Quite a few people showed up at the Lowndes County Commission
public hearing about abandoning part of Bethany Road, speaking pro and con.
We learned many interesting reasons for abandoning that road,
which would apply to many dirt and maybe paved roads in the county,
many of which are on the county’s paving list.
More about that and an interesting view of the press in later posts.
First, here’s what we’re talking about.
Abandonment of a Portion of Bethany Road,
County Engineer, Mike Fletcher, presented a request by citizens for the
abandonment of a portion of Bethany Road. Mr. Fletcher explained that
the Commission was being asked to make an initial determination that
either the section of the county road system has been ceased to be used
by the public to the extent that no substantial purpose is served by it,
or that its removal from the county road system is otherwise in the best
public interest. Mr. Fletcher added that once the initial determination
was made, staff would move forward with the appropriate advertising of
a public hearing at which time the Commission could make a final decision.
Here’s
video
in which County Engineer Mike Fletcher said the part of Bethany Road
to be abandoned runs from Bethany Drive down through the Stith
and Turner family properties towards Old US 41 North
as far as the Rykard property,
and that all residents would still have access out to other roads.
County Manager Joe Pritchard noted that
Continue reading →
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2012, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2012, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Staff presented the
agenda item
“7.b. Entrance Gate at Davidson and Roberts Roads”:
Lowndes County received
a $2M grant from the Federal Highway Administration
for construction of a new Moody AFB entrance gate,
the gate to be located located at the intersection of
Davidson and Roberts Roads.
$477,991 of this money has already been taken for the
railroad crossing improvements,
leaving a balance of $1.52 million.
The low bid is from Scruggs Company, $1,648,497.05.
Wait, what?
The low bid is for more than the funds available?
Surely somebody will explain that?
Nope, no discussion. Instead, Commissioner Crawford Powell said:
I’ll make a motion we approve the bid as presented by staff.
Commissioner Evans seconded, and they all voted for it.
Hey, what $128,497.05 discrepancy?
Commission voted for $128,497.05 road cost overrun without discussion @ LCC 2012 Jan 10 Part 1 of 2:
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 January 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
If we look at the previous morning’s work session (9 January 2012),
we do find a bit more information.
The grant was presented as involving both the Federal Highway Administration
and Homeland Security, and:
Please find attached the “Transportation in the Region” newsletter for
the Southern Georgia Regional Commission and the Valdosta-Lowndes
Metropolitan Planning Organization. For more information please visit
our website at
www.sgrc.us/transportation.
On October 10, 2011 the Southern Georgia Regional Transportation
Roundtable approved a regional transportation project list that contains
75% of the funds this region would receive if a transportation sales and
use tax is approved by the voters on July 31, 2012. The tax is estimated
to generate $670,985,361 total; $503,239,020 of which is reserved for
the 75% regional projects list.
The remaining 25% of the funds ($167,746,439) are allocated to
local governments by formula (based on population and road centerline
miles). While these funds are to be spent at the discretion of each local
government on transportation related projects, it is recommended that
your local government begin to consider how these funds might be spent
over the next 10 years. By identifying these projects now, your local
voters will be able to know how all of the funds from this proposed
sales and use tax will be spent in their local community.
In order to have a central source for
information about the proposed sales tax,
we are asking local governments to submit
their project lists for the 25% discretionary
funding by March 31, 2012 to the following
address: SGRC; ATTN: Corey Hull; 327 W
Savannah Ave.; Valdosta, GA 31602; or
by email at chull@sgrc.us.
It will be interesting to see what projects local governments submit.
Maybe you’d like to suggest something to them.
Another issue here is that there will be no public hearing on this issue
unless someone ASKS for it. Without a hearing, it just goes forward
with no other public information about being presented. Anyone may ask
for a hearing, but I would especially think that there are people who
really need a functional system that is not just focused on people
who have access to Medicaid as a payment source due to illness or
disability. Requesting such a hearing before January 24 would give the
opportunity to have all this information presented and for questions to
be asked and answered.
Lowndes County officials assure citizens who use the county’s
current transit program that they will not be affected if the
proposed Valdosta-Lowndes County Transit Service Plan is implemented
in the area.
The current Lowndes County 5311 Transit Program falls under the
jurisdiction of the Georgia Department of Transportation. Ten
percent of the program is subsidized by the state and 80 percent is
subsidized by federal funds. Lowndes County provides 10 percent of
the cost of each bus.
