Update 2024-08-12: Packet: Return of the proposed 2,109-acre rezoning for Planned Unit Development in floodplain –City of Chiefland, FL 2024-08-12.
Here is audio of the applicant’s answers to citizen questions in the June 24, 2024 Chiefland City Commission meeting, as well as the applicant’s slides.
If somebody wants to transcribe these audio files, that would be most helpful.
Here is part 1 of audio from the June 24, Chiefland City Commission meeting:
Continue readingUpdate 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]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-08-28--quarterman-road-rezoning/many.jpg)
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. Continue reading
Update 2023-05-06: Dollar General developer and property owner sue Lowndes County about rezoning denial –VDT 2023-05-03.
Update 2023-01-29: Lowndes County nixes planned Dollar General –VDT 2023-01-26.
Update 2023-01-24: Videos: new attorney, VLDA appointment, Dollar General rezoning, 2 infrastructure, special assessment rate, VOCA @ LCC Work 2023-01-23.
I sent this letter to the Lowndes County Commission today as PDF.
Here’s how
you can also ask the Commissioners to deny this rezoning.
http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/?p=23351
![[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)
Please deny commercial rezoning in agricultural area –WWALS to Lowndes County Commission 2023-01-23
January 23, 2023
To: Lowndes County Commission and Staff
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
The same proposed rezoning in Lowndes County that WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman spoke against in November will be back on the Lowndes County Commission agenda for a decision at 5:30 PM February 8, 2022.
That’s 5:30 PM, Tuesday, February 8, 2022, on the second floor at 327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, GA 31601.
Remember, this is upstream on the Little River from Florida and Brooks County Georgia, as well as Lowndes County. Because it’s a rezoning, anybody from anywhere can speak during the public hearing at that meeting. However, they will only allow a few people to speak for a few minutes.
So even better would be to send a written objection before the meeting to commissioner@lowndescounty.com. You can also try emailing the Commissioners individually, https://lowndescounty.com/directory.aspx?did=19 Beware that some of the Commissioners do not read their county email addresses, so best to also copy the County Clerk, belinda@lowndescounty.com.
Gretchen spoke against the new version of this rezoning (bigger lots) again Monday at the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission, this time pointing out that when community wells fail, their owners hand them over to the county, which puts the taxpayers on the hook for fixing them, so we don’t need any more community wells. A room full of opponents raised their hands at that meeting, and more than 300 signed a petition against the rezoning.
![[Gretchen Quarterman at Planning Commission, aquifer recharge zone, sinkholes]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-02-08--loco-sprawl/many.jpg)
Gretchen Quarterman at Planning Commission, aquifer recharge zone, sinkholes
The subject property is also near some notorious sinkholes, the Myers Bluff Sinkhole on the Little River, and the Shiloh Road Sinkhole that fortunately did not take down that road or a nearby house. The Snake Nation Road Sinkhole, a bit farther south, forced the county to reroute that road to the tune of about half a million dollars. Continue reading
Update 2022-02-02: Sprawl in an aquifer recharge zone back on the Lowndes County Commission agenda 2022-02-08.
Update 2022-01-09: Cancelled: Lowndes County Commission Meetings 2022-01-10, so expect expect the contentious Miller Bridge Road subdivision that was withdrawn last time to be back with larger lot sizes at the January 24 and 25 Commission meetings.
The subdivision WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman spoke against at the November Planning Commission meeting was withdrawn before the December Lowndes County Commission meeting.
![[Lowndes County Commission, Rezoning withdrawn temporarily, Aquifer recharge zone]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-12-14--miller-bridge-road-withdrawn/many.jpg)
Lowndes County Commission, Rezoning withdrawn temporarily, Aquifer recharge zone
But the withdrawal letter said they would be back with a new plan by January 5th. The subject property near the Little River is still in an aquifer recharge zone, and far outside any appropriate Character Area in the Comprehensive Plan. Continue reading
Update 2022-01-02: Withdrawn but will return: subdivision in aquifer recharge zone near Little River, Lowndes County, GA @ LCC 2021-12-14
When the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) held a Public Hearing Monday for a rezoning for a subdivision in an aquifer recharge zone, WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman spoke against it. Three hundred other people opposed the rezoning. The Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend denying it.
But GLPC does not decide: the Lowndes County Commission will do that on December 14, 2021. And the County Commissioners can, if they choose, change the lot size or approve the rezoning as proposed.
