Tag Archives: Scruggs Company

Videos: ULDC amendments, Voting machine security, Library Board, Boat and RV Storage, Alapaha Plantation Water, Purchase houses by Griner Park, Insurance, LMIG @ LCC Regular 2023-07-11

Commissioner Demarcus Marshall asked for clarifications on chickens being excluded from conservation in 6.a. TXT-2023-01 ULDC Text Amendments, County Manager Bill Slaughter said there were two kinds of conservation: land use and taxes, and the exclusion only applied to one of them; not clear which one.

[Collage @ LCC 11 July 2023]
Collage @ LCC 11 July 2023

Gretchen Quarterman spoke against the amendments being voted on without more time for the general public to review and comment, as she did at the preceding Planning Commission meeting. She pointed out she still could not find the amendments on the county’s website, there had been only one county announcement of these changes, and no listing of the changes. Nobody spoke for. The Chairman asked for rebuttal, but there was none.

Commissioners had no discussion, and voted unanimously to approve the ULDC text amendments.

They unanimously approved everything else, except Continue reading →

Videos: Complicated Library Board, ULDC amendments, Boat and RV Storage, Alapaha Plantation Water, Purchase houses by Griner Park, Insurance, LMIG @ LCC Work 2023-07-10

Update 2023-10-16: Videos: ULDC amendments, Voting machine security, Library Board, Boat and RV Storage, Alapaha Plantation Water, Purchase houses by Griner Park, Insurance, LMIG @ LCC Regular 2023-07-11.

This time the ULDC text amendments are on the agenda as a Public Hearing.

[Collage @ LCC 10 July 2023]
Collage @ LCC 10 July 2023

However, Lowndes County still has not put the proposed amendments on its website. You can see them in the board packet on the LAKE website (they are different from the draft that was in the Planning Commission packet).

But that’s only because LAKE sent an open records request for that packet and posted it. Why should the general public have to do that, when the county already showed draft amendments to the Homebuilders Association more than a month ago? We know this because the the County Manager said so in the June 12th County Commission meeting: “In addition to the Planning Commission, the amendments have also been shared with the Homebuilders Association, as our largest group of stakeholders, we’d like for them to be able to give us some feedback.” Continue reading →

Packet: Complicated Library Board, ULDC amendments, Boat and RV Storage, Alapaha Plantation Water, Purchases houses by Griner Park, Insurance, LMIG @ LCC 2023-07-10

Update 2023-07-11: Videos: Complicated Library Board, ULDC amendments, Boat and RV Storage, Alapaha Plantation Water, Purchase houses by Griner Park, Insurance, LMIG @ LCC Work 2023-07-10.

Four terms expire on the South Georgia Regional Library Board (SGRLB) and all four people want to be reappointed. Plus another term will be vacant and two people want to be appointed to that: Catherine Ammons and Sarah Fitzgerald.

The Lowndes County Commission will hear these items this morning at 8:30 AM, and will vote on them at 5:30 PM tomorrow evening.

The text amendments to the Unified Land Development Code (ULDC) are on the agenda, even though the Planning Commission recommended tabling it for 30 days for the public to review. The version in this board packet is different from the version shown to the Planning Commission. Even county staff are asking for more time for the solar amendment.

[Collage, LCC Packet 2023-07-10]
Collage, LCC Packet 2023-07-10

The County Commissioners will vote on more than two and a half million dollars, mostly in road paving and insurance.

Plus they’re buying the houses next to where they want to make Griner Park near the county palace, and only a few blocks from where the City of Valdosta has already made Unity Park with an amphitheater.

And yet more of your tax dollars go to fix the private water system at Alapaha Plantation.

On the bright side, the land formerly rezoned for a biomass plant is now requested to be rezoned for boat and RV storage. Continue reading →

Videos: Maybe revisit lowering millage rate @ LCC 2020-08-10

There was pushback on lowering the millage rate at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session yesterday morning. They will decide this evening at 5:30 PM at the Regular Session.

The Commissioners, like some of the public, also wanted to know when there will be a new County Clerk. Answer, from the former County Clerk, Paige Dukes, who is now the County Manager: not yet; maybe next meeting (two weeks from now).

The $0.9 million low bid from Reames for road paving and a box culvert got no discussion from Commissioners.

The Scruggs Company was offered a special exception to the Comprehensive Plan; one that actually makes sense.

Yes, the Copeland property backs up to PCA.

The Verizon tower got no questions from Commissioners.

Below are links to each LAKE video with a few notes, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the agenda and board packet, and the millage rate hearing at 5PM today (Tuesday).

Packet: $0.9 million paving project, reduction of millage rate, 3 small rezonings @ LCC 2020-08-10

For the Monday morning Work session and Tuesday evening voting Regular Session, the Lowndes County Commission has only one item that has “BUDGET IMPACT” in its agenda sheet, but it’s a doozy:
Cost What
$899,744.40 Ridgecrest, Woodland and Glenview Paving & Drainage Project
$899,744.4Total

The agenda sheet says:

Lowndes County solicited bids for Ridgecrest, Woodland and Glenview Grading, Drainage, Base and Paving. The project will consist of Grading, Drainage, Base and Paving of Ridgecrest and Woodland and the installation of a box culvert under Glenview Drive. Vendors present for the pre-bid meeting held on July 21, 2020, were James Warren & Associates, Southland Contractors, Reames & Son Construction, Rountree Construction, and The Scruggs Company. Three bids were received on August 4, 2020.

