{"id":8199,"date":"2014-03-22T18:09:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-22T22:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=8199"},"modified":"2014-03-22T18:17:07","modified_gmt":"2014-03-22T22:17:07","slug":"water-issues-under-moody-family-housing-dr-michael-noll-lcc-2014-03-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2014\/03\/water-issues-under-moody-family-housing-dr-michael-noll-lcc-2014-03-11.html","title":{"rendered":"Water issues under Moody Family Housing &#8211;Dr. Michael Noll @ LCC 2014-03-11"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=eARnl3X-1oU\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.ytimg.com\/vi\/eARnl3X-1oU\/default.jpg\"><\/a>\r\n<p style=\"font-style:normal\">\r\nWater issues still need to be investigated and resolved under\r\nthe proposed Moody Family Housing,\r\nsaid Dr. Michael Noll,\r\npresenting a public comment by him and two other VSU professors about the recent\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2014\/02\/moody-family-housing-environmental-assessment-published.html\">\r\nevironmental assessment<\/a>\r\nto the\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2014\/03\/videos-water-under-moody-family-housing-and-sabal-trail-lcc-2014-03-11.html\">\r\n11 March 2014 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission<\/a>.\r\n<p>\r\nHere&#8217;s\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=eARnl3X-1oU\">\r\nthe video<\/a>:\r\n<p style=\"text-align:center;font-size:80%\">\r\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/eARnl3X-1oU\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\r\n<br>\r\nRegular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC)\r\n<br>\r\nValdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 11 March 2014.\r\n<br>\r\nVideos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).\r\n<p>\r\nAppended is the text of the VSU professors&#8217; letter,\r\nand here it is in\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/MHPI-public-comment-2014.pdf\">PDF<\/a>.\r\n<\/p><!--more-->\r\n<p>\r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>\r\n<blockquote>\r\n<p>\r\nAFCEC\/CZN\r\n<br>\r\n2261 Hughes Ave Ste 155\r\n<br>\r\nLackland AFB\r\n<br>\r\nTX, 78236-9853\r\n<p>\r\nATTN: Captain D. Jason Murley\r\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">\r\nFriday, February 28, 2014\r\n<p style=\"text-align:center\">\r\n<u>\r\nPUBLIC COMMENT\r\n<\/u>\r\n<br>\r\nRE: Revised Environmental Assessment, Military Housing Privatization Initiative (MHPI),\r\n<br>\r\nVal-Del Road, Moody AFB, Georgia\r\n<p>\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?attachment_id=8192\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none\" src=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/MHPI-public-comment-2014-001-small.jpg\"><\/a>\r\nWe sincerely appreciate being granted the opportunity to submit this\r\npublic comment regarding the revised Environmental Assessment (EA)\r\nof the proposed Military Housing Privatization Initiative (MHPI)\r\nnorthwest of Valdosta, Georgia, on Val Del Road (also referred to as\r\nthe &ldquo;Val Del parcel&rdquo;). It should be noted that the\r\nrevised project presents a reduction of 83 homes at the Val Del site\r\nwhen compared to the original proposal we responded to in August\r\n2013. In order to provide clarity on this matter of a significant\r\nchange in the MHPI design, we request that the language adopted in a\r\nfinal document clearly indicates that the currently evaluated site\r\nis referring to the former Phase 1 (or the eastern section) of the\r\npreviously released version of the EA in July 2013.\r\n<p>\r\nAs we noted in\r\nour public comment in August 2013, the area under consideration for\r\nthis housing project displays unique geophysical conditions so that\r\nthe geological and hydrological circumstances (i.e. karst\r\ntopography) need to be studied more carefully and in a larger\r\ngeographical context to address two main issues: 1) the safety of\r\npotential inhabitants of the new housing units, should the project\r\ngo forward, and 2) environmental concerns, as the Upper Floridan\r\naquifer strikes close to the surface in this area, so that proper\r\ndrainage management is crucial in order to avoid the direct piping\r\nof pollutants into the aquifer.\r\n<p>\r\nWith the revised EA we now have\r\naccess to information that fills in gaps that existed until recently\r\nsince the geophysical report, which formed the basis for the July\r\n2013 EA, was not shared with the public and since we were denied\r\naccess to the site. We are happy to note that in October 2013,\r\nfollowing our public comment, additional geophysical testing was\r\nconducted at the Val Del site to further study anomalies that were\r\napparently identified in an earlier EA. It appears that geologists\r\nfrom Geohazards, Inc. had in fact called for SPT borings in those\r\nareas following their initial investigations reported on November\r\n14, 2012. It would have been very helpful and would have allayed\r\nmany of our initial concerns if some of this technical information\r\nhad been provided upon our request following the release of the\r\nprevious environmental assessment in August, 2013.