This is what to watch for on that upcoming agenda: REZ-2021-28 Windy Hill S/D, 7532 Miller Bridge Rd., 0010 022, 34 ac., Community well & septic, EA to R1.
![[Gretchen, speakers, aquifer recharge zone]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-11-29--wwals-against-subdivision-in-recharge-zone/many.jpg)
Gretchen, speakers, aquifer recharge zone
Here is the LAKE video of Gretchen speaking, at 19:56. Continue reading
The Adel, Georgia, City Council passed the two ordinances for the wood pellet plant with no discussion, yet with some votes against, and protestors outside and inside, on September 21, 2020. There are still things you can do to stop this polluting project that would export our trees from throughout the Suwannee River Basin and beyond, to Europe to burn, producing yet more CO2.
![[Protesters outside and in, and the Adel City Council split vote for the wood pellet plant]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-09-21--adel-wood-pellet-plant/wwals.jpg)
Protesters outside and in, and the Adel City Council split vote for the wood pellet plant
Below are links to each LAKE video of those agenda items, with a few notes.
See also Vicki Weeks, Dogwood Alliance, 16 October 2020, Industrial Logging and the Wood Pellet Industry Hurt Us All.
And Dogwood Alliance’s
petition to call on Georgia leaders to protect our forests.
https://www.dogwoodalliance.org/actions/stop-the-destruction-of-georgia-forests/
You can also ask GA-EPD to reject the air permit application. Probably more on that later.
For background, see: Continue reading
Thanks to Adel City Clerk Rhonda Rowe, here are the annexation and rezoning ordinances read on September 8. The second reading is this Monday, September 21, 2020, at 5:30 PM, at Adel City Hall. Presumably the Adel City Council will vote after the Public Hearing.
![[Ordinances and Application maps]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-09-08--adel-city-council/ordapp.jpg)
Ordinances and Application maps
The ordinances refer to exhibits which are in the application she also sent, from the Adel Adel Industrial Development Authority (AIDA), for this annexation and rezoning. We had actually already seen those in the staff report to the Planning Commission.
See the previous post for context. And see you there Monday evening. Continue reading
Update 2020-09-11: fixed document and map links and added form for comments.
The Adel City Council had no questions after their Public Hearing on annexation and rezoning for a wood pellet plant, Tuesday, September 9, 2020, after thirty minutes of speakers for and against.
That was just the first reading. The second reading will be 5:30 PM, Monday, September 21, 2020, at Adel City Hall.
![[Maps and speakers, wood pellet plant, Adel City Council 2020-09-08]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-09-08--adel-city-council/many.jpg)
Maps and speakers, wood pellet plant, Adel City Council 2020-09-08
After the meeting I asked the City Manager, the City Clerk, and a couple of City Council members what maps and plans they had looked at. They all said they hadn’t seen any, and maybe I should talk to Economic Development. So I asked her, and she didn’t seem to indicate she’d seen any.
Yet there are maps and plans in the air permit application to GA-EPD, and others reviewed by the Planning Commission, which, as the City Manager pointed out during the meeting, issued a Public Notice of its public hearing on July 6, 2020. I don’t know why these state and county agencies have not published these documents, nor why the City of Adel has not. But those are public documents, so here they are (see Air Quality Permit maps and Planning Commission maps).
Below are videos by Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE) of the pellet plant part of the Adel City Council meeting. See also the agenda and the WWALS letter to the Adel City Council. See also some helpful documents by the Dogwood Alliance
And this handy Dogwood Alliance form to send a comment to the Adel City Counci l.
By the way, this kind of work does take time and effort, so feel free to contribute to WWALS. . Continue reading
Update 2017-09-13: The Lowndes County Commissioners surprisingly agreed to rezone “backwards” to Estate A gricultural (E-A) at their Regular Session of 14 April 2015.
A historic dairy farm wants to go back to the most agricultural zoning,
upstream on Cherry Creek from the
Cherry Creek Sink that leaks into the
Floridan Aquifer.
Vallotton Farms (both the part outlined in red
that appears to be the subject of the rezoning and the bigger part west of Bemiss Road) includes quite a bit of Cherry Creek itself.
Agriculture is probably better than other likely uses in such a location. Continue reading
![[Applicant slides, sound recordings 2024-06-24, Proposed 2,109-acre PUD, Chiefland, FL, Manatee Springshed]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-06-24--chiefland/fbmany.jpg)