Tag Archives: SGRC

Digital Economy Workshop Cancelled Tomorrow

Received just now by email from Julia Shewchuk.



Due to potentially unsafe travelling conditions through tomorrow
morning and several people letting us know they would not be attending,
we are cancelling the Digital Economy workshop in Valdosta tomorrow.
Please feel free to come to the February 6th
workshop and we will add
an hour before or after to discuss ISP specific issues and review the
business survey.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Julia

See

previous post for details about the other workshop dates.

-jsq

Digital Economy Plan Workshop

Update 3:30 PM 29 January 2014:

Thursday 30 January 2014 session cancelled due to weather; come to the 6 February 2014 meeting instead.

Received by email and there’s a

facebook event. -jsq

Good Morning and Happy New Year!



We would like to invite you to one or more workshops to help us
develop a Digital Economy Plan for our Region.

The Southern Georgia Regional Commission, in partnership with the
Georgia Technology Authority, is coordinating and developing a
Digital Economy Plan for the 18 counties in the South Georgia
Region to identify the unique characteristics of the digital
economy in our region, its strengths, weaknesses, its needs and its
opportunities.

The focus and intent of the plan is to Continue reading →

Open House at Mildred Hunter on Common Community Vision @ VLMPO 2013-10-23

“We have broadband”, said Bill Slaughter, while other people had
different opinions on that and other topics Wednesday night at
the Mildred Hunter Community Center.



Corey Hull introduced the session and a small but vocal group of citizens
discussed all

the main topic headings.
He noted that there are more than twelve plans already in place
in the various cities and counties in the Valdosta Lowndes Metropolitan
Planning Area.
Yet there were many common themes in those plans, and VLMPO was looking
for other common areas in these meetings and online,
and more specifically strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
If you have a community group of any size, VLMPO can come talk to it.
They’ve been to the Chamber, to Rotary, to churches, etc.
They expect to wrap this process up in December,
with common vision and goals for the next ten or twenty years.


Matt Martin
Local officials present included Matt Martin,

Planning and Zoning Administrator for the City of Valdosta,
and Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter.
Martin didn’t say much, but Bill Slaughter was quite vocal.
I thanked him for speaking up, even though I didn’t agree with everything he said.
He helped clarify current county codes for stormwater retention,
and Martin helped clarify the city’s codes.

As a long-time participant in
local development (he’s CEO of Waller Heating and Air)
Slaughter said when people are buying houses all they look at is Continue reading →

Common Community Vision for Lowndes County



What do you the citizens want Lowndes County to be?
Here’s a chance to speak up, so when somebody asks where were you when
the decisions were being made, you don’t have to answer “lying on the couch
watching television.” (Thanks to Nolen Cox for that phrase.)

Corey Hull wrote on facebook today,

Help Spread the Word for the Future of Lowndes County,

My office is conducting a survey and gathering public input on
Facebook (go to

www.facebook.com/valdostalowndesmpo) about what they
want the Lowndes County Common Community Vision to be


(
www.bit.ly/LowndesCCV). So far our participation has been low. I am
calling on all of you to encourage your friends, family and
colleagues to spread the word and let us know what you think about
the future of Lowndes County and its cities.

Over the next two months there will be future opportunities for
public input so stay tuned.

Thanks for your help.

On the Southern Georgia Regional Commission’s website,

Lowndes County Common Community Vision, Continue reading →

Valdosta and Army Corps of Engineers in Flood Risk Management Study

First public update since

May:
Valdosta has had several recent meetings with other governmental groups
and has agreed to co-fund a flooding study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

WCTV has also

picked up
Valdosta PR 23 July 2013,

City Enters Agreement with USACE for Flood Risk Management Study,



The City of Valdosta hosted a Regional Flood Preparedness meeting
with the Georgia Silver Jackets on June 25—a continuation of
discussions that began earlier in the year focused on regional
interests and on maximizing area resources.

Representatives from the cities of Moultrie, Sylvester, Tifton and
Valdosta and from the counties of Lowndes and Turner attended the
meeting to discuss current and future flood monitoring and
forecasting issues throughout the Little River and Withlacoochee
River watersheds. These two watersheds are part of the overall
Suwannee Basin that is approximately 10,000 square miles in Georgia
and Florida.

Among other information shared, Continue reading →

Tipping fees vs. host fees from Veolia

What is this contract involving tipping fees that

Lowndes County declined to produce a copy of?
How can it be “adequately maintained in the future”, as former Commissioner Lee
put it, if the county doesn’t know what it is?

