{"id":280,"date":"2012-12-08T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-08T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/houston-county-has-exclusion-zones-around-warner-robins-afb-like-the-lowndes-county-maz.html"},"modified":"2012-12-08T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-12-08T16:00:00","slug":"houston-county-has-exclusion-zones-around-warner-robins-afb-like-the-lowndes-county-maz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/houston-county-has-exclusion-zones-around-warner-robins-afb-like-the-lowndes-county-maz.html","title":{"rendered":"Houston County has exclusion zones around Warner Robins AFB like the Lowndes County MAZ"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nLowndes County is not\n\n“the only community in the country with a MAZ”<\/a>:\nHouston County has very similar zones of encroachment protection around\nWarner Robins Air Force Base (RAFB).\n<\/p>\n

\nAs we’ve already seen,\n\nHouston County is buying up houses around RAFB<\/a>\nusing $7.5 million from the state of Georgia.\nThat’s in addition to $6 million from Bibb County and\nsome unspecified amount from the Defense Department.\nPlus Houston County\nallocated $7 million from SPLOST funds,\n\nand their SPLOST won by a landslide, apparently partly for that reason.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\nBut what are\n\n\"Warner<\/a>\n\nthose encroachment zones around Warner Robins AFB\ndepicted on the buyback map?<\/a>\nI called Houston County to find out.\nTheir Community Planner, Jacob Cox, said yes, Houston County\nhas crash zones, and noise attenuation zones in which they can\nhave businesses but not residences.\n<\/p>\n

\nHe pointed me to\n\nThe Robins Air Force Base and Middle Georgia\n2004 Joint Land Use Study<\/a>,\nwhich notes:\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe 2004 JLUS examines land issues as they relate to RAFB flying\nmissions and suggests measures to ensure compatible land use in the\nBase environs now and into the future. The 2004 JLUS process\nutilizes information provided in the 1998 RAFB Air Installation\nCompatibility Use Zone study (AICUZ) to evaluate land use\ncompatibility and regulatory adequacy in areas subject to air hazard\npotential and noise impact. Additional considerations related to air\nnavigation, including air protection surfaces are examined. Clear\nZones and Accident Potential Zones are all considered compatible\nwith AICUZ guidelines. Incidences of incompatible development are\npredominantly restricted to a limited number of non-noise attenuated\nresidences built prior to 1994.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe results of the 2004 JLUS demonstrate that previously adopted\nland use regulations have been effective in limiting incompatible\ndevelopment within the Base environs. The 1994 adoption of the Base\nEnvirons Zoning District (BEZD) model by the surrounding communities\nhas served to check most encroachment-type development. Only a very\nlow number of sporadic, isolated examples of noise-related\nincompatible development was observed to have been built since\nimplementation of the BEZD land regulation strategy. Consistent\nlocal government implementation of adopted provisions must be\nmaintained in order to continue to provide the protection necessary\nto prevent incompatible development from restraining Base operations\nin the future.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nSo as far back as 1994 the communities around RAFB were using zoning\nto limit base encroachment.\nThe 1998 AICUZ recommended further\nClear Zones and Accident Potential Zones.\nWhy?\nMission changes at RAFB.\nSo the 2004 JLUS made recommendations and the local governments, including Houston County,\ndecided to go ahead and do something about it.\n<\/p>\n\n\n

\n

\nIn achieving the goals and objectives of the 2004 JLUS, specific\nrecommendations have been developed for participants. These\nrecommendations are designed to augment and strengthen existing\nprocedures and existing land use regulations. Each participating\nlocal government has initiated the process for adopting necessary\nrecommended modifications, into their existing land use planning\npolicies and regulatory procedures including noise-related parameter\nchanges presented in the 1998 AICUZ study. The decision by Middle\nGeorgia local governments to proactively adopt a Comprehensive\nMission Noise Contour strategy will insure optimum protection for\ncitizens in the vicinity of RAFB while continuing to allow the Air\nForce the greatest amount of mission planning flexibility.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nThat JLUS defines Clear Zones (CZ) as 3,000 feet by 3,000 feet\nsquares at each end of the runway,\nAccident Potential Zones (APZ) I and II\nas somewhat larger rectangles,\nwith APZ I “beyond and contiguous to each CZ”\nand APZ II “beyond and contiguous to each APZ I”.\nPlus Noise Contour Zones, as:\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nDefined, contiguous, curvilinear areas emanating outward from the\nrunway at prescribed average weighted loudness intervals. The\ndesignated loudness increment level is DNL 5. The employed range of\ncontours is from DNL 65 to DNL 85.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nThe RAFB JLUS spells out numerous detailed recommendations for what\nland uses to allow and what to deny inside each of those zones.\n<\/p>\n

