\nBill Herndon and his neighbors are unhappy about a development being\nbuilt in their backyards.\n\nMarvin Peavy, owner of Peavy Properties, has already rented some of the\nMar-Mel-Go apartments, and about 70 of the projected 150 apartments have\nbeen completed. The other 80 units are scheduled to be added soon.\n
\nThe two-story apartment buildings rise uncomfortably close to the homes\nof Pinebrook Drive residents, such as Herndon. Windows of the complex\nlook directly into their backyards and homes.\n<\/blockquote>\nMarvin Peavy, now why does that name ring a bell?\nAh, yes, CEO and CFO of Lower Lowndes, Inc.<\/a> the corporation that bought 62.53 acres\non Quarterman Road and attempted to rezone it from E-A to R-21 back in 2007<\/a>.\nOne of the neighbors saw the sign out front and a bunch of us helped convince\nthe County Commission to deny the rezoning.\n
\nThis time it’s so bad another developer<\/em> is complaining:\n
\nRobert Eddington also lives on Pinebrook Drive. He is a builder and said\neveryone has a right to develop their property. What he\u2019s disturbed\nabout, among other issues, is that the plans they were shown are not\nbeing followed. Eddington was told most of the trees would be spared\nto protect their privacy, but when he came home several days later,\nthey were all gone except a few.\n\n…\n
\nEddington and his neighbors successfully fought a similar development on\nnearby Water Oak Drive four years ago. They had no such opportunity this\ntime, he said. No notices of any hearing were posted. Neither Herndon nor\nFuhrer saw any notices posted announcing zoning or development hearings\nby the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners.\n<\/blockquote>\nHm, given that the ULDC got changed a year or so back to require\nnotification of rezoning mailed to adjoining property owners,\nin addition to a notice in the newspaper and a sign out front,\nif there was no sign and neighbors didn’t get notices, I wonder\nif there’s a legal problem with the rezoning.\n
\nAh, this takes me back:\n
\nEddington\u2019s fence was damaged during Mar-Mel-Go construction. When\ncontractors finally fixed it 17 months later, he said his wife asked about\nthe gate that was supposed to be installed. The site manager told his\nwife that it wouldn\u2019t be installed until the rest of the apartments\nwere completed. Eddington said they were originally told these would\nbe \u201cluxury condos,\u201d but are very different from the way they were\ndescribed.\n<\/blockquote>\nThe previous subdivision (not Peavy’s) that did get built on Quarterman Road\n(because its zoning was grandfathered in way back in the 1980s)\ninvolved a builder shoving building trash through my fence into my field.\nAnd streetlights that were installed by the developer but never turned on\nuntil the subdivision residents got the Commission to institute a special\ntax district to pay for them.\n\nCurious how yet again “the plans they were shown are not\nbeing followed.”\n
\nMaybe if the neighbors go to the county they’ll get redress:\n
\nHerndon and his neighbors pooled their money several years ago and spent\n$4,400 to pave Pinewood Drive, so they feel they have a stake in how\nthe road is used. He approached the Lowndes County Commission about the\nresidents\u2019 concerns and was eventually connected with County Engineer\nMike Fletcher.\n\nFletcher said a $30,000 siren-controlled gate would be installed on\nPinewood Drive for emergency vehicle access only, eliminating unwanted\ntraffic through their neighborhood. The property owner is responsible\nfor installing the gate, said Kevin Beals, Lowndes County development\nreviewer.\n<\/blockquote>\nAh, finger pointing! Not the county government’s problem; it’s\nup to the property owner.\nNevermind the county commission approved the development\nwith certain plans and requirements.\n
\nWell, maybe if the neighbors escalate to the county manager:\n
\nLowndes County Manager Joe Pritchard said he thinks Pinebrook Drive\nresidents “have some legitimate questions and we ought to be able\nto provide a reasonable answer.” Pritchard said he plans to meet\nwith County Engineer Mike Fletcher and Zoning Administrator Carmella\nBraswell on Monday to discuss the development and see what remedies\nmight be available.\n<\/blockquote>\nYes, we’ve seen that process many times before.\nNote he doesn’t say they’ll provide any actual fixes to any of the\nproblems, just “a reasonable answer”.\nWe’ll see if these neighbors get any satisfaction this time.\n\nAccording to the\n\nCounty Commission calendar<\/a>, there’s\n\na work session coming up Monday 13 July at 8:30AM<\/a>\nand\n\na commission meeting coming up Tuesday 14 July at 5:30PM<\/a>.\nThe Tuesday public meetings always have an agenda item for\nCitizens Wishing to the Heard.\nThe work sessions usually don’t, but if you go you can hear\nwhat the commissioners have to say about subjects that have\ncome before them, and often you can talk to them directly\nbefore or after the meeting.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In today’s VDT Upset about development: Bill Herndon and his neighbors are unhappy about a development being built in their backyards. Marvin Peavy, owner of Peavy Properties, has already rented some of the Mar-Mel-Go apartments, and about 70 of the projected 150 apartments have been completed. The other 80 units are scheduled to be added […]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[68,11,1736,848,12],"tags":[1943,1942,1947,2785,3,1913,1836,119,1941,2,1940,1939,1946,917,1944,1945],"class_list":["post-594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-development","category-law","category-lowndes-county-commission-georgia","category-media","category-politics","tag-bill-herndon","tag-builder","tag-carmella-braswell","tag-development","tag-georgia","tag-inc","tag-joe-pritchard","tag-lake-park","tag-lower-lowndes","tag-lowndes-county","tag-mar-mel-go","tag-marvin-peavy","tag-mike-fletcher","tag-quarterman-road","tag-robert-eddington","tag-uldc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Gj0O-9A","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}