{"id":8708,"date":"2014-05-08T19:07:20","date_gmt":"2014-05-08T23:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=8708"},"modified":"2014-05-08T19:08:25","modified_gmt":"2014-05-08T23:08:25","slug":"follow-the-law-and-be-aware-what-the-citizens-want-judge-ellerbee-lake-park-2014-04-28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/follow-the-law-and-be-aware-what-the-citizens-want-judge-ellerbee-lake-park-2014-04-28.html","title":{"rendered":"Follow the law and be aware what the citizens want &#8211;Judge Ellerbee @ Lake Park 2014-04-28"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cV8PlGjFFyw&#038;list=PLshUv86fYkiFjySspXcqqtwo8WtYbUOKh&#038;index=13\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.ytimg.com\/vi\/cV8PlGjFFyw\/default.jpg\"><\/a>\r\nApartments are expensive to local governments, developers don&#8217;t sue\r\nunless there is actual discrimination (which there isn&#8217;t in this case),\r\nwater use is a big issue,\r\nand the primary responsibility of elected officials is to the citizens\r\nwho elect them:\r\nJudge Wayne Ellerbee made these and other points relevant to many\r\nrezoning requests as he spoke for some of the opponents at\r\nthe\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/citizens-lawyers-and-developers-lake-park-2014-04-28.html\">\r\nLake Park Brookhaven rezoning<\/a>.\r\n<p>\r\nHe pointing out that the question before the Lake Park City Council was\r\nthe rezoning,\r\nbut the developers needed to take into account the effects on the\r\nentire city of Lake Park.\r\nHe mentioned studies from the University of Georgia\r\nsaying that the most expensive zoning<!--more--> for a local government is residential:\r\nfor each dollar you can collect from this apartment project it will cost\r\nmore than a dollar in services provided by the city.\r\n<p>\r\nSee\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/loco.quarterman.org\/docs\/index.html\">\r\nThe Local Government Fiscal Impacts of Land Use in Lowndes County:\r\nRevenue and Expenditure Streams by Land Use Category<\/a>,\r\nby Jeffrey H. Dorfman, Ph.D. Dorfman Consulting, December 2007,\r\nand also another Dr. Dorfman presentation,\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/aqg.uga.edu\/documents\/epa_dorfman.pdf\">\r\nThe Economics of Growth, Sprawl and Land Use Decisions<\/a>,\r\nwhich notes:\r\n<blockquote style=\"font-size:100%\">\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2010\/09\/sprawl-to-ruin-or-dense-with-green-space-for-quality-of-life.html\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none\" src=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4125\/4947645343_285da08e1e_m.jpg\"><\/a>\r\nUsing results compiled by AFT, the national averages are:\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>\r\nResidential: $0.87\r\n<li>\r\nCommercial\/Industrial: $3.45\r\n<li>\r\nFarmland\/Forestland\/Open Space: $2.70\r\n<\/ul>\r\nThese figures are  of revenue for each $1\r\nof expenditures.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>\r\nThe Judge even addressed the big bugaboo of local governments:\r\n<blockquote style=\"font-size:100%\">\r\nBefore I got involved the proponents of wanting the rezoning done\r\npassed out a letter about you&#8217;re going to get sued if you don&#8217;t let\r\nthem have what they want.\r\nThat&#8217;s not true.\r\nThe only time you get sued is when you rule in a discriminatory manner.\r\nNow whether you leave it at CC or you change it to R-6\r\ndoesn&#8217;t deal with anything, or shouldn&#8217;t deal with anything\r\nother than what&#8217;s best for the city and what does the demand call for.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>\r\nThen he asked, &#8220;Who is making the application for the rezoning?&#8221;\r\nHe recounted four or five names he&#8217;d heard.\r\nHe said he discovered one of those names was associated with\r\nsome apartments in Hahira, whose condition he described as &#8220;deplorable&#8221;\r\nas he passed out pictures of them.\r\nHe said he had asked through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)\r\nrequest (presumably he mean Open Records Request) for the documents\r\nsubmitted to the city of Lake Park to request the zoning.\r\nIn what he got back there was no letter from the owner as the applicant,\r\nso the application did not meet the letter of what was required.\r\n<p>\r\nHe brought up water and drainage, and said all the people wanted\r\nthem to leave that just like it is.\r\nHe got loud applause for that.\r\n<p>\r\nHe then ticked off the points he just made in summary form,\r\nincluding the applicants hadn&#8217;t filed a proper application,\r\nand the Planning Commission had voted against it.