Tag Archives: Economy

Six hours and no decision @ Alachua Planning Commission 2026-01-13

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Update 2026-01-20: In the next meeting, Tuesday, January 20, 2026, the vote was 4:0 to deny, by the City of Alachua Planning and Zoning Commission. So it’s dead for now, but watch for it to come back later.

The City of Alachua Planning Commissioners seemed inclined to approve the Special Exception Permit for the Tara April detention ponds and trails next to I-75.

But after the applicant’s case was countered by the National Speleological Society (NSS) and others, the Commissioners seemed ready to deny.

However, at midnight the court recorder had to leave, so they had to adjourn until Tuesday, April January 20, 2026, at 6 PM, also at Alachua City Hall, 15100 NW 142 Terrace, Alachua, FL 32615.

Get there early. It was standing room only this Tuesday, with some people outside the doors.

[Six hours and no decision, @ Alachua Planning Commission 2026-01-13, They meet again about Tara April, and Mill Creek Sink, 6 PM 2026-01-20]
Six hours and no decision, @ Alachua Planning Commission 2026-01-13, They meet again about Tara April, and Mill Creek Sink, 6 PM 2026-01-20

You can see the relevant parts of the meeting (minus the other two items on the agenda) in this video by Richie Denmark for NSS:

https://youtu.be/g2yNv9MtRBY?si=dtbvAtyaEnXwmvVw

That video does not include the images projected by the various speakers. But I took stills of many of them, which you can see below.

The video starts with me photographing the Tara April Master Plan. You can see my photographs below. Continue reading →

Chemours closed some TiO2 mines, now lays off workers, outsources to contractor 2026-01-06

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A few paragraphs about Chemours layoffs have been circling around north Florida, about the titanium dioxide (TiO2) mines near Starke, Florida. Chemours layoffs actually affect many mines in both Florida and Georgia, and Chemours already closed some mines, due to low prices for the minerals it mines.

No, Krebs Land Development did not buy any mines nor operations from Chemours. Krebs is an earthmoving contractor that has worked for Chemours for some time, in both Georgia and Florida.

Now Chemours is outsourcing more operations to Krebs. Some Chemours former employees may end up working for Krebs, run by Stuart Krebs.

[Chemours closed some TiO2 mines, now lays off workers 2026-01-06, outsources to contractor, because of low prices]
Chemours closed some TiO2 mines, now lays off workers 2026-01-06, outsources to contractor, because of low prices

Why? Housebuilding is down, so there is less demand for white paint. Also, much TiO2 is being imported. So the price of TiO2 is down. This is the most up to date graph I can find, which only goes through October 2025. Apparently it’s gotten worse since then. Continue reading →

Valdosta drinking water meter sole-source issue 2025-10-19

Update 2025-12-30: Valdosta fixing sewer system problems before they break @ VCC 2025-12-11.

Back in 2020, Valdosta happily announced installation of new water meters, including a video of them installing the meters in the ground, with a steel cover. They were supposed to last a long time.

[Valdosta drinking water meter sole-source issue 2020-01-31, 25,000 meters replaced again in October 2025]
Valdosta drinking water meter sole-source issue 2020-01-31, 25,000 meters replaced again in October 2025

Unfortunately, those meters were not designed for hot subtropical summers. That steel cover kept the heat in, and the meters failed in little more than five years. There was no upgrade, because the sole-source vendor went bankrupt.

So in 2025 the City of Valdosta had to buy a whole new set of 25,000 meters, which were not in its budget, and required changing customer billing.

This story is about drinking water. In a later post, we will discuss how the sole-source issue is also relevant to Valdosta’s sewer system, and other sewer systems.

Metro 17, Valdosta, January 31, 2020, New Water Meters, Continue reading →

Formal Complaint and Demand for Investigation Re Bradford Road –Della Gladieux 2025-11-04

Update 2025-11-23: Videos: Bradford Road Denied @ Berrien County Commission 2025-11-04.

This is the formal complaint Della Gladieux submitted to the Berrien County Commission at the meeting on November 4, 2025.

[Formal Complaint... Regarding Rezoning ... Bradford Road --Della Gladieux to Berrien County Commission 2025-11-04]
Formal Complaint… Regarding Rezoning … Bradford Road –Della Gladieux to Berrien County Commission 2025-11-04

Della Gladieux
1595 Bradford Road
Ray City, GA 31645

Tuesday, November 4, 2025

Berrien County Board of Commissioners
John Nugent, Post 1
Ronnie Gaskins, Post 2
Jimmy Parker, Post 3
Kylon Fort, Post 4
Pixie Harrod, Post 5
Brenda Ferrell, County/Clerk/Administrator
Jennifer Herzog, County Attorney
201 N. Davis Street, Room
Nashville, GA 31639

Re: Formal Complaint and Demand for Investigation Regarding Rezoning of Property at Old Valdosta Highway and Bradford Road, Parcel ID #M&P 061-14-000

Dear Parties Listed Above,

This letter serves as a formal complaint regarding the rezoning of property located at Old Valdosta Highway and Bradford Road (parcel: 061-14-000), which was changed from an agricultural use to a residential use on October 15, 2025 2024. This action is invalid due to significant procedural and ethical violations of Georgia law.