\n\n<\/a>\nDo these various zones sound familiar?\nLowndes County’s Comprehensive Plan and ULDC also have\nsquare Clear Zones and rectangular APZ I and APZ II.\nLowndes County’s nested curvilinear MAZ-1, MAZ-2, and MAZ-3\nare the equivalent of Houston County’s three Noise Countour Zones.\n(And there is a\n\nMoody JLUS<\/a>, too.)\n<\/p>\n

\nMaps of the RAFB zones\nare referred to but unfortunately missing from the 2004 JLUS.\nHowever, you can see them in the\n\nTelegraph interactive map of the housing buyback.<\/a>\nWhich is something Lowndes County does not have:\na zoomable google map of the MAZs overlayable with satellite imagery.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe RAFB zones are included in Houston County’s\n\nComprehensive Plan<\/a>\nalong with numerous land use code details at least partly\nderived from the 2004 RAFB JLUS; see\nRobins Air Force Base Environs Character Area.\n<\/p>\n

\nSo it appears\n\nCommissioner Raines was misinformed:<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\nI was recently informed that Lowndes County is the only community in the\ncountry with a MAZ, which means we have gone to greater lengths than any\nother community to protect against encroachment. Making minor adjustments\nis necessary with all ordinances and, even if the proposed changes are\nmade, we still have the only MAZ in the country.\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nLowndes County does not have the only MAZ in the country:\nHouston County has the exact equivalent.\nAnd Houston County has gone to greater lengths than Lowndes County\nin protecting its base against encroachment, in finding and allocating\nfederal, state, and local tax money to buying up houses within the\nencroachment zones.\n<\/p>\n

\n\n<\/a>\nAnd Houston County is buying up houses in their outer encroachment zone,\nthe equivalent of MAZ-III,\nwhile\nLowndes County is considering rezoning and modifying the zoning code\nfor a proposed new subdivision\n\nin MAZ-II and MAZ-III.<\/a>\nHouston County is actively working on fixing its problem,\nwhile the Lowndes County Commission proposes to make our problem worse.\n<\/p>\n

\nIs Lowndes County really less concerned about its largest employer\nthan Houston County is about its equivalent?\nMaybe if enough people call or write their Lowndes County Commissioners\nthe Commission will make the wise decision Tuesday:\n\ntable or deny that text amendment, and deny that rezoning.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n-jsq\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lowndes County is not “the only community in the country with a MAZ”: Houston County has very similar zones of encroachment protection around Warner Robins Air Force Base (RAFB). As we’ve already seen, Houston County is buying up houses around RAFB using $7.5 million from the state of Georgia. That’s in addition to $6 million […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[97,48,40,552,14,49,16,70,2,19,20,88,570,571,21,22,73,52,3],"tags":[1216,8736,1211,1210,1217,1208,1209,1205,1204,1214,8720,8717,8777,1215,8704,8721,1206,8706,8728,8701,1220,8699,8709,1200,1213,1212,8702,8710,12,7,8734,1202,1155,8783,1219,8784,46,1218,8711,8712,1203,8731,8724,1207,8700,6,1199,1201],"class_list":["post-280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-code-enforcement","category-community","category-comprehensive-plan","category-economy","category-elections","category-environment","category-ethics","category-government","category-history","category-law","category-lowndes-county-commission","category-military","category-moody-afb","category-planning","category-politics","category-safety","category-splost","category-transparency","tag-accident-potential-zone","tag-activism","tag-aicuz","tag-air-installation-compatibility-use-zone","tag-apz","tag-base-environs-zoning-district","tag-bezd","tag-bibb-county","tag-buyback","tag-clear-zone","tag-code-enforcement","tag-community","tag-comprehensive-plan","tag-cz","tag-economy","tag-elections","tag-encroachment","tag-environment","tag-ethics","tag-georgia","tag-google-map","tag-government","tag-history","tag-houston-county","tag-jlus","tag-joint-land-use-study","tag-lake","tag-law","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-lowndes-county-commission","tag-mafb","tag-maz","tag-military","tag-moody-activity-zone","tag-moody-afb","tag-nathan-deal","tag-noise-abatement-zone","tag-planning","tag-politics","tag-rafb","tag-safety","tag-splost","tag-tommy-stalnaker","tag-transparency","tag-valdosta","tag-warner-robins","tag-warner-robins-afb"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-4w","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280","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=280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}