Category Archives: Trash

Dollar General developer and property owner sue Lowndes County about rezoning denial –VDT 2023-05-03

The plaintiffs’ case is based on the Lowndes County Commission not agreeing with county staff’s recommendation to approve the rezoning, as well as “evidence supporting their petition and codes relating to the Unified Development Land Code.”

Maybe this is the “enhanced facade” that Dollar General offered in the Public Hearing after which the County Commission denied the rezoning, on January 1, 2023.

Enhanced facade, plat, and future development, VDT and actual stormwater by WWALS

Also the plaintiffs say all the public comments were “generalized and speculative”. Huh, I sure thought I heard a bunch of quite specific public comments. The letter WWALS sent to the Commission before that Public Hearing was quite specific, for example, in saying the allegation that the closest effect on nearby property owners would be on their residences was hogwash, given that stormwater from the subject site runs west under GA 122 onto neighboring property much closer than that residence.

There was speculation in various comments, but it was based on easily documented history of Dollar General and of property development in Lowndes County.

After a story by a Valdosta Daily Times reporter, that local organ of record weighed in with an editorial supporting the citizens. Continue reading →

Videos: Cleanup below Knights Ferry, Withlacoochee River 2023-04-08

Here are some videos I took of the main trashjam from the WWALS Cleanup below Knights Ferry, Withlacoochee River 2023-04-08.

It’s not all gone, but boats can pass by now. We had to leave much trash there due to time, and there is more in other spots up and down the river.

Collage @ Cleanup below Knights Ferry, Withlacoochee River 2023-04-08

Thanks again especially to Josh Tison who reported the big trash jam blocking the river and brought a crew with chainsaws to deal with it, and to Russell Allen McBride for leading this WWALS outing, as well as to everyone else who came and helped.

Here is a WWALS video playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKwQ5xfKf-Qz_O7f4LVH2mZY2mJ2F9PGa Continue reading →

Pictures: Cleanup below Knights Ferry, Withlacoochee River 2023-04-08

Update 2023-05-04: Videos: Cleanup below Knights Ferry, Withlacoochee River 2023-04-08.

Josh Tison reported the Withlacoochee River blocked by a trash jam. He and Marla Tison and Bobby Higgs came out to help clear it, with chainsaws, on Yet Another Cleanup Knights Ferry to Nankin, Withlacoochee River, 2023-04-08.

An alligator jumped off the target trash jam just after I nosed my boat into it. Russell Allen McBride and Josh Tison walked on it. It was covered with trash, as were many other spots along the river.

The combination of trash brands again indicates it came from Valdosta: Cookout, Bojangles, and Jackson Hewitt, for example.

All this floating Valdosta trash is in Brooks County, because the county line between Brooks and Lowndes County is the east bank of the Withlacoochee River. And three Brooks County people came with their motor boat and chainsaws to clean up some of it.

Collage, Cleanup, KF to Nankin, 2023-04-08

Russell Allen McBride remarked, “As the leader of this outing it was sad that I had to have everyone leave several of the trash spots to have room and time for the main one.”

With now three trash traps and more promised, Valdosta is starting Continue reading →

Good trash can news from Valdosta City Marshalls

Update 2023-05-14: Pictures: turtle rescue 2023-04-24.

Valdosta Community Protections Manager Anetra Riley yesterday told WWALS that City Marshalls have sent notices to all parking lot owners in Valdosta that they must follow city ordinances and place trash cans in their parking lots. Not just under the roofs at the store entrances: strategically placed, as the ordinance says.

Community Protections Manager Anetra Riley and trash cans in parking lot

Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman and Two Mile Branch neighbor Katherine Ball were pleased to hear this new ordinance enforcement initiative. This ordinance enforcement is one of many levels WWALS continues to advocate to fix the trash problem.

Anetra Riley also told us that something long promised by the Mayor on his radio show has finally happened: Continue reading →

Join us today for The Amazing Give, 8:00AM-8:00PM 2023-04-20

Ahead of #earthday2023, we’re participating in “The Amazing Give.” It’s a 12-hour window for a day of giving on Thursday, April 20th, 2023, 8AM-8PM.

People of WWALS, The Amazing Give, What you support

Please contribute to this great cause and keep the 10,000 square mile Suwannee basin clean, swimmable, fishable, and drinkable!
https://www.theamazinggive.org/organizations/wwals-watershed-coalition

-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/

Better Click ‘n’ Fix ticket handling and ordinance citations –Valdosta Acting City Manager Richard Hardy 2023-04-11

Acting Valdosta City Manager Richard Hardy called me yesterday. This is unusual, although he does usually answer his phone if I call him.

