{"id":139,"date":"2013-02-07T13:28:53","date_gmt":"2013-02-07T18:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/02\/public-notice-for-public-hearing-on-abandoning-part-of-old-state-road-leading-to-the-alapaha-river.html"},"modified":"2013-02-07T13:28:53","modified_gmt":"2013-02-07T18:28:53","slug":"public-notice-for-public-hearing-on-abandoning-part-of-old-state-road-leading-to-the-alapaha-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/02\/public-notice-for-public-hearing-on-abandoning-part-of-old-state-road-leading-to-the-alapaha-river.html","title":{"rendered":"Public Notice for public hearing on abandoning part of Old State Road leading to the Alapaha River"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nWhy is there no sign on Old State Road
\n
\nabout the proposed abandonment of the part leading to the Alapaha River<\/a>
\nlike there was in 2010?
\nThere’s a clue in the letter of the law Lowndes County is citing.\n<\/p>\n

\n


\n
\nNOTICE OF PROPOSED ROAD ABANDONMENT TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED<\/a>
\n<\/H2>
\n


\nNOTICE OF PROPOSED
\n
\nROAD ABANDONMENT
\n
\nTO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
\n<\/H3><\/p>\n

\nYOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that pursuant to O.C.G.A. 32-7-2(b)(1) the
\n
\n\"Parcel<\/a>
\nLowndes County Board of Commissioners has determined that a section
\nof Old State Road (CR # 16) has ceased to be used by the public to
\nthe extent that no substantial purpose is served or by it that its
\nremoval from the county road system is otherwise in the best public
\ninterest. The section of Old State Road that is proposed for
\nabandonment lies .85 miles to the east of Good Hope Road (CR # 126)
\nand travels approximately .17 miles before termination at the
\nAlapaha River.\n<\/p>\n

\nYOU ARE ALSO HEREBY NOTIFIED that pursuant to said Code section the
\n
\n\"2009:<\/a>
\nLowndes County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing for
\nthe purpose of determining whether to declare the subject section of
\nthe subject road abandoned. The public hearing will be at 5:30 P.M.
\non February 12, 2013, at the Lowndes County Administration Building
\nlocated at 327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, Georgia.\n<\/p>\n

\nAny citizen of Lowndes County or any person wherever residing may be
\nheard by the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners during the
\naforesaid public hearing.\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n\"County<\/a>
\nThis 28th day of January, 2013.\n<\/p>\n

\nJoseph D. Pritchard\n<\/p>\n

\nCounty Manager\n<\/p>\n

\nLowndes County, Georgia\n<\/p>\n

\n00046658\n<\/p>\n

\n2\/1,8\/13\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nNote that last part:
\n
\n“or any person wherever residing may be heard by the
\nLowndes County Board of Commissioners during the aforesaid public hearing.”
\n<\/span>
\nThat means you do not<\/em> have to be a citizen or resident or taxpayer
\nof Lowndes County to speak at this public hearing.\n<\/p>\n

\nThere’s no public hearing sign on the affected portion of that road.
\nWhy is that?
\nHere’s
\n
\nO.C.G.A. 32-7-2(b)(1)<\/a>:\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n(b) (1) When it is determined that a section of the county road
\n
\n\"2013:<\/a>
\nsystem has for any reason ceased to be used by the public to the
\nextent that no substantial public purpose is served by it or that
\nits removal from the county road system is otherwise in the best
\npublic interest, the county, by certification recorded in its
\nminutes, accompanied by a plat or sketch, and, after notice to
\nproperty owners located thereon, after notice of such determination
\nis published in the newspaper in which the sheriff’s advertisements
\nfor the county are published once a week for a period of two weeks,
\nand after a public hearing on such issue, may declare that section
\nof the county road system abandoned. Thereafter, that section of
\nroad shall no longer be part of the county road system and the
\nrights of the public in and to the section of road as a public road
\nshall cease.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n\"2010<\/a>
\nSo the statute doesn’t seem to require a sign like the county put up
\nlast time,
\n
\nback in 2010<\/a>.
\nIt only requires a public notice in the newspaper two weeks in
\nadvance, and even though the Commission
\n
\nvoted 22 January 2013<\/a>
\nto hold this hearing,
\n28 January is just two weeks before 12 February,
\nSo the county has met the letter of this particular statute.
\nAnd, as so often, the county can’t be bothered to go any farther.\n<\/p>\n


\n\"Map<\/a>
\nAs for the “plat or sketch” required by the statute,
\nmaybe it was
\n
\nthe map<\/a>
\ndisplayed at the
\n
\n22 January 2013 Commission meeting.<\/a>
\nWe don’t know, because the Commission doesn’t publish its board packets,
\nwhich presumably contained that “plat or sketch”,
\nalthough we don’t even know that.\n<\/p>\n

\nIs this how
\n“a part of a progressive government that is a notch ahead
\nof many rural mid-size communities” acts?
\nThat quoted text is
\n
\nFrom the County Manager, Joseph D. Pritchard<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n-jsq<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why is there no sign on Old State Road about the proposed abandonment of the part leading to the Alapaha River like there was in 2010? There’s a clue in the letter of the law Lowndes County is citing. NOTICE OF PROPOSED ROAD ABANDONMENT TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED NOTICE OF […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,88,469,478,3,449,479,450,55],"tags":[480,718,453,679,452,685,8701,681,8699,10,680,136,489,8723,8702,91,12,7,8734,625,8770,488,722,4,683,8772,682,8700,8767,8773,6,8768,8727],"class_list":["post-139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government","category-lowndes-county-commission","category-naylor","category-solid-waste","category-transparency","category-transportation","category-trash","category-vlpra","category-water","tag-12-february-2013","tag-26-october-2010","tag-alapaha-river","tag-ashley-paulk","tag-brett-huntley","tag-g-robert-carter","tag-georgia","tag-glenda-cofield","tag-government","tag-gretchen-quarterman","tag-j-c-riley","tag-joe-pritchard","tag-joyce-evans","tag-klvb","tag-lake","tag-lcc","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-lowndes-county-commission","tag-mike-fletcher","tag-naylor","tag-phillip-connell","tag-public-hearing","tag-regular-session","tag-richard-lee","tag-solid-waste","tag-steve-bays","tag-transparency","tag-transportation","tag-trash","tag-valdosta","tag-vlpra","tag-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}