On the LAKE Front

County Public Hearing on Comprehensive Plan

Tuesday the Lowndes County Commission finally held the missing public hearing about the Comprehensive Plan, and it was pretty painless: only one citizen spoke, and she spoke for. If they'd held it two months ago like all the local cities did, they wouldn't now be risking not getting state or federal grants because they may not be certified. They still didn't distribute the draft STWP and ROA before the hearing as the state requires them to do, so they could still be in trouble with the state. However, at least they reset their timeline and held the hearing. That's a step towards transparency as defined by the state guidelines the county already agreed in writing to follow.

Commissioners had as much to say as they did at the Work Session Monday morning: nothing.

The one citizen, Gretchen Quarterman, said:

I'm a super fan of planning, and I'm a fan of the Comprehensive Plan. I think that if we don't know where we are going, and we don't have a plan on how we're gonna get there, we're not gonna get there. And the five year plan that tells us exactly what we're going to in the next five years to get to our 2030 plan is a groovy idea. So that part I'm in favor of. I've been over this document pretty thoroughly with Jason, and I still have some questions outstanding which I'm sure that they'll get resolved. He's been super helpful.

The one thing I talked to Mr. Raines about and I would encourage the other Commissioners to consider is that in section 4.5.1, at least that's what I have it on my document. Investigate

Retrofitting suburbia —Ellen Dunham-Jones

There are many jobs in this. The Five Points redevelopment is an example of what she's talking about. It's a lot better than building more sprawl: safer, less expensive, more jobs, less energy cost, more energy independence, better health, and more community.

Georgia Tech Professor Ellen Dunham-Jones spole January 2010 at TEDxAtlanta, Retrofitting suburbia

In the last 50 years, we've been building the suburbs with a lot of unintended consequences. And I'm going to talk about some of those consequences and just present a whole bunch of really interesting projects that I think give us tremendous reasons to be really optimistic that the big design and development project of the next 50 years is going to be retrofitting suburbia. So whether it's redeveloping dying malls or re-inhabiting dead big-box stores or reconstructing wetlands out of parking lots, I think the fact is, the growing number of empty and under-performing, especially, retail sites throughout suburbia gives us actually a tremendous opportunity to take our least-sustainable landscapes right now and convert them into more sustainable places. And in the process, what that allows us to do is to redirect a lot more of our growth back into existing communities that could use a boost, and have the infrastructure in place, instead of continuing to tear down trees and to tear up the green space out at the edges.

Here's the video:

Planners Post for August —Alexandra P. Arzayus

City of Valdosta Planning and Zoning is trying to keep people informed about Five Points redevelopment and other things.

Received 12 August 2011, with attached PDF. -jsq

Hi all,

We have some really interesting projects and events this issue. Since school is back in session most are planning for football games and other semester activities. Since we are in the planning mode, please read our article on Community Planning Month in October. We have lots of fun and exciting events for citizens to participate in this year. Our theme is "New Ideas for America's Future". Since the youth are our future, we want to extend this invitation to any youth groups that may be interested in government and planning. Please contact us to RVSP for a lunch & learn or tour. We look forward to seeing you there!!

Also, check out an update on the Five Points Project and Tax Incentives for Historic Preservation.

August 2011 Planner's Post
http://www.valdostacity.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=3D4017

Five Points Steering Committee presentation by Mara Register @ LCDP 1 August 2011

Mara Register gave a very interesting presentation about the Five Points Steering Committee (FPSC) last night at the monthly meeting of the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP).

She sent her slides to me this morning for publication by LAKE. Here they are on the LAKE web pages, in PPT, PDF, and HTML formats.

She said there is no FPSC web page, but their meetings are shown in the calendar of events on Valdosta's city website. The next FPSC meeting shown there is for 18 August 2011.

Date:	8/18/2011 5:00 PM
Location:	Valdosta City Hall Multi-Purpose Room 300 N. Lee Street

Videos of her talk will appear on the LCDP youtube channel.

I will probably post some more here about what she said and some of the Q&A that ensued. Meanwhile, you can see the slides for yourself.

-jsq

Something else for LAKE watchers to watch: Five Points Committee

Maybe some folks who didn't get appointed to the committee but are interested in what happens at 5 points could start attending these meetings and taking some videos.

David Rodock wrote in the VDT 15 July 2011, Five Points revitalization taking shape: Committee to select building consultant

"Members will meet again on August 28 at 5 p.m. to review prospective engineering and design firms for the redevelopment project, along with October 13 at 10 a.m. City Council members will vote to approve the contract at their October 20 regular session.

...

The Five Points and Municipal Auditorium Steering Committee meets at the City Hall Annex multi-purpose room. The public is invited to attend."

-gretchen