Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

If you would please rise, I'm gonna call on Commissioner Weisenbaker for the invocation and the pledge. Surprise.

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this beautiful weather we're having, Lord. We just ask that you continue to bless us. Send us some rain. We need some rain real bad down here. Father, we we pray for our country, our state, our county, and we just pray that you will show your favor on us all. Be with those who can't be here for illnesses. Lord, heal them, bless them. Christ's name we pray. Amen. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Commissioners, as you are aware of, there was an issue that had risen today in regards to um a tremendous amount of grass fires that we're having in the community. So, I have an ordinance I would like for you to consider. Uh it would be adopting the temporary burn ordinance would be the title of it. I would like to add that as an agenda item under and table it as agenda item 6B. If there are no objections, everybody? Okay.

Good. All right. Then we will add that as agenda item 6B. Commissioners, inside your packet, you'll find your minutes of the work session of January the 26th, as well as your regular session minutes from January the 27th. If there are no additions, deletions, or corrections to the those minutes, I will entertain a motion. Motion to approve. We have a motion to approve from Miss Evans. Do I have a second? Second. I have a second from Mr. Wisenbecker. Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll call the vote. All in favor, signify by I. I.

Any oppose? Like sign? Hearing? None. The motion carries. Agenda item 5A is our first of three public hearing items. Our first is ReZ2026-01. This is the Williams Howard property located at 5905 State Road. This involves six acres. It is currently EA. The request is for RA and it will be served by Wellen Septic. Mr. Dillard.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good evening, commissioners. As stated, the request here is for RA zoning, which you'll note fits within the agricultural character area and rural residential area found along Skipper Bridge, State Road, and Franklinville Road. You'll also notice that there are wetlands on the very northwest, but not on this particular sixacre tract, meaning that Wellland septic uh is a viable source to serve the proposed uh dwellings if in the future. You'll notice the property is currently situated way with a single mobile home towards the back there. Again, this is a very long, narrow property. And again, the tax parcels in 2005. You'll notice that over the years from 2016, 2018 up until today, they've increased up to approximately six acres. The applicant is requesting RA zoning in order to hopefully potentially subdivide it in the future under the family ties provisions. With that being said, the TRC analyzed the request and the factors most relevant to this case, including the neighboring land uses and lot sizes, the viability of the well and septic systems, the potential environmental impacts, and the ability to properly apply the standards of the ULDC and therefore recommended approval of the request 8 to zero. Planning commission also heard this case hearing from the applicant during that meeting. They recommended unanimous approval as well for RA zoning.

Okay. Any question for Mr. Diller? All right. Hearing none, we'll move into the public hearing portion of the meeting. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak in opposition to this request? Anyone that would like to speak in opposition? Hearing none. Is there anyone that would like to speak in favor of this request? Anyone that would like to speak in favor? Hearing none, we'll close the public hearing portion of the meeting and commissioners, I'll turn it back over to you for your consideration. Motion to approve. We have a motion to approve. Do I have a second? Second. Have a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, I'll call the vote. All in favor signify by I. I.

Any oppose? Like, sign? Hearing? None. The motion carries. Agenda item 5B is ReZ2026-02. This is the Bullard property. It's located at 7270 Old Valdasta Road. This involves one acre. It is currently EA and the request is for R1. This as well will be served with well and septic. Mr. Dillard.

Yes sir. Thank you very much. As stated the request for R1 is to bring this property and its allowable uses into conformity with the ULDC. You'll notice here that the property is in a rural residential adjacent and agricultural forestry character area which doesn't necessarily represent 1acre parcels within this general vicinity. You'll also notice that the primary use of the property does have some wetlands around it, but there are residential parcels interspersed with large tracks of agricultural parcels and woodlands in the surrounding area. During the uh process for analysis, we discovered that the house in question and the parcel did not exactly match up um where they were. You'll notice again a little bit of an aerial here and then again a view from the ground looking at the property where the house is versus where the parcel is. The applicants have hired a local surveyor and prepared a survey to shift the boundaries of the 1acre track which was deed to them many years ago uh to around to the surrounding house to correct the situation. So with that being said, the TRC analyzed the request, recommended approval of R1 as did the planning commission recommend unanimous approval for R1 for this 1acre tract. Any questions for Mr. Dillard? All right, hearing none, we'll move into the public hearing portion of the meeting. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak in opposition to this request? Anyone that would like to speak in opposition hearing? None. Is there anyone that would like to speak in favor of this request? Anyone that would like to speak in favor? Hearing none, we'll close the public hearing portion of the meeting. Commissioners, I'll turn it back over to you for your consideration.