The specific grounds for this complaint are as follows:

Continue reading →

Subdivisions in agricultural areas cause financial problems –Della Gladieux to Berrien Planning Commission 2025-10-16

Update 2025-10-31: Agenda: Berrien County Commission 2025-11-04.

Here is the document Della Gladieux gave to the Berrien Planning Commissioners last Thursday, at the Public Hearing about subdidiving on Bradford Road in an agricultural character area.

[Subdivisions in agricultural areas cause financial problems --Della Gladieux to Berrien Planning Commission 2025-10-16]
Subdivisions in agricultural areas cause financial problems –Della Gladieux to Berrien Planning Commission 2025-10-16

You can see her present it in this WWALS video:

Continue reading →

Video: Senate Study Committee on Making Georgia the No. 1 State for Tourism meeting in Valdosta 2025-10-15

Update 2025-10-19: Filthy Sugar Creek 2025-10-17.

WWALS will never have the direct economic effect that many of the other projects described to the five Georgia State Senators this week. But many of our activities require very little economic input, such as water trails, outings, and even the future Troupville Nature Park and River Camp.

And some solutions for things we oppose would have outsized effects.

[Video: Senate Study Committee on Georgia Tourism, meeting in Valdosta, 2025-10-15]
Video: Senate Study Committee on Georgia Tourism, meeting in Valdosta, 2025-10-15

What does an area need for tourism? A good reputation.

What’s the opposite of that? Stigma, as in:

  • A strip mine near the Okefenokee Swamp.
  • Or a long-outdated legal definition of navigability, impeding river passage.
  • Or sewage and trash in creeks and rivers.
Continue reading →

Senate Study Committee on Making Georgia the No. 1 State for Tourism meeting in Valdosta 2025-10-15

Update 2025-10-18: Video: Senate Study Committee on Making Georgia the No. 1 State for Tourism meeting in Valdosta 2025-10-15.

Update 2025-10-14: Updated agenda and list of Georgia State Senators on the Study Committee.

Update 2025-10-03: Clarification:
This event is primarily for the invited people in the tourism industry.
Please note the breakfast has only enough for the invitees.
You can also watch the speakers in the livestream, so you don’t have to come to see what they say.

Suwannee Riverkeeper is supposed to speak for five minutes to a Georgia Senate Study Committee on Making Georgia the No. 1 State for Tourism.

Suwannee Riverkeeper is supposed to speak for five minutes to a Georgia Senate Study Committee on Making Georgia the No. 1 State for Tourism.

That will be at 9 AM, Wednesday, October 15, 2025,
at the Rainwater Conference Center, 1 Meeting Place Valdosta GA 31601-7710.
That’s between I-75 Exits 16 and 18.

[Senate Study Committee on Making Georgia the No. 1 State for Tourism, Rainwater Conference Center, Valdosta, GA, 2025-10-15]
Senate Study Committee on Making Georgia the No. 1 State for Tourism, Rainwater Conference Center, Valdosta, GA, 2025-10-15

The five Georgia state Senators on the Study Committee are:

  • Senator Drew Echols (R–Gainesville, District 49), Chairman,
  • Sen. Sonya Halpern (D–Atlanta, District 39),
  • Sen. Frank Ginn (R–Danielsville, District 47),
  • Sen. Russ Goodman (R–Cogdell, District 8),
  • Sen. Emanuel Jones (D–Decatur, District 10).

The local powers that be are not advertising this meeting, but the Georgia Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus is:
https://www.gacvb.com/senate-study-committee

There doesn’t seem to be any facebook event by the state, county, or city, so here’s one by WWALS:
https://www.facebook.com/events/796397306306784/

I’m listed under Arts & Education Tourism, so I might as well mention the WWALS River Revue and Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, as well as the education component of the future Troupville Nature Park and River Camp.

This committee was completed by Senate Resolution 323, which includes:

WHEREAS, Georgia has beautiful vistas and natural resources meant to be seen and savored, including mountains, canyons, waterfalls, lakes, rivers, and beaches; and

Well, let’s talk about the Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle and the Alapahoochee River chainsaw cleanup with the surprise dead gator. Plus the Banks Lake Full Moon paddles, and the Suwannee River and Okefenokee Swamp campouts and paddles in November and December.

Also: Continue reading →

Bacon James, Gainesville, FL, with a Bluegrass song, Ellaville. 2025-09-06

Thanks to Bacon James, for writing a song and playing it, at the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2025.

