{"id":15844,"date":"2016-02-11T07:42:37","date_gmt":"2016-02-11T12:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=15844"},"modified":"2016-02-11T07:42:37","modified_gmt":"2016-02-11T12:42:37","slug":"lack-of-site-plan-disconcerting-and-unacceptable-glenn-gregory-about-cemetery-rezoning-glpc-2016-01-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/lack-of-site-plan-disconcerting-and-unacceptable-glenn-gregory-about-cemetery-rezoning-glpc-2016-01-25.html","title":{"rendered":"Lack of site plan disconcerting and unacceptable –Glenn Gregory about cemetery rezoning @ GLPC 2016-01-25"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nFor an item \r\nalso on the Valdosta agenda tonight<\/a>,\r\nlack of transparency and concern for trees perplexed a prominent local citizen at the Planning Commission,\r\n\r\n\"Glenn<\/a>\r\nas you can see in\r\nthe LAKE video<\/a> of the\r\n\r\n25 January 2016 GLPC Regular Session<\/a>.\r\nGlenn Gregory said:\r\n

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\r\nI think y’all might have a site plan, but the public does not have a site plan.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nCommissioner Celine Godwin recommended Gregory take his transparency recommendation to the Valdosta City Council.\r\nWe shall see, at 5:30 PM tonight.\r\nGretchen will be there with the LAKE video camera.\r\n

\r\nJason Stewart, VDT, 29 January 2016,\r\n\r\nGregory opposes cemetery proposal<\/a>,\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Valdosta resident Glenn Gregory said the city needs to change its approach to open records requests to better suit the needs of residents.<\/p>

Gregory also called the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission’s lack of a site plan for a conditional use\r\npermit “disconcerting” and “unacceptable.”\r\n<\/p>

The GLPC voted 5-3 last week to recommend with conditions a conditional use request for 77.87 split-zoned acres into a cemetery. The acres are divided into residential-professional, single-family residential and environmental-resource zonings.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nGregory asked where is the site plan.\r\nHe was told he could file an open records request.\r\nHe said that was unacceptable.\r\nAs the VDT story notes, he did file one,\r\nbut since the Georgia open records law gives the city three days to respond, he didn’t get it before the GLPC meeting.\r\n

\r\nThe VDT story discusses conditions and notes the applicant said he had not discussed it with neighbors.\r\nThat didn’t seem to concern the Planning Commission, but this did:\r\n

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Gregory felt the commission should add conditions so no clearing could be done in the wetland area, he said.<\/p>

Any development done on the site should maintain the integrity of the “screen of the natural wooded area,” Gregory said.<\/p>

The commission voted to approve the permit with suggested conditions to create a buffer between the proposed cemetery and the wetlands, but the vote failed.<\/p>

Gladwell, who opposed the vote with the suggested conditions, said she could not impose restrictions without knowing how they would affect development.<\/p>

The commission voted to recommend the conditional-use permit with the original conditions.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nWhy is the Planning Commission not willing to act without knowing effects on a proposed development (the cemetery), yet is willing to act without knowing what neighboring landowners think?\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe transparency issue is both a city and a county problem.\r\nIndeed, the City Clerk handles Valdosta open records requests.\r\nBut it’s Lowndes County that’s in charge of\r\n\r\nthe website on which GLPC agendas and minutes are posted<\/a>.\r\nSo for the obvious solution of posting the board packets on the web\r\nbefore GLPC meetings, both the city and the county need to cooperate.\r\n

\r\nTo their credit, several Planning Commissioners seemed surprised and displeased to discover that the public did not have access to the site plan and other information before the GLPC meeting.\r\nGlenn Gregory recommended they email it to citizens who request.\r\nThe Suwannee County, Florida, Board of County Commissioners does that, for example.\r\nIt seems that mighty Valdosta, with population greater than all of Suwannee County, could also do that.\r\n

\r\nHere’s\r\n\r\nthe video:<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

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