Lowndes County’s 5311 Transit Program was implemented in December
2001 with only three buses. The program now includes six buses that
provide transportation throughout Lowndes County.
That may make MIDS the biggest bus system in the county.
VSU may have more busses.
Does Moody run busses?
Here are the notices about public transportation that was supposed to
be done some time ago. I am trying to figure out how the county will
compensate private providers for all this transportation.
Good question.
I can’t answer it, but maybe I can point at some related information
that might help.
She was referring to two public notices in the VDT of that same day,
Exhibit 8B,
which is about the MIDS service,
which is one of the ones in the list in
Exhibit 8A.
If you call MIDS, a small van will pick you up and deliver you,
all for a flat fee, if I understand it correctly. It’s the closest
thing we have to a bus system around here.
It looks like MIDS comes up for renewal about every two years, according to the agendas:
Continue reading →
Well, it’s not exactly the same geographical area.
GLPC is exclusively for Lowndes County, including its cities.
VLMPO is for the Valdosta Urbanized Area, which does not include
all of Lowndes County, but does include parts of Berrien and Lanier Counties.
According to
VLMPO’s home page:
In April 2003, Governor Sonny Perdue officially designated the Southern
Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC) as the Metropolitan Planning
Organization (MPO) for the Valdosta Urbanized Area. As the MPO,
the SGRC is responsible for carrying out transportation planning
in the Metropolitan Planning Area using funding received from the
US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration and
Federal Transit Administration, administered by the Georgia Department
of Transportation. The MPO works with these and other transportation
planning partners to fulfill the requirements of various federal, state
and local transportation planning laws and plans.
And it’s not quite the same subject area.
GLPC mostly hears rezoning cases, although it also deals with larger planning
issues such as the
Comprehensive Plan, which includes transportation.
VLMPO is focused on transportation, but gets into all sorts of related issues:
Continue reading →
Received yesterday. Includes an update on T-SPLOST and a Public Comment item. -jsq
Good Afternoon,
Please find attached
the agenda for the
Valdosta-Lowndes Metropolitan Planning Organization
Policy Committee
meeting on January 10, 2012 at
1:30 pm. At the SGRC office (address below). The public is welcome to
attend.
If you have any questions please contact Corey Hull at chull@sgrc.us or
at 229-333-5277.
Corey Hull, AICP
MPO Coordinator
Valdosta-Lowndes MPO
327 W. Savannah Ave.
Valdosta, GA 31601
Florida East Coast Railway Co. (FEC) said today it would add Valdosta,
Ga., to its so-called relay rail network, which allows truckers to drop
off trailerloads with the FEC and have the railroad, rather than the
truckers, transport the freight down the Florida peninsula to Miami. The
expansion will take place early next year, the railroad said.
Jacksonville, Fla.-based FEC already operates such a service at Savannah,
where truckers delivering loads originating in the Midwest and Southeast
drop their loads with FEC at the Georgia city. FEC then trucks the trailer
to its railhead in Jacksonville, where it is transloaded onto one of its
trains for the 350-mile overnight trip to Miami. The trucker can then pick
up a trailer in Savannah, a major manufacturing and distribution center,
for the westbound return trip. Once the trailer is offloaded in Miami,
FEC returns the empty equipment to Savannah.
Hm, you’d think the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA)
would be announcing something like this….
Quite a few people showed up at the Lowndes County Commission
public hearing about abandoning part of Bethany Road, speaking pro and con.
We learned many interesting reasons for abandoning that road,
which would apply to many dirt and maybe paved roads in the county,
many of which are on the county’s paving list.
More about that and an interesting view of the press in later posts.
First, here’s what we’re talking about.
Here’s
video
in which County Engineer Mike Fletcher said the part of Bethany Road
to be abandoned runs from Bethany Drive down through the Stith
and Turner family properties towards Old US 41 North
as far as the Rykard property,
and that all residents would still have access out to other roads.
County Manager Joe Pritchard noted that
Continue reading 
Another issue here is that there will be no public hearing on this issue
unless someone ASKS for it. Without a hearing, it just goes forward
with no other public information about being presented. Anyone may ask
for a hearing, but I would especially think that there are people who
really need a functional system that is not just focused on people
who have access to Medicaid as a payment source due to illness or
disability. Requesting such a hearing before January 24 would give the
opportunity to have all this information presented and for questions to
be asked and answered.
