell from yesterday morning’s

Lowndes County Commission Work Session.
They vote or table tonight at 5:30 PM.


6.b. Solid Waste Ordinance.


County Manager Joe Pritchard reminded the Commissioners
they tabled it last time.
Maybe they’ll table it again tonight.
They said nothing yesterday morning.

Here’s

Part 1 of 2:


Trash on the table again? Part 1 of 2:

Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 December 2012.


8.b. Exclusive Franchise Agreement for Residential Solid Waste Collection Services with Advanced
Disposal Services of Central Alabama, Inc.

Staff finally told us publicly that

Continue reading →

Additional license fee for Sunday alcohol sales? @ LCC 2012-12-10



Why should businesses have to pay an additional license fee
for Sunday alcohol sales, if the only justification is
to raise money to pay for administering that license?
That was a topic at yesterday morning's

Lowndes County Commission Work Session
for agenda item
6.a.
Revision to the Lowndes County Alcoholic Beverage Ordinance.

Finance Director Stephanie Black mentioned the things

we already heard from the staff,

brown bagging,
social hosts (serving alcohol at private events to underage drinkers),
and the
Sunday package sales.
She said for the

voter-approved Sunday alcohol sales
the license fee would be $250,
plus a requirement for an immigration affidavit.
Commissioner Powell took exception to that additional license fee,
which would be on top of a license fee already necessary for the
rest of the week.
Black and Chairman Paulk defended it as necessary to collect
money to administer the license fee.
Powell wondered if they'd need the money if they didn't
have the license fee.
Paulk said the city of Valdosta charges $1000 for a Sunday license.
Powell said he disagreed with that, too.

Here's

the video:


Additional license fee for Sunday alcohol sales?

Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 December 2012.

-jsq

Dollar General or not? @ LCC 2012-12-10



Is Naylor maybe going to get a Dollar General or something else,
if the unnamed applicant or applicants get their rezoning
with or without conditions?
None of that is clear from yesterday morning’s

Lowndes County Commission Work Session
for agenda item

7.c. REZ-2012-19 Naylor Dollar General, US Hwy 84 East, E-A to C-G, Well & Septic, ~2 acres.

County Planner Jason Davenport said:

The applicants have mentioned
trying to do a Dollar General at this site.
We believe that’s what they’re going to do,
but however whatever uses are allowed in C-G
would of course be allowed if it is approved
without any conditions.

He said they had the recommendations from the TRC and the
Planning Commission, but he didn’t say what they were.
The Planning Commission

recommended for,
apparently with the understanding that it was
for a Dollar General.
Davenport said there had been no further input since the Planning
Commission meeting.

The Commission could have staff submit written reports that
go in the agenda and minutes, like the Library Board does,
and then put those online as PDF or HTML linked to an HTML agenda,
like Glynn County
and Richmond County do, and we wouldn’t have to guess the
names of applicants or the details of rezoning requests.

Here’s

the video:


Dollar General or not?

Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 December 2012.

-jsq

Rezoning near Moody: fire code would prohibit a single entrance @ LCC 2012-12-10 @ LCC 2012-12-10



Commissioner Crawford Powell may have found solid grounds to deny
the proposed rezoning for a development near Moody AFB,
he revealed at

this morning’s Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

County Planner Jason Davenport explicitly linked this rezoning case,

7.a. REZ-2012-17 Lowndes Development, LLC, Davidson Rd MAZ II and MAZ III to R-10, County Water & Sewer, ~23.49 acres

to

the zoning text code amendment on the same meeting agenda.

7.d. TXT-2012-02 MAZ II Residential Density

He also mentioned the TRC (the Technical Review Committee
composed mainly of Lowndes County and Valdosta staff) had a split vote
on this item, although
he didn’t say how it was split.
And he said the Commissioners had the Planning Commission recommendation
before them,
although he didn’t mention the Planning Commission recommended against.

Commissioner Crawford Powell brought up a good point:

The fire department and the TRC say in the notes
that it fails to comply with fire rescue ingress-egress requirements.

Fire Chief Guyton appeared to confirm that was the case,
although since he wasn’t at a microphone, it’s hard to hear.
Commissioner Powell continued:

Continue reading →

Glimmers of open discussion about Moody AFB zoning by the County Commission @ LCC 2012-12-10



Lowndes County Commissioners had a small amount of open discussion about
the proposed changes to the zoning code related to Moody Air Force Base
at

their Work Session this morning.
However, most of the discussion was not about the changes currently proposed,
which the County Planner once again explicitly linked to a rezoning case
on the same agenda.
At least they discussed tabling the zoning code changes
until there could be more discussion.
They did not, however, say they would make drafts available to the public
or invite the public to discuss those drafts.

County Planner Jason Davenport introduced agenda item
7.d. TXT-2012-02 MAZ II Residential Density:

This text amendment is part of the response to
some of the questions that were raised with the additional rezoning.
At the end of the day what this text amendment is going to do
is to take that very outer blue color, the lightest color,
which is the MAZ-3, and recommend change the zoning to 1 acre.
Currently it’s 2 and a half acres.

He mentioned they missed the 30 day requirement to inform Moody AFB
by about a week, but Moody responded anyway.
Hm, that’s not what he said to the Planning Commission;
there he said

they had allowed 31 days.

Commissioner Richard Raines said he’d prefer to table this amendment
until next year, because:

I think there are other issues that we’ve discussed related to MAZ.
If you have a mobile home and it becomes unlivable,
under the restrictions you can’t replace it….

Chairman Ashley Paulk responded that he didn’t have a problem with that, and:

Continue reading →

More developer favors at the County Commission Work Session this morning? @ LCC 2012-12-10

At the 8:30 AM Work Session this morning,
will the Chairman


Clint Joyner and J.D. Yeager of Joyner Realty


Clint Joyner (speaking) and J.D. Yeager (seated on right)
of Joyner Realty at LCC Work Session 2012-11-12


invite Clint Joyner of Joyner Realty to speak
like he did last month, without inviting anybody else?
Will Chairman Ashley Paulk invite J.D. Yeager of Joyner Realty (and formerly
Sheriff Paulk’s lieutenant at the Sheriff’s office) to speak?
That plus
solid waste

(if privatization is bad for Moody, why is it good for a county public
health and safety service like solid waste collection?),
Dollar General

(where’s the marketing plan to indicate whether tiny Naylor needs the
area’s nineteenth Dollar General?),
Library,

(Houston County’s SPLOST passed in a landslide after they held
public hearings; maybe Lowndes County should try that),
and
Alcohol

(county staff say they’re coalescing previous changes into the body
of the ordinance),
all at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session this morning;
here’s the agenda.

When

he spoke 12 November 2012, Clint Joyner started by referring to
a nearby subdivision “In 2007”.
2007 was the year Mr. Joyner got

(according to the Commission’s minutes of 26 June 2007)
$130,000 in road construction labor from the Commission because of
“an unforeseen Department of Transportation requirement regarding a costly intersection improvement.”
Why couldn’t the County Engineer or Mr. Joyner forsee such a requirement?

This time many people

do forsee that rezoning to develop in the Moody Activity Zones
would be a bad idea.

Houston County is using state and local tax money to buy up houses
in similar zones around Warner Robins Air Force Base.
Doubtless Houston County would love it if Lowndes County encroached
enough on Moody AFB that Moody’s missions moved to Robins AFB.

-jsq