\r\nHe expanding on the water point, about pollution from\r\noil and asphalt and other runoff.\r\n<p>\r\nAnd he expanded on the ongoing rezoning expense question:\r\n<blockquote style=\"font-size:100%\">\r\n<p>\r\nIt&#8217;s going to cost the City of Lake Park to change to give\r\nthem the opportunity to make the money.\r\nAnd that&#8217;s what doesn&#8217;t make sense to me.\r\nWhy should the citizens of Lake Park pay to reduce the expenses\r\nof someone to make a profitable project out of this for themselves.\r\n<p>\r\n[Applause.]\r\n<p>\r\nAnd I&#8217;ve been told that the Mayor and Council feels like their\r\nprimary responsibility is to the citizens.\r\nWhich is true.\r\nThey&#8217;re the ones that elect you.\r\nThey&#8217;re the ones that put you there.\r\nThey are the ones that depend on you to do the right thing.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>\r\nHe said the opponents had a petition that night signed by 112\r\nregistered voters.\r\n<blockquote style=\"font-size:100%\">\r\nThat&#8217;s 112 people that have the ability to vote that are telling you\r\nwe don&#8217;t want what these people want to bring in here.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>\r\nAnd he addressed the applicants&#8217; lawyers allegation that they had\r\na right to do what they wanted to do, based on a ruling from Pooler.\r\nI&#8217;m guessing that was\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.justice.gov\/crt\/about\/hce\/documents\/pooleramendcomp.php\">\r\nUSA v. Pooler, 2002<\/a>, which was\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.fairhousing.com\/index.cfm?method=page.display&#038;pagename=advocate_june-july03_page2\">\r\nsettled by the city of Pooler, GA\r\nin the summer of 2003<\/a>.\r\nJudge Ellerbee said that decision had nothing to do with this one,\r\nsince that one was about discrimination, and this one was about\r\neconomic and other reasons for why this development didn&#8217;t belong\r\nwhere the applicants proposed it to be.\r\n<p>\r\nHe concluded that he hadn&#8217;t seen anything that fully complied\r\n<blockquote style=\"font-size:100%\">\r\n<p>\r\nLook at what your responsibility is, is to follow that law.\r\n<p>\r\nAnd, I think, to be aware of what the citizens of Lake Park want,\r\nand don&#8217;t want.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>\r\nThat got possibly the biggest aplause of the night.\r\nMaybe other elected officials should follow the law,\r\nand also be aware of what the citizens want.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nHere&#8217;s\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cV8PlGjFFyw&#038;list=PLshUv86fYkiFjySspXcqqtwo8WtYbUOKh&#038;index=13\">\r\nthe video:<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align:center;font-size:80%\">\r\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cV8PlGjFFyw\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\r\n<br>\r\nFollow the law and be aware what the citizens want &#8211;Judge Ellerbee\r\n<br>\r\nRezoning Public Hearing, Lake Park City Council (Lake Park),\r\n<br>\r\nVideo by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),\r\n<br>\r\nLake Park, Lowndes County, Georgia, 28 April 2014.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Apartments are expensive to local governments, developers don&#8217;t sue unless there is actual discrimination (which there isn&#8217;t in this case), water use is a big issue, and the primary responsibility of elected officials is to the citizens who elect them: Judge Wayne Ellerbee made these and other points relevant to many rezoning requests as he [&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":[325,2,602,603,20,21,3],"tags":[7605,8889,4023,8701,8764,8699,326,10,8791,8702,8792,7550,8710,12,7,7635,8711,2182,7633,8700],"class_list":["post-8708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-glpc","category-government","category-hahira","category-lake-park","category-law","category-planning","category-transparency","tag-28-april-2014","tag-brookhaven","tag-discrimination","tag-georgia","tag-glpc","tag-government","tag-greater-lowndes-planning-commission","tag-gretchen-quarterman","tag-hahira","tag-lake","tag-lake-park","tag-lake-park-city-council","tag-law","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-lp-2014-02-26","tag-planning","tag-pooler","tag-rezoning-public-hearing","tag-transparency"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-2gs","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8708","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=8708"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8710,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8708\/revisions\/8710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}