Update 2023-09-17: Videos: Quarterman Road rezoning unanimously denied @ LCC 2023-09-12.

Update 2023-09-09: Packet: Board of Health appointment, two rezonings, 4 water, mosquitoes @ LCC 2023-09-11.

Thanks to the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) for voting 7:1 to recommend denial of a proposed rezoning on Quarterman Road that would have injected 2.5-acre lots into a 5-acre minimum agricultural and forestry area.

WWALS Letter, maps, speakers 2023-08-28

Thanks to all the neighbors and others who helped get that done, with a petition, by speaking in the Public Hearing, and by calling and writing their Commissioners.

GLPC only recommends. The actual decision will be by the Lowndes County Commission at 5:30 PM, Tuesday, September 12, 2023, in Commission Chambers, second floor, 327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, GA 31601. You can speak in that Public Hearing, as well as call and write your County Commissioners, and sign the petition.

Meanwhile, thanks to WWALS President Sara Jay for sending the letter below to GLPC.

Sara was not available for the GLPC meeting, but WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman spoke, as did Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman; videos are below.

Gretchen Quarterman: please deny REZ-2023-04 2023-08-28

Yes, we live on Quarterman Road; it was named after my grandfather.

John S. Quarterman: the whole road REZ-2023-04 2023-08-28

This rezoning would be an issue even if we did not, just like two others WWALS helped fight off recently, on Skipper Bridge Road for a Dollar General, and on Miller Bridge Road for minimum 1.25-acre lots. Both of those would also have been inappropriate in an Agriculture/Forestry/Conservation Character Area. GLPC recommended denial of both of those cases, and the Lowndes County Commission unanimously denied both of them.

We’ve gotten past the first step for this rezoning; now for the second step.

The WWALS letter

In PDF, and in HTML below.

2023-08-28–wwals-glpc-quarterman-road-rezoning-0001

August 28, 2023

To: Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC),
      Lowndes County Commission <commissioner@lowndescounty.com>
Cc: County Planner J.D. Dillard <jdillard@lowndescounty.com>

Re: Please keep Quarterman Road in agriculture and forestry

Dear Commissioners,

I write to ask the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission to recommend denial of the rezoning for 2.5-acre lots on Quarterman Road, and to ask the Lowndes County Commission to deny that rezoning.

All of Quarterman Road, and everything between the Withlacoochee River and Cat Creek, is in an Agriculture/Forestry/Conservation Character Area, which should be preserved.

All of Quarterman Road (except for the grandfathered-in subdivision and a few associated lots at the northwest corner) is Estate Agricultural (E-A) zoning, with minimum five acre lots, which fits the predominant agriculture and forestry use of most of the land on Quarterman Road.

The subject property of proposed rezoning REZ-2023-04 Chase, 6119 Quarterman Rd., 0022 102, ~17.8 acres, has wetlands on it according to the WRPDO Map the county submitted, with more wetlands directly across the road, as well as Toms Branch, to which that property drains. Those wetlands and that creek are also visible on the attached VALORGIS map.

Inserting numerous house lots onto that property, with clearcutting and impervious surface for driveways and roofs, would cause more runoff.

This case is similar to the two previous ones on Miller Bridge Road and for the proposed Dollar General at GA 122 and Skipper Bridge Road: inappropriate rezoning in a rural agricultural and forestry area with wetlands.

I ask you to do with REZ-2023-04 what you did in those two previous cases. I ask the Planning Commission to recommend denial. And I ask the County Commission to deny the rezoning.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sara Jay Jones, President
WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc.

Attachment:

• VALORGIS map of zoning and wetlands

Zoning, Quarterman Road, VALORGIS 2023-08-28

LAKE Videos

Here are videos by Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE) of the GLPC Public Hearing on REZ-2023-04, in two parts.

Here is WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman speaking. She mentioned much of what was in the LAKE letter to GLPC.

Here is Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman speaking:

After the meeting, GLPC Chairman Ed Hightower asked me for the name again for Toms Branch, which is the creek that runs by the southeast corner of Quarterman Road, directly across the road from the subject property.

Toms Branch and Withlacoochee River in the WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT)

I also mentioned to him Redeye Creek, which runs across the middle of the south end of Quarterman Road, also visible in the zoning map with the letter. It joins Toms Branch before the latter runs into the Withlacoochee River. My father told me it was called Redeye Creek because of the red color of the water, with tannic acid from oak trees. The name might also have something to do with the old still that used to be south of the road: red eyes for a different reason.

In the Public Hearing, I pointed out that a rezoning for smaller lots would be a precedent that anyone requesting any other such rezoning could point to. So it is important not to set that precedent.

And I noted that the Stalveys, who own the big parcel at the southeast of Quarterman Road, had already been here when my grandfather bought the farm (literally speaking) in 1921. Some of the Stalvey grandchildren, who would inherit that property, signed the petition. Similarly, my niece now owns my brother’s property next to mine.

So I asked the Planning Commissioners to keep Quarterman Road in forestry and agriculture.

Before he moved to recommend denial, Planning Commissioner Chip Wildes gave an excellent speech about the need to preserve and protect rural living, wildlife, and environment against subdivision for grandchildren, not “a huge mass of humanity” like Atlanta and the Atlantic coast of Florida. “Rural areas and habitat are a precious thing,” he said.

Planning Commissioner Vicki Rountree seconded his motion.

All but one of the Planning Commissioners voted for the motion.

7 votes to deny cropped REZ-2023-04 2023-08-28

Planning Commissioner Franklin Bailey was the lone vote against the motion.

1 vote against denial REZ-2023-04 2023-08-28

For the entire GLPC meeting, see: Videos: Quarterman Road rezoning recommended against, Mt. Zion Church Road for @ GLPC 2023-08-28.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/

And remember, GLPC only recommends. The actual decision will be by the Lowndes County Commission at 5:30 PM, Tuesday, September 12, 2023, in Commission Chambers, second floor, 327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, GA 31601. You can speak in that Public Hearing, as well as call and write your County Commissioners, and sign the petition.

There is an online petition:
https://chng.it/LDW47QsdSd

But please ask us or one of the neighbors for a paper petition to sign, since that records street addresses, which are important to convince the county commission.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/

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