Daily Archives: August 1, 2025

Bradford Road Rezoning in Berrien County, GA, Land Development Districts 2025-08-21

Thanks to Berrien County, Georgia, Zoning Administrator Teresa Willis for calling to discuss the proposed rezoning on Bradford Road.

[Bradford Road Rezoning, in Berrien County, GA, Land Development Districts, AU agricultural use]
Bradford Road Rezoning

She noted the current zoning is in the last map in the packet she previously sent:

[Map: Zoning map with recently purchased tracts in yellow]
Map: Zoning map with recently purchased tracts in yellow
PDF

Zoom in and look for the letters AU in black on the dark blue background. The entire area is zoned AU, which is for agricultural use.

She does not know what the proposed rezoning is, since the applicant has not sent further materials, and it is possible he may not do so until the day of the Planning Commission Public Hearing.

She said the housing subdivision he proposes does not necessarily require a rezoning. However, as I pointed out in the previous post, that would not really fit with the Comprehensive Plan.

She also sent an extract from the Berrien County Land Development Code with all the zoning district names. Continue reading →

Bradford Road rezoning, Berrien County, GA 2025-08-21

Update 2025-08-01: Actually, they did send a zoning map, if you know how to look at it. Bradford Road Rezoning in Berrien County, GA, Land Development Districts 2025-08-21.
https://wwals.net/?p=68096

It’s not clear how nine or more house lots of about 2.25 acres fit the Berrien County Comprehensive Plan Strategy for an Agriculture Character Area: “Preserve the rural/agricultural character of these areas by maintaining very low-density residential development primarily accessory to farm operations and large lot sizes.”

The Planning Commission Public Hearing is August 21, and the County Commission Public Hearing is September 2, both at 201 North Davis Street, Nashville, GA 31639.

A previous Public Hearing was mysteriously cancelled.

Yet we hear the developer had already commenced laying out lots. If that is true, it seems odd, to say the least.

[Bradford Road rezoning, Berrien County, GA, Withlacoochee River, Gin Creek Branch, 5:30 PM, Thursday, August 21, 2025]
Bradford Road rezoning, Berrien County, GA, Withlacoochee River, Gin Creek Branch, 5:30 PM, Thursday, August 21, 2025

There is a petition against this rezoning.
https://chng.it/kKDVsN92xT

You can call or write Berrien County or come to the Public Hearings.

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/630315536402503/

Speaking of which, what is the proposed rezoning? I thank Bradford County staff for sending the board packet in response to a WWALS Open Records request. But I don’t see in it any indication of what the proposed rezoning is. Nothing in the board packet says what is the proposed action.

I also do not see a zoning map, nor a future zoning map for after rezoning. And there is no zoning map on the Berrien County Commission website that I can find.

That board packet is on the WWALS website.

See also 2025 Comprehensive Plan Update, Berrien County & Cities of Alapaha, Enigma, Nashville, and Ray City.

Here is the applicant’s survey map. Continue reading →

OK Withlacoochee River, Cleaner Sugar Creek, Dirty Beatty Branch, 2025-07-30

Update 2025-08-08: Clean Alapaha River 2025-08-03, Dirty Creeks 2025-08-06, Withlacoochee River Clean downstream 2025-08-07.

Update 2025-08-04: Yet another Wainwright Drive sewage spill 2025-08-04.

WWALS got pretty clean water quality results for the Withlacoochee River upstream and down for Wednesday, and even Sugar Creek seems cleaner.

This is surprising after Valdosta’s much worse results for Monday.

Also surprising is the dirty winner of Wednesday: Beatty Branch, which runs into Cat Creek before that gets to the Withlacoochee River.

No new sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida or Georgia since the report of the Valdosta Sugar Creek spill for July 13.

If you can avoid the thunderstorms predicted this weekend, happy paddling, boating, swimming, and fishing. At least the temperature is predicted to be somewhat lower.

[OK Withlacoochee River, Cleaner Sugar Creek, Dirty Beatty Branch, 2025-07-30]
OK Withlacoochee River, Cleaner Sugar Creek, Dirty Beatty Branch, 2025-07-30

Maybe join us tomorrow for Longer chainsaw from Langdale Park, Withlacoochee River 2025-08-03.

Cat Creek

WWALS tester John S. Quarterman (jsq) got 300 cfu/100 mL E. coli for Cat Creek at Cat Creek Road. That’s well below the 410 one-time test limit. He did hear from a neighbor that there aren’t nearly as many fish in Cat Creek as there used to be.

WWALS is working on a grant strategy to do systematic testing of Cat Creek, Beatty Branch, and Beaverdam Creek to get at the bottom of that. It will be expensive, because it will require DNA testing in addition to many frequent E. coli tests. Continue reading →

Rescheduled: Florida River Task Force and City of Valdosta City Council Joint Workshop 2025-08-14

Update 2025-08-01: OK Withlacoochee River, Cleaner Sugar Creek, Dirty Beatty Branch 2025-07-30.

Buried in the middle of a reminder of the cancellation of the previous workshop:

“The Joint Workshop has been rescheduled for August 14, 2025 at 6:00 p.m.”

That message doesn’t say where, but I have confirmed with Scott Koons that it will be in the same place:
Valdosta City Hall Annex, 300 North Lee Street, Valdosta, Georgia.

[Florida River Task Force and Valdosta City Council, Joint Workshop, Rescheduled: 2025-08-14, 6 PM]
Florida River Task Force and Valdosta City Council, Joint Workshop, Rescheduled: 2025-08-14, 6 PM

As I noted when the meeting was originally scheduled, back in 2020, this Task Force of the dozen downstream Florida counties was instrumental in getting a Consent Order on Valdosta by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD). Continue reading →