{"id":5199,"date":"2013-08-17T13:07:11","date_gmt":"2013-08-17T17:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=5199"},"modified":"2013-08-17T14:41:03","modified_gmt":"2013-08-17T18:41:03","slug":"geotechnical-conditions-and-maybe-sinkholes-michael-noll-lcc-2013-08-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/08\/geotechnical-conditions-and-maybe-sinkholes-michael-noll-lcc-2013-08-13.html","title":{"rendered":"Geotechnical conditions and maybe sinkholes –Michael Noll @ LCC 2013-08-13"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nA VSU professor\r\nsaid he was in favor of the economic benefits,\r\nbut geotechnical issues should determine whether\r\n\r\nthe new Moody Housing on Val Del Road\r\n(REZ-2013-09)<\/a>\r\nshould be built, and those were still unclear,\r\nat\r\n\r\nthe 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session<\/a>.\r\n

\r\nDr. Michael Noll of VSU\r\nsaid he was speaking because he had been referred to by previous speakers\r\n(Jason Davenport<\/a>\r\nand\r\nTom Kurrie<\/a>), and he was neither for nor against\r\nREZ-2013-09<\/a>.\r\nDr. Noll’s neither-in-favor-nor-against position seemed to puzzle\r\nCounty Engineer Mike Fletcher.\r\nNoll said he and his colleagues had looked at\r\n\r\nthe Environmental Assessment (EA)\r\nwhich has been available at the public library<\/a>\r\nand concluded that they had a number of questions they’d like answered,\r\nand he was sure the developers had similar concerns for safety of the project.\r\n

\r\nDr. Noll\r\nsaid they’d been trying to get a copy of the geotechnical analysis mentioned\r\non page 4-13 of the EA.\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nEspecially he was concerned about\r\n\r\nkarst<\/a> formations which may or may not\r\nexist in the area.\r\nHe wondered why there were problems in getting that report.\r\nHe said the phone number was listed incorrectly,\r\nbut through Moody AFB he got the right number and had spoken\r\nto Mr. Richmond who was listed on the VDT announcement of the EA.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nDr. Noll said a private entity such as Balfour Beatty was not subject\r\nto Georgia Open Records Requests.\r\n(However, if Lowndes County has a copy of either of these reports,\r\nthe county is subject to such requests.)\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nDr. Noll said (very politely) that\r\nthe new base commander asked Dr. Noll and colleagues\r\nto come with him to look at the site, but even Moody hadn’t been\r\ngiven permission to visit the site.\r\nNoll said he and his colleagues would like to examine the site\r\nand that wouldn’t take very long.\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nHere’s some of their previous work,\r\n\r\non the sinkhole under Michael McCormick’s garage<\/a>,\r\nwhich the county still has done nothing about, as far as I know.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nCommissioner Richard Raines wanted to know whether Dr. Noll\r\nwas just concerned, or was he offering his services, or both.\r\nDr. Noll said he was generally speaking concerned because of what\r\nhe saw in the EA, which indicated there had been some sampling,\r\nbut not enough to determine whether the foundations were sound.\r\n“We don’t know.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n

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

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