The

minutes for the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners Work Session 11 October 2010
say:


Resolution-Proposed Amendment-March 2007 Greater Lowndes Solid Waste
Management Plan,

County Planner, Jason Davenport, presented the resolution, adding that
the amendment was drafted due to a proposed expansion and reconfiguration
of the Evergreen landfill. Mr. Davenport added that the amendment had
been reviewed by staff, the Regional Commission and the Deep South Solid
Waste Authority. Mr. Davenport further stated that Mr. A.J. Rodgers, of


Veolia Environmental Services, was present to answer any questions the
Commission might have regarding the project. Commissioner Lee stated
that he was concerned that the contractual relationship that has been
in place for quite some time be accurately reflected and adequately
maintained in the future. Commissioner Lee then asked Mr. Rodgers if a
new cell had been created yet. Mr. Rodgers answered that construction
had begun in a cell that had already been approved.

Veolia spelled his name

[Andrew] AJ Rogers and identified him as
“area manager for Veolia ES Solid Waste Southeast, Inc.”

in a 22 March 2011 press release.

But what is this “contractual relationship”?
According to
a letter from Walter G. Elliott, Lowndes County Attorney, Continue reading →

Bicycle Workshop June 10th –VLMPO

Biking is the lead story in

the Spring Transportation Newsletter from the

Valdosta-Lowndes Metropolitan Planning Organization
and

the Southern Georgia Regional Commission.



Regional Bicycle Workshop On Monday, June 10, 2013, from 2 p.m. to 4
p.m. the Southern Georgia Regional Commission will host a Regional
Bicycle Workshop to discuss local bicycle infrastructure planning
and safety efforts.

Bicycling is becoming a more popular mode of transportation
throughout the nation and here in Southern Georgia. Our pleasant
climate and relatively flat landscape makes bicycling popular for
both commuting and recreation. Individuals of all ages are bicycling
more for various reasons, whether it be to save money on gas, to get
to work or the store, for exercise, or to go see a friend across
town.


GA Bicycle Route 10
This event will feature speakers on the topics of challenges to
building bicycle friendly infrastructure, bicycle safety and how our
communities can be healthy, happy, wealthy and wise when it comes to
bicycling. Brent Buice, from Georgia Bikes! will help lead a
discussion on what our communities can do to become more bicycle
friendly.

To RSVP for this event, please contact Corey Hull at chull@sgrc.us
or at 229-333-5277.

The newsletter also has a list of bike trails, with a pointer to

Public Hiking and Walking Trails of Southern Georgia.
The state also has

maps of bicycle routes, including

this one for the Valdosta area:

Continue reading →

Valdosta Plans Flooding Discussions


Valdosta is finally announcing the

11 April 2013 watershed-wide flooding meeting organized by
the Army Corps of Engineers.


WCTV yesterday carried a press release from the City of Valdosta;
PR which, oddly, does not appear to be on the city’s website.
I have added a few links. Prominently missing from the PR is any mention
of water quality, the Floridan Aquifer, or sinkholes. -jsq

The City of Valdosta initiated planning discussions recently that
brought together representatives from key local, state and federal
agencies to seek solutions to a regional flood issue.



The 50-year flood event that occurred in late

February,
early

March
2013 was a vivid reminder of the 2009 flood event that significantly
impacted south Georgia. Since 2009, the city has worked to help


identify potential causes and the scope and area of the regional
flooding that occurred. This information has been shared with
various state and federal officials and agencies in the hopes of
gaining their interest and support to work together to address the
regional flooding. Since Valdosta is located

Continue reading →

SB 104 that changed comprehensive plan rules: good or bad?

The Georgia legislature overwhelmingly passed a rather brief

bill that changes


the requirements for Comprehensive Plans by local governments.

ACCG
and

GMA both supported it.
It seems to be related to recent

Department of Community Affairs (DCA)
rulemaking that was mostly positive.
Does that make it a good law?
Opinions seem to differ.
Here’s what I’ve found.

The Bill: SB 104

Continue reading →

SGRC: New DCA Minimum Local Comprehensive Planning Standards



Local governments are now required to update their Comprehensive Plans
every five years (used to be every ten years).
Here’s video of

the new rules
and

a playlist of the entire meeting at which this was discussed in Valdosta
on 7 February 2013.


facebook event:

In response to concerns about the complexity of the 2005 Local
Government Planning Standards, Georgia DCA adopted new Rules for the
Minimum Standards and Procedures for Local Comprehensive Planning
(Chapter 110-12-1). The rules were adopted on November 1, 2012 and
became effective on January 1, 2013. The five workshops are held as
a continued education event around the region to familiarize all
local governments elected and appointed officials, government staff,
the development community, citizens and any other interested party
with the new rules, so that all may remain in compliance with those
rules.

This session was held Thursday, February 7th at the Valdosta City
Hall Annex Multipurpose room.

Additional sessions are scheduled for:

  • February 21, 2013 —Tifton
  • March 7, 2013—Douglas
  • March 21, 2013—Irwin County
  • April 4, 2013—Waycross

Sessions are geared toward community planners but they are open to
the public.

Here’s

a video playlist:

Continue reading →