And thanks for digging into Suwannee and Withlacoochee River history about Ellavile, the town where George F. Drew had his sawmill, with a boom across the mouth of the Withlacoochee River, to catch logs floated down the river.
https://wwals.net/pictures/songwriting2025

“I’m Bacon James—singer-songwriter and frequent supporter of environmental causes and organizations. I love being in nature, playing and writing music, and generally trying to be too clever for my own good.”

[Bacon James, Gainesville, FL, Bluegrass song, Ellaville, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, September 6, 2025]
Bacon James, Gainesville, FL, Bluegrass song, Ellaville, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, September 6, 2025

“I wrote Ellaville after visiting the site during one of my recent trips to the Suwannee and subsequently digging into the history of the town and what occurred there. I loved the idea of a bustling little mill town on the river and was so fascinated by the story of how the town boomed and then fell. I thought of all the hardships of the folks I’ve met, and how I have so many close friends now that are currently unemployed and struggling. Dreams found, lives built and then dashed. Nature constantly exploited by those in power, ostensibly retaliating against those by which it had been wronged. Are we learning? Are we growing? Were there lessons the river was trying to impart about humanity, and have we heard them? That’s what this song explores.”

Here’s he is singing his song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37APDWhJBLQ Continue reading →

Water issues, Bradford Road subdividing –WWALS to Berrien Planning Commission 2025-09-18

Update 2025-10-07: Public Hearing, Bradford Road subdivision @ Berrien Planning Commission 2025-10-16.

I handed this letter to the Berrien Planning Commissioners and the Zoning Administrator before I spoke to them at the recent Public Hearing. They tabled this item for another month, awaiting more documents from the applicant, Cole Livingston, for his proposal to subdivide for ten houses in an agricultural character area on Bradford and Strawder Roads and Old Valdosta Highway, in Berrien County, Georgia, draining to Gin Branch Creek and the Withlacoochee River.

[Water issues, Bradford Road subdividing, WWALS 2025-09-18, to Berrien Planning Commission]
Water issues, Bradford Road subdividing, WWALS 2025-09-18, to Berrien Planning Commission

September 18, 2025

To: Teresa Willis
Berrien County Zoning Administrator
229-686-2149
twillis@berriencountyga.gov
201 N. Davis Street Room 122
Nashville GA 31639

Re: Subdividing M&P 061-14-000, 061-16-002, Old Valdosta Rd. & Bradford Rd.

Dear Berrien County Zoning Administrator and Planning Commission,

Please recommend denial of the proposed subdividing, because:

  1. House lots would produce more runoff, which would run onto neighboring properties, as attested by several neighbors at the previous Public Hearing on August 21, 2025. See attached LIDAR map and attached wetland and flood zone map.
  2. Runoff would carry trash and other contamination into Gin Branch Creek that runs north across Bradford Road and west into the Withlacoochee River. See attached map of Gin Branch Creek.
  3. Under Bradford Road and along Gin Branch Creek is an aquifer recharge zone, into the groundwater from which we all drink. We do not need to risk more contaminants possibly getting into that. See attached aquifer recharge map.
  4. Increased traffic and runoff would erode Bradford and Strawder Roads, requiring more work by the county to fix them.
  5. The houses would not be accessory to farm operations as in the Berrien County Comprehensive Plan Strategy for an Agriculture Character Area, which says: Continue reading →

Please deny subdividing on Bradford Road –WWALS to Berrien County, GA 2025-08-21

Update 2025-09-16: Applicant packet, Bradford Road Subdivision @ Berrien Planning Commission 2025-08-21.

I sent this letter before the previous Public Hearing that got tabled because citizens brought up irregularities.

What else should I send before the rescheduled Public Hearing this Thursday?

That’s September 18, 2025, at 5:30 PM, in the County Commissioner’s Board Room, 201 North Davis Street, Nashville Ga 31639.

[Please deny subdividing on Bradford Road 2025-09-18 --WWALS to Berrien County, GA, Previous hearing tabled 2025-08-21]
Please deny subdividing on Bradford Road 2025-09-18 –WWALS to Berrien County, GA, Previous hearing tabled 2025-08-21

Here’s a facebook event to encourage people to come to this Public Hearing:
https://www.facebook.com/events/977417484854080/

Meanwhile, you can send your own letter, or call or write your county commissioners, planning commissioners, your neighbors, or the media, and sign the petition against this subdivision of ten houses on agricultural land:
https://chng.it/kKDVsN92xT

August 21, 2025

To: Teresa Willis
Berrien County Zoning Administrator
229-686-2149
twillis@berriencountyga.gov
201 N. Davis Street Room 122
Nashville GA 31639

Re: Subdividing M&P 061-14-000, 061-16-002, Old Valdosta Rd. & Bradford Rd.

Dear Berrien County Zoning Administrator and Planning Commission, I write with concern about the proposal to put a housing subdivision in an agricultural area.

As you know, the Berrien County Comprehensive Plan Strategy for an Agriculture Character Area says: Continue reading →