Two applicants in a row said they didn't know until recently
that their properties had restrictions on them,
and even staff seemed confused about at least one of them.
Maybe there's something wrong with how the county makes that information
available to purchasers of property?
Almost nobody attended the
Greater Lowndes Planning Commission meeting of 25 February 2013,
as you can see from
these videos.
Here's
the agenda.
And here's a summary of the cases.
Knights Academy Road, Valdosta
Request to rezone 10 acres from
R-21 (Medium Density Residential)
to
R-A (Residential Agriculture)
They want two pet thoroughbred horses on the property.
Nobody spoke against.
Applicant spoke for, saying the property was purchased
by his mother, who is currently in Iraq, and they had
been under the impression it was already zoned agricultural.
When they discovered it wasn't, they applied to change it.
To get an agenda for tonight's Planning Commission meeting,
apparently you have to go to the meeting; here it is.
It's sloppier than usual:
Case REZ-2013-04 has neither a number of acres nor
a specific location.
Why is the Planning Commission not revealing this information?
Douglas O. Thompson owns two properties on Bemiss Road, but one
of them is in Valdosta taxing district, so presumably it's
the other one, of 1.28 acres at 3432 Bemiss Road.
Why is this a secret?
Perhaps for the same reason that the county doesn't just publish
PDF of this agenda on the web for all to see?
Here's a summary of the cases.
Lowndes County,
Final action
Tuesday 12 March 2013
2. REZ-2013-03 Valler
Knights Academy Road, Valdosta
Request to rezone 10 acres from
R-21 (Medium Density Residential)
to
R-A (Residential Agriculture)
3. REZ-2013-04 Thompson
Bemiss Road, Valdosta
Request to rezone [?] acres from
C-H/c (Highway Commercial conditional)
to
C-H (Highway Commercial)
Valdosta,
Final Action
Thursday, 7 March 2013
4. VA-2013-01 Turner Brooks LLC
411 West Mary Street, Valdosta
Request to rezone 0.50 acres from
R-6 (Single Family Residential)
to
R-M (Multi-Family Residential)
Did you see an agenda or an announcement that the Greater Lowndes
Planning Commission (GLPC) was meeting yesterday?
Nor did LAKE.
Matt Martin, Valdosta City Planner, usually sends an agenda to
Gretchen, but there were no Valdosta items on this agenda,
so he apparently didn't even get one.
And the county still doesn't publish GLPC agendas,
so if there was an item on there that affected you, how could you know?
Does that seem right to you?
On the agenda were three Lowndes County rezoning items,
all involving C-H (Highway Commercial),
and one Lake Park rezoning case, going to
R-P (Residential/Professional).
Here's a summary of the cases.
You know, if I can do this in a couple of minutes by
typing it in from a photograph that Gretchen took, Lowndes County could
do it in a second by pressing Export to PDF.
Now that there's a new Chairman, maybe he'll say they should do that.
Lowndes County,
Final action
Tuesday 12 Feb 2013
4. REZ-2012-20 Corbett
US 41 South and Newsome Road, Valdosta
Request to rezone ~5 acres from E-A (Estate Agriculture) to
C-H (Highway Commercial)
5. REZ-2013-01 Barrentine
102 Davis Road East, Valdosta
Request to rezone 1.2 acres from
C-H (Highway Commercial)
to
R-1 (Low Density Residential)
6. REZ-2013-02 Interstate Land Management
Briarwood Road along I-75, Valdosta
Request to rezone 4.87 acres from
R-1 (Low Density Residential)
to
C-H (Highway Commercial)
Lake Park,
Final Action
Tuesday 5 Feb 2013
LP-12-2012-01 Karen K. Nolan and Blanche C. Bush
105 Broadway Street, Lake Park
Request to rezone 0.46 acres from
R-15 (Single Family Residential)
to
R-P (Residential/Professional)
Moody and the Chamber won, rural residents got wasted,
and taxpayers still didn't get to see a single thing the Lowndes County Commission
voted on last night in 45 minutes (very long for them)
in front of the biggest audience I've ever seen there.
Here's
a video playlist of the Regular Session,
followed by the agenda with the videos linked into it.
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 11 December 2012.
A surprising amount of discussion at yesterday morning's Lowndes County Commission Work Session,
on ZBOA appointment, alcohol Sunday sales, rezoning next to Moody,
and more.
