Years ago I tried to explain to people on Stafford Wright Road that if the
county ever paved that road, it wouldn’t be for the current residents.
Now it’s getting
a water main with paving.
The county only ever runs water to places it plans to have subdivisions.
Enjoy your quiet country road while you can, old-time residents.
You’re about to be displaced for an expansion of “Central Lowndes County”
west of Skipper Bridge Road and north of Cherry Creek.
Lowndes County has been approved for a
GEFA Loan Agreement
submitted in December 2016, for upgrades at the Land Application Site (LAS)
and lift stations.
It’s not clear whether that includes the purchase of Continue reading →
Half the meeting (11 1/2 minutes) Tuesday was Commissioners grilling
Sheriff Chief Deputy Joe Crow
about
the cost of
High Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic (Heat):
how less funding is provided the more successful the program is,
and federal funding may go away, leaving the county to foot the bill.
Chairman asked for monthly statistical updates.
Commissioner Demarcus Marshall moved to approve continuation of the grant,
plus a statement in favor of the grant including a disclaimer that the county would “work to preserve” as much of the grant as possible if state funding goes away.
They vote 5:30 PM this evening on
finally fixing the railroad bridge over Old Quitman Highway.
As you can see in the videos below of yesterday morning’s Work Session,
County Engineer Mike Fletcher said it’s taken long negotiations with CSC and GDOT,
ending up with realigning the road to go across the railroad at 90 degrees.
Plus lots more on
the agenda.
Will they speed through it all in their usual 15 minutes?
They vote tomorrow (Tuesday) evening at 5:30 PM.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2016, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2016, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
As expected from the previous morning, they appointed
Chairman Bill Slaughter to the
South Georgia Community Service Board, after he got that board to change the time of its meetings to be different from this Commission’s time.
Video.
A Commissioner after the vote appointing Chairman Slaughter
asked what this board did.
Chairman’s answer: mostly behavioral health,
and they used to hold their meetings the same time as the Lowndes meetings,
but they have moved them to Adel at 1PM presumably also on Tuesday.
Video.
For quite a bit more background, see
the LAKE video from the previous morning’s Work Session.
Chairman asked for timeline.
Ashley Tye said federal year starts October 1st, so Valdosta would like to have
and agreement ready to sign before then.
Also they could come back at a later time, but could lose out on the federal
funding match.
Chairman asked for timeline to get agreement ready by then.
Tye said agreement with USGS would be with Valdosta,
and he would check back with them for a more firm date,
and would probably be best to decide at next Lowndes County Commission meeting.
Commissioner Demarcus Marshall asked confirmation that waiting until the
next meeting would work.
Answer: tabling until next meeting would work.
And that’s what they did.
Videos: 3 appointments, 1 well public hearing, Withlacoochee River Flood Map
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, July 12, 2016.
They vote Tuesday 5:30 PM.
Monday morning at the Work Session,
after some resistance from a Commissioner, surprisingly Chairman Bill Slaughter
argued for
paying the $40,000 to match Valdosta on the LiDAR flood maps
to prevent loss of life and property damage.
He even said “folks that live in our cities are Lowndes County Citizens as well.”
Emergency Management Director Ashley Tye
answered questions the Commissioners didn’t think to ask about Continue reading →
Videos: CAC office on Skipper Bridge Rd. + a Wal-Mart on Bemiss Rd?
Regular Session, Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 29 February 2016.
The letters from “Gusto Development LLC” have an email address of kim@hutton.build,
confirming that
it’s really The Hutton Company
doing this work for Bassford Properties LLC; the same Hutton Company
that recently did work on Wal-Marts in Chattanooga, TN and Athens, GA.
Received today at 4:17 PM EST, which was before the GLPC meeting started.
However, as I told the City Clerk when she also called on the telephone,
I was planting potatoes at that time.
I recommended to her, as I did earlier that same day
to the County Planner, that the agenda packet items go online so
neither city nor county staff nor citizens have to go through this rigamarole
just to see what Commissioners are looking at.
The actual Planning Commission meeting was quite brief; they recommended everything; LAKE videos to come.
Meanwhile, see
the LAKE videos of the previous week’s Work Session.
Thanks to Lowndes County Planner Jason Davenport’s expeditious
response to my open records request with
the packet materials for REZ-2016-03-06,
for tonight’s Planning Commission meetin,
we now know
this proposed CAC rezoning is at the NW corner of Skipper Bridge Road and Stafford Wright Road, about one acre of the
113.88 acre parcel 0106 232 owned by
JEV Duck Pond LLC, in the watershed of Cherry Creek, which flows to the Withlacoochee River.
Perhaps not coincidentally, the county recently approved plans
to pave Stafford Wright Road.
The County Planner mentioned that in the agenda sheet summary that
county road classifications (local rural, minor collector, etc.)
are stated in the
Lowndes County Thoroughfare Plan.
Back in 2009 when that plan was last updated, the County Engineer said it
“…works as a guide for development and potential use changes in property.”