Here are the bids:

[Bids, NC-TIA 2019-04: Ridgecrest Street and Woodland Drive]
Bids, NC-TIA 2019-04: Ridgecrest Street and Woodland Drive

Where is that? South of the west end of W Savanna Ave, near I-75 Exit 16.

[Google map: Ridgecrest Street & Woodland Drive]
Google map: Ridgecrest Street & Woodland Drive

Ah, yes, I got stuck in traffic there not so long ago, trying to get around a stopped train.

We know this much because LAKE obtained a copy of the board packet through an open records request; it’s on the LAKE website.

I suppose if we rummage around enough we’ll find details of NC-TIA 2019-04 somewhere on the county’s website.

Here is the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, AUGUST 10, 2020, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, AUGUST 11, 2020, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Videos: Water, VSU bonds, 3 road abandonments, 1 widening, MIDS bus, Comprehensive Plan @ LCC 2016-10-11

Two weeks ago, County Manager Joe Pritchard announced that Commissioner Joyce Evans is now serving as Vice Chairman, yes, the resolution to approve the VSU bonds was requested by the South Regional Joint Development Authority (SRJDA), and John Stevens is the new VDT reporter. Citizen Shirley Moore said she’d like a connection to county water and sewer. They tabled the Comprehensive Plan update, apparently because the Commissioners wanted to “dig into it deeper”.

The rest was mostly approving what they already discussed the previous morning. They meet again Monday morning.

Below are links to each LAKE video with a few notes, followed by a video playlist.

Continue reading →

Videos: Art, hurricane, engineering reports, VSU bonds, 3 road abandonments, 1 widening, MIDS bus, Comprehensive Plan @ LCC 2016-10-10

The Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline and others already in the county came up in the Comprehensive Plan approval discussion, as you can see in these LAKE Videos from Monday morning; they vote tonight 5:30 PM.

Stephen Spradley and Georgia Forestry were still helping after Hurricane Matthew, but Ashley Tye reported on evacuees, Chad McLeod reported on engineering projects including the Naylor Boat Ramp at the Alapaha River, and Angela Crance reported on an art district; actually Buddy Boswell did that.

They also heard about a self storage rezoning, three road abandonments, a road widening, the annual MIDS bus service renewal, and a county resolution about bonds for another private LLC by the South Regional Joint Development Authority (SRJDA), different from the one with the public hearing October 21st at a private law firm. What does the resolution say? It’s not in the documents with the agenda.

Below are links to each LAKE video with a few notes, followed by a video playlist. Continue reading →

VSU bond resolution, 3 road abandonments, 1 widening, MIDS bus, Comprehensive Plan @ LCC 2016-10-10

Monday morning 8:30 AM, a self storage rezoning, (final?) Comprehensive Plan approval, three road abandonments, a road widening, the annual MIDS bus service renewal, an art district presentation by Angela Crance, a Georgia Forestry presentation by Stephen Spradley, and a county resolution about bonds for another private LLC by the South Regional Joint Development Authority (SRJDA), different from the one with the public hearing October 21st at a private law firm. What does the resolution say? It’s not in the documents with the agenda.


U.S. Air Force Col. Billy Thompson, 23d Wing commander, expresses his gratitude to Continue reading →

Videos: Hambrick Road paving and traffic and Bevel Creek bridge @ LCC 2016-04-26

Thanks to County Engineer Mike Fletcher for doing almost what Gretchen asked at the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session 26 April 2016.

They rattled through the agenda with almost no questions, unanimously approving everything, including the $89,005 in emergency no-bid repairs. You’d have little idea why they were doing anything if you weren’t at the previous morning’s Work Session or you didn’t view the LAKE videos of the Work Session, in which we discovered for example it’s not Beatty Creek Bridge, rather Bevel Creek Bridge. Nonetheless, the County Engineer still said the creek name wrong.

Here are links to each of the LAKE videos of the Regular Session of April 26th 2016, with a few notes, followed by a video playlist. See also the LAKE videos of the Work Session of April 25th 2016, and the agenda.

They meet again this morning at 8:30 AM. Continue reading →

Videos: Emergency no-bid repairs, a bridge where, and unnecessary resurfacing @ LCC 2016-04-25

5.e. Emergency Fiber Replacement to South Lowndes The FY 2017 Juvenile Justice Incentive Grant was a popular topic yesterday morning, and some Commissioners showed a little bit of scepticism about that $89,005 in emergency no-bid repairs on the agenda for yesterday morning and for voting 5:30PM this evening.

Also $634,800 for a bridge we can’t tell where, and some unknown fraction of $1,663,888.78 to resurface a road that shouldn’t be used as a highway in the first place. Who’s in charge of budget planning for the county?

At the end, there was more from the County Manager about private road Carter Way: they discovered another property owner (“at least one”) after they agreed to spend $67,822 to fix a private road.

Here are links to each of the LAKE videos, with a few notes, followed by a video playlist. Continue reading →