Valdosta Acting City Manager Richard Hardy and City Engineer Ben O’Dowd 2023-03-25

Even more unusual was his news: the city may be moving ahead on keeping trash out of creeks.

First some background.

Recent adventures in Click ‘n’ Fix include this one, Continue reading →

Reissued Valdosta Stormwater Permit –GA-EPD 2022-12-06

Update 2023-05-19: Valdosta annual stormwater reports to GA-EPD 2023-02-14.

In December GA-EPD reissued Valdosta’s stormwater permit, which happens every five years.

About, NOI, maps: Valdosta reissued Stormwater permit 2022-12-06

However, if I understand the response by Valdosta City Engineer Ben O’Dowd in the documents received in response to an open records request, all there is right now is a generic boilerplate permit for cities of this size. That generic permit requires Valdosta to spell out best practices it will use, and to update its Stormwater Master Plan (SWMP), all by June 4, 2023.

Since the City Engineer has been quite receptive to public input lately, I hope this means Valdosta will be accepting input into rewriting the SWMP. About trash, for example. Continue reading →

Maps: Valdosta Stormwater Pond Facility Clusters 2023-03-01

These maps show the locations of Valdosta’s Stormwater Pond Facility Clusters previously posted. They provide clues to where trash may be accumulating.

Most of the major creeks in Valdosta are represented, plus some that I didn’t know had names, such as Bunche Street Canal and Knob Hill Canal, as well as some that apparently do not have names.

Most (Sugar Creek, Hightower Creek, Dow Street Canal, One Mile Branch, Two Mile Branch, Three Mile Branch, Knob Hill Canal, Cherry Creek, and Browns Canal) are in the Withlacoochee River Basin.

Others (Knights Creek, Dukes Bay Canal, Bunche Street Canal) are in the Alapaha River Basin.

Several of the maps straddles several watersheds.

Example Cluster maps

Below there is a pair of maps for each of the clusters: a map received from Valdosta in response to an open records request, and a map excerpt from one of the WWALS water trail maps.

The rest of the text below is from the document previously posted. Continue reading →

Yet Another Cleanup Knights Ferry to Nankin, Withlacoochee River, 2023-04-08

Update 2023-05-02: Pictures: Cleanup below Knights Ferry, Withlacoochee River 2023-04-08.

Clean up more trash jams we found last time on the Withlacoochee River. Plus someone has reported a trashjam blocking the river.

All Valdosta city officials are invited, especially Mayor, Council, City Manager, City Engineer, Stormwater Manager, and, as special guests, the City Marshalls. If you don’t have a boat, we will supply one.

Russell promises to grill hamburgers at the end.

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 10 AM, end 3 PM, Saturday, April 8, 2023

Put In: Knights Ferry Boat Ramp

GPS: 30.71205, -83.45554

Cleanup at floating trash jam, banners at start 2022-12-17

Last Time: Pictures: Another Knights Ferry to Nankin Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2022-12-17. Continue reading →

Valdosta Creek Trash Tour 2023-03-29

Yesterday I found trash still in Valdosta creeks where previously reported, on Hightower Creek, One Mile Branch, and Two Mile Branch.

Sure, the Two Mile Branch cleanup last Saturday was fun and necessary. But Valdosta, A City Without Limits on its own facebook report said nothing about more trash traps, and nothing about enforcing its own city ordinances that require businesses to keep their property clean, to keep trash out of waterways, and to strategically place trash cans where people will use them.

Valdosta has been promising at least since 2007, sixteen years ago, to do something about this ongoing trash spill problem. The city has taken a few steps, especially since City Engineer Ben O’Dowd was hired.

Time to walk the talk, Valdosta. There is more to do.

Trash, Two Mile Branch, One Mile Branch, Hightower Creek, 2023-03-29

Where Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson stood in December 2022, at the bottom of the parking lot on St. Augustine Road above Hightower Creek, trash is still there, tossed by lunchers, with no trash cans nearby.

Behind the Mega Mart at Valloton Drive and Lee Street, trash continues to wash down into One Mile Branch, clearly visible from the Azalea City Trail, Valdosta’s only urban hiking trail. Despite a Click ‘n’ Fix report on March 8, 2023, the only action we’ve seen from City Marshalls was a week later, “The city is working with the property owner to correct the issues.”

And trash continues to dribble into Two Mile Branch above Ashley Street, most of a week after the last pictures I took there, with the Click ‘n’ Fix ticket closed again by City Marshalls,

Meanwhile, the Lee Street Detention Pond Trash Trap has been modified by high water, when it caught leaves and the force of the water bent the steel. The city has taken the top off the trash trap. Here’s hoping they will continue to improve this model for more use here and elsewhere. Continue reading →

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

A healthy watershed with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable water.