This should help Valdosta get ahead of sewer spills,
maybe even fix sewer lines before they break.
And maybe use competitive bids instead of sole-source emergency contracts.
Back at the April 10, 2025, Valdosta City Council meeting,
two agenda items were for Professional Design Services Proposals financed from the recently-approved $67 million in municipal bonds.
Both are related to the sewer line near Knights Creek that notoriously has spilled sewage multiple times.
Knights Creek runs into Mud Swamp Creek just below the Mud Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (MCWTP)
and on to the Alapahoochee, Alapaha, and Suwannee Rivers.
We have suggested to Echols County a boat ramp on the Suwannee River.
As far as we know, the county is pursuing that opportunity with the landowner
and the GA-DNR.
I thanked Lowndes County for their cooperation in the
WWALS Chairman and Mayor’s Paddle, especially Public Works for grading the entrance road to Langdale Park on the Withlacoochee River.
Earlier when I was talking to the Chairman he indicated the early takeout at Sugar Creek was a bit difficult due to a deadfall.
So I mentioned that once the water gets low enough, we’ll work on that and other deadfalls,
but meanwhile our chainsaws don’t work well underwater.
I requested suggestions for when in March 2025 to hold the next one.
I said WWALS has recently acquired a jon boat and outboard, and we’d be
happy to take people out on the river, including Commissioners. Continue reading →
The Lowndes County Commission unanimously denied the inappropriate 2.5-acre rezoning
proposed on minimum 5-acre and predominantly agriculture, forestry, and conservation Quarterman Road,
after five local residents spoke against and nobody for.
Thanks to all who signed the petition against that rexoning, who called or wrote County Commissioners,
who spoke in the Planning Commission or County Commission meetings, and thanks to the County Commisisoners for denying the rezoning.
Among the five who spoke at the County Commission were
Gretchen Quarterman (who also took the videos for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE))
and Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman (details on both are below).
He made sure the Commissioners had a copy of the WWALS letter
that had mysteriously been left out of the board packet;
thanks to WWALS President Sara Jay Jones for signing that letter.
This denial comes after two previous denials,
both also in an Agriculture/Forestry/Conservation Character Area,
both also provoking many petition signatures and speakers in opposition,
including WWALS.
Maybe developers will get the picture that development is not appropriate
in such a Character Area, especially when wetlands and waterways are affected.
It is interesting the extent to which a development mindset can color a presentation by a County Planner.
I was just going to mention one example of that, but as I listened to the LAKE video of his presentation,
I kept noticing more examples. Continue reading →
Yesterday, September 11, 2023, the Clinch County Commission unanimously passed
a resolution supporting the Okefenokee Swamp and the Suwannee River
against the proposed titanium mine,
and
set aside $50,000 as cash match for a Dark Sky Observatory next to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge (ONWR).
You can help stop that mine.
Ask your city council or county commission to pass a resolution.
Here are other things you can do:
https://wwals.net/issues/titanium-mining/
The Clinch County resolution includes:
“7. Request the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to move the
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge from a tentative list to become
a full UNESCO World Heritage Site, and support a bill by a
bipartisan coalition of members of Congress in support of that move.”
As Chairman Henry Moylan remarked, the UNESCO World Heritage List is a big deal,
since it goes through the U.N. and includes sites like the Pyramids and the Grand Canyon.
Getting ONWR on it should attract more visitors.
That list also includes Yellowstone, Yosemite, Great Smoky Mountains, and Everglades National Parks,
so it’s a bit puzzling why ONWR is not already on there.
In addition to its usual business of roads and taxes,
the Clinch County Commission discussed with Suwannee Riverkeeper
outings, boat ramps, and a proposed resolution against the strip mine too near the Okefenokee Swamp.
Thanks to Chairman Henry Moylan and the Commissioners for their hospitality,
to
Clinch County Administrator Jaclyn James for ongoing communications,
and to WWALS member Etta Lee for talking to Commissioners and for being at the meeting; also for dinner.
Below are pictures, videos by Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange of the relevant agenda item, and links to documents.
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.
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 →
Thank you, Lowndes County Commission, and all the opposition speakers and writers,
for this win written up in the local newspaper of record.
This win keeps some trash out of the Withlacoochee River,
upstream from Valdosta and Florida, while stopping
a foothold for further development too close to the river,
avoiding clearcutting, impervious surface, and the flooding that would have caused.
Teramore Development, the retail real estate company behind the
request, petitioned to rezone three acres of the 35-acre property
from Estate Agricultural to Crossroads Commercial.
Re: REZ-2022-20 for a Dollar General, GA 122 @ Skipper Bridge Road
Please deny the proposed rezoning at GA 122 and Skipper Bridge Road from Estate Agriculture to Crossroads Commercial.
We don’t need more clearcutting, impervious surface, petroleum runoff, and trash, uphill from the Withlacoochee River, setting a precedent for further sprawl into a forestry and agricultural area, costing the county money, and everybody downstream as well.
This rezoning decision affects the entire county and everybody downstream all the way into Florida, for drinking water, flood prevention, wildlife, river water quality, and quality of life. Continue reading →
![[Two Valdosta sewer projects from new municipal bonds, plus one from user fees @ VCC 2025-04-10]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-04-10--vld-sewer-projects/many.jpg)
![[Rivers, creeks, and Alapaha River Water Trail in Echols County Comprehensive Plan Update]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-01-25--echols-comprehensive-plan/fbmany.jpg)
![[Suwannee Riverkeeper at Lowndes County Commission 2024-04-09, Chairman and Mayor's Paddle, Sugar Creek and Chainsaw Cleanups]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-04-09--suwannee-riverkeeper-lowndes-county-commission/fbmany.jpg)
![[Collage, Quarterman Road rezoning denied by Lowndes County Commission 2023-09-12]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-09-12--lowndes-county-denies-quarterman-road-rezoning/many.jpg)
![[Resolution and Clinch County Commission 2023-09-11]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-09-11--clinch-county-resolution-against-mine-for-okefenokee/many.jpg)
![[Collage @ Clinch County Commission 2023-08-07]](https://wwals.net/pictures/2023-08-07--clinch-county-commission/many.jpg)
![[Black and white square WWALS and Suwannee Riverkeeper logos]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/logo/square-wwals-suwrk-logos-bw.jpg){kind=logo}
![[Enhanced facade, plat, and future development, VDT and actual stormwater by WWALS]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-05-03--lcc-dollar-general-lawsuit/many.jpg)
![[Hearing, Location, Withlacoochee River]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-01-26--vdt-dg-loco/many.jpg)
![[Please deny commercial rezoning in agricultural area --WWALS to Lowndes County Commission 2023-01-23]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-01-23--wwals-lowndes-county-dollar-general/many.jpg)