They said nothing about the solid waste ordinance, however;
maybe they'll table that loser again.
They vote tonight:
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Here's
a video playlist of the Work Session,
followed by the agenda with the videos linked into it.
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 December 2012.
Here's
the agenda,
this time with links to the videos and some notes.
The applicants have mentioned
trying to do a Dollar General at this site.
We believe that's what they're going to do,
but however whatever uses are allowed in C-G
would of course be allowed if it is approved
without any conditions.
He said they had the recommendations from the TRC and the
Planning Commission, but he didn't say what they were.
The Planning Commission
recommended for,
apparently with the understanding that it was
for a Dollar General.
Davenport said there had been no further input since the Planning
Commission meeting.
The Commission could have staff submit written reports that
go in the agenda and minutes, like the Library Board does,
and then put those online as PDF or HTML linked to an HTML agenda,
like Glynn County
and Richmond County do, and we wouldn't have to guess the
names of applicants or the details of rezoning requests.
Dollar General or not?
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 December 2012.
He also mentioned the TRC (the Technical Review Committee
composed mainly of Lowndes County and Valdosta staff) had a split vote
on this item, although
he didn't say how it was split.
And he said the Commissioners had the Planning Commission recommendation
before them,
although he didn't mention the Planning Commission recommended against.
Commissioner Crawford Powell brought up a good point:
The fire department and the TRC say in the notes
that it fails to comply with fire rescue ingress-egress requirements.
Fire Chief Guyton appeared to confirm that was the case,
although since he wasn't at a microphone, it's hard to hear.
Commissioner Powell continued:
Lowndes County Commissioners had a small amount of open discussion about
the proposed changes to the zoning code related to Moody Air Force Base
at
their Work Session this morning.
However, most of the discussion was not about the changes currently proposed,
which the County Planner once again explicitly linked to a rezoning case
on the same agenda.
At least they discussed tabling the zoning code changes
until there could be more discussion.
They did not, however, say they would make drafts available to the public
or invite the public to discuss those drafts.
County Planner Jason Davenport introduced agenda item
7.d. TXT-2012-02 MAZ II Residential Density:
This text amendment is part of the response to
some of the questions that were raised with the additional rezoning.
At the end of the day what this text amendment is going to do
is to take that very outer blue color, the lightest color,
which is the MAZ-3, and recommend change the zoning to 1 acre.
Currently it's 2 and a half acres.
He mentioned they missed the 30 day requirement to inform Moody AFB
by about a week, but Moody responded anyway.
Hm, that's not what he said to the Planning Commission;
there he said
they had allowed 31 days.
Commissioner Richard Raines said he'd prefer to table this amendment
until next year, because:
I think there are other issues that we've discussed related to MAZ.
If you have a mobile home and it becomes unlivable,
under the restrictions you can't replace it....
Chairman Ashley Paulk responded that he didn't have a problem with that, and:
When
he spoke 12 November 2012, Clint Joyner started by referring to
a nearby subdivision "In 2007".
2007 was the year Mr. Joyner got
(according to the Commission's minutes of 26 June 2007)
$130,000 in road construction labor from the Commission because of
"an unforeseen Department of Transportation requirement regarding a costly intersection improvement."
Why couldn't the County Engineer or Mr. Joyner forsee such a requirement?
Will the Lowndes County Commission Tuesday evening
finish railroading through their non-solution to solid waste disposal,
without shouldering its legal responsibility to protect
the environment and the public health, safety, and well-being from solid waste,
and what's this about a vendor change?
Will the Chairman once again invite a developer to speak in Monday morning's
Work Session without letting anyone else speak?
Will the Commission change the zoning code and rezone inside and against
the Moody Exclusion Zone for that same developer they already
provided $130,000 in road construction labor to back in 2007?
Does Naylor need the area's nineteenth Dollar General, and who's behind it, anyway?
How come the Five Points library is still on the agenda even though SPLOST VII failed?
And what are they doing to the Alcoholic Beverage Ordinance this time?
Come Monday morning at 8:30 AM and Tuesday evening at 5:30 PM and see!
Better yet, also call or write your Commissioner before then.
the blog of LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange
Here's
the agenda.
And here's a summary of the cases.
Knights Academy Road, Valdosta
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