{"id":1207,"date":"2011-12-16T09:59:15","date_gmt":"2011-12-16T14:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/county-public-hearing-on-comprehensive-plan.html"},"modified":"2015-07-26T08:25:28","modified_gmt":"2015-07-26T12:25:28","slug":"county-public-hearing-on-comprehensive-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/county-public-hearing-on-comprehensive-plan.html","title":{"rendered":"County Public Hearing on Comprehensive Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<\/a>\r\nTuesday the Lowndes County Commission finally held\r\n\r\nthe missing public hearing about the Comprehensive Plan,<\/a>\r\nand it was pretty painless:\r\nonly one citizen spoke, and she spoke for.\r\nIf they’d held it two months ago like all the local cities did,\r\nthey wouldn’t now be risking not getting state or federal grants\r\nbecause they may not be certified.\r\nThey still didn’t \r\ndistribute the draft STWP and ROA before the hearing<\/a>\r\nas the state requires them to do,\r\nso they could still be in trouble with the state.\r\nHowever, at least they\r\n\r\nreset their timeline<\/a> and held the hearing.\r\nThat’s a step towards transparency as defined by\r\n\r\nthe state guidelines the county already agreed in writing to follow.<\/a>\r\n

\r\nCommissioners had as much to say as they did\r\n\r\nat the Work Session Monday morning<\/a>: nothing.\r\n

\r\nThe one citizen, Gretchen Quarterman, said:\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nI’m a super fan of planning,\r\nand I’m a fan of the\r\n\r\nComprehensive Plan.<\/a>\r\nI think that if we don’t know where we are going,\r\nand we don’t have a plan on how we’re gonna get there,\r\nwe’re not gonna get there.\r\nAnd the five year plan that tells us exactly what we’re going to\r\nin the next five years to get to our 2030 plan is a groovy idea.\r\nSo that part I’m in favor of.\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n\r\nI’ve been over this document pretty thoroughly with Jason,<\/a>\r\nand I still have some questions outstanding which I’m sure\r\nthat they’ll get resolved.\r\nHe’s been super helpful.\r\n

\r\nThe one thing I talked to Mr. Raines about and I would encourage\r\nthe other Commissioners to consider is that in section 4.5.1,\r\nat least that’s what I have it on my document.\r\nInvestigate\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n

\r\nthe establishment of a county-wide municipal auditorium\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nand coordinate with Five Points Steering Committee.\r\nThat used to be a project that Lowndes County was included on,\r\nAnd now we’ve dropped off of that project, and it just is a\r\nCity of Valdosta project.\r\nI know that the county maybe isn’t too interested in that project,\r\nbut that’s a big project, and it will impact our county in a big way,\r\nand I think it would be a mistake for the county to abdicate\r\nits voice on that.\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nI know that we still have the steering committee people,\r\nbut I think that we should take an active role in that project.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nDavid Rodock wrote\r\n\r\nfor the VDT Wednesday:<\/a>\r\n

\r\nCommissioners also approved a request to allow a public hearing\r\nand submit\r\nupdated sections of the Comprehensive Plan to the Department of Community\r\nAffairs and Southern Georgia Regional Commission. Gretchen Quarterman\r\nspoke during the public-hearing portion of the agenda to speak in favor\r\nof the request, but asked commissioners to reconsider their involvement\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nin the upcoming Five Points Municipal Auditorium project.\r\n
\r\n“That used to be a project that Lowndes County was included on\r\nand now we’ve dropped that project and it’s just a City of Valdosta\r\nproject,” said Quarterman. “I know that the county may not\r\nbe too interested in that project, but that’s a big project and it will\r\nimpact our county in a big way and I think it would be a mistake for\r\nthe county to (eliminate) its voice from that project.”\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\nShe also said:\r\n
\r\nI have a few outstanding questions, but I’m waiting for Jason to answer them.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\nNobody else wanted to speak.\r\nCommissioner Crawford Powell made a motion to approve,\r\nCommissioner Joyce Evans seconded,\r\nand they voted unanimously in favor.\r\n

\r\nHere’s\r\n\r\nthe video:<\/a>\r\n

\r\n