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?attachment_id=8196\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none\" src=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/MHPI-public-comment-2014-002-small.jpg\"><\/a>\r\nAlthough we were quite impressed by the science contained in the\r\ncurrent EA, the lack of transparency in the process, which led to\r\nthe finding of &ldquo;no significant impact&rdquo;, raises a number\r\nof questions. It would seem that the landowner and developers feared\r\npublic scrutiny during this process. Yet, the citizens of Lowndes\r\nCounty have a vested interest in the groundwater resources beneath\r\nthis site, as well as the overall safety of the housing units in our\r\ncommunity. Not allowing access to the site to an independent\r\ngeological consultant for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE),\r\nthe environmental branch at Moody Air Force Base, or VSU faculty\r\nwith an expertise in hydrogeology and karst topography, simply\r\nundermines the trust of the public in the validity of any EA.\r\n<p>\r\nIn respect to the current EA, which focuses on the eastern portion of\r\nthe parcel, the layout of the subdivision has been revised to work\r\naround anomalies identified by ERI readings and targeted with SPT\r\nborings. In order to ensure that all concerns raised in the EA are\r\nproperly addressed, the best practice to follow in construction\r\nwould be to require a licensed professional geologist on site in\r\ncase subsidence begins to occur as the site is being prepared for\r\nconstruction. Shallow infilled channels or paleokarst features may\r\nneed to be excavated and filled with aggregate near the surface.\r\nRaveling in voids or fractures at depth may also require that they\r\nbe filled if they begin to extend close to the new foundations.\r\n<p>\r\nWe also remain concerned about the hydrology of this site which sits on\r\na recharge zone for the Upper Floridan aquifer. The executive\r\nsummary outlines plans to mitigate impacts through purchasing\r\nwetlands at a USACE-approved location through the Section 404\r\npermitting process. In addition to satisfying the legal requirements\r\nin this area, the local community needs to be reassured that the\r\naquifer is protected and the mitigation takes care of the function\r\nwhich existing wetlands have in filtering surface waters which reach\r\nour groundwater.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nRespectfully,\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n(Dr. Donald Thieme, Geosciences)\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n(Dr. Can Denizman, Geosciences)\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n(Dr. Michael G. Noll, Geosciences)\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Water issues still need to be investigated and resolved under the proposed Moody Family Housing, said Dr. Michael Noll, presenting a public comment by him and two other VSU professors about the recent evironmental assessment to the 11 March 2014 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission. Here&#8217;s the video: Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":3,"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":[16,70,2,88,570,571,73,3,134,55],"tags":[7497,7523,8706,6828,8728,209,7529,7524,7526,7525,8701,8699,10,7527,6839,8702,91,214,12,7,8734,6886,561,8783,6885,8784,6076,4,8731,208,7528,8700,8767,2619,2290,6,8743,8727],"class_list":["post-8199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","category-ethics","category-government","category-lowndes-county-commission","category-military","category-moody-afb","category-safety","category-transparency","category-vsu","category-water","tag-10-march-2014","tag-11-march-2014","tag-environment","tag-environmental-assessment","tag-ethics","tag-floridan-aquifer","tag-geographical","tag-geohazards","tag-geological","tag-geophysical","tag-georgia","tag-government","tag-gretchen-quarterman","tag-hydrological","tag-karst","tag-lake","tag-lcc","tag-limestone","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-lowndes-county-commission","tag-mhpi","tag-michael-g-noll","tag-military","tag-military-housing-privatization-initiative","tag-moody-afb","tag-pipeline","tag-regular-session","tag-safety","tag-sinkhole","tag-topography","tag-transparency","tag-transportation","tag-usaf","tag-val-del-road","tag-valdosta","tag-vsu","tag-water"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-28f","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8199","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8199"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8204,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8199\/revisions\/8204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}