Mr. Chairman, I move that we follow the TRC TRC's recommendation as well as the planning commission and approve this request. Can we have a motion to approve the request? Do I have a second? Second. Second. I have a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, I'll call the vote. All in favor signify by I. I.

Any oppose? Like sign? Hearing? None. The motion carries. Agenda item 5C is rec26-03. The bill of Nuva property. It's located at 6201 Union Road. This is 6 acres. It is currently EA. The request is for CG and it will also have well and septic. Mr. Dillard.

Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman, the commercial zoning request here is brought on by the applicant in order to develop a proposed office and storage facility for their existing business. The property does largely open uh far as the ground, but there is a large centrally located pond on the property which you'll see in a little bit. Now, this is in a rural residential character area which actually recommends CC, not CG. However, based on the use of the property and the growth in this area, CG is also considered uh appropriate based on staff's analysis of it. You'll also notice that this property has frontage on I75, approximately 460 ft, which has a traffic count approximately 60,000 uh per day, also between 3,000 6,000 traffic count on Union Road per day. You'll again notice the wetlands here splitting the majority of the property. But you'll also notice on this next slide that there is a large 6-in gas pipeline running through the property as well as a county 10-in force mane rendering most of the frontage of the property along Union more or less uh unusable for development. This is a proposed site plan conceptual provided by the applicant for their 6,000 foot shop. And again, when we overlay this on an aerial with those pipelines, you'll notice the development potential for this property is severely limited. This is a view of the property looking north on Union Road. And again looking due west across the property, the pond in the middle of the property uh is again those wetlands as depicted. And then looking south, you see Union Springs subdivision on your left in the distance as well as Frank's Creek storage as well. And this is a view of the current property again noting how much of the wellland is taking up uh the viable land there. This is again the view of the property subject property from I75 northbound. And again, this is the property Franks Creek Storage, which was approved uh many years ago. On the left, Union Springs subdivision on the right. And one of the reasons for the potential conditions you see in your packet regarding the landscape buffering along

Union Road. With that being said, TRC staff recommended approval of CG with two conditions. They are listed here. At the planning commission meeting, the planning commissioners recommended the addition of the underline here that says the existing fence along the western property line abuing I75 shall be consistent with color, material, and design of buildings in the surrounding area. This condition was modified and recommended for approval 800 as well as condition number two, which states that no clubs, lodges, meeting facilities, alcohol package stores, or gasoline stations with or without convenience stores are allowed. So again, staff recommendation was condition one and two without the underline. Planning commission was recommendation one and two with the underline. Any questions for Mr. Dillard? All right, hearing none, we'll move into the public hearing portion of the meeting. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak in opposition to this request? Anyone that would like to speak in opposition? Hearing none. Is there anyone that would like to speak in favor of this request? Anyone that would like to speak in favor? Hearing none, we'll close the public hearing portion of the meeting and commissioners, I'll turn it back over to you for your consideration, Mr. Chairman, if I may.

Sure. Um, Mr. Dillard, so the 10-foot buffer um that only pertains to the Union Road side, correct? That is staff's recommendation. commercial zoning next to residential or agricultural zoning has natural buffers built in. This is in addition to that as we typically do not buffer uh common roadways, but given Frank's Creek Storage and Union Springs both having landscape buffers along Union, staff felt it appropriate to require a 10-ft along Union as well.

Do you know if the um if the applicant did they erect any of the fencing that's currently on the property? Did they do that or do you know? I believe the fencing was installed uh at least the front portion by the applicant in addition to the to the main gate. Okay. And finally, do we um we don't have any type of corridor overlay for I75? No, sir. It's inter interstate route. We do not. Okay. Thank you. My question is for you, Mr. Chairman. I know yesterday you expressed some concerns regarding the color of defense and what have you. Can you elaborate on that or how it would address that possibly in this motion? I'm I'm sorry. Now, how in regards to the concern you ra you raised yesterday? Sure. About the paint or what have you.

Sure. Um and just how it possibly may need to be addressed in this motion. Yeah.

Well, the only thing as I said yesterday's meeting I was concerned it said the color and materials and design buildings in the surrounding area. Uh the only thing that's there is green is a green wall from the storage facilities down the street. Um so from my standpoint rather than us getting into my concern was getting into design standards which we try not to do that. If that's the case then I would say that uh that the the um issue with the colors should be stricken should be stricken. That would be the very least. But then also be careful about the about the telling one neighbor that their facility has to look the same as the other neighbors.

So, well, and I I was at the planning commission meeting and I understand what their concerns were and I respect and appreciate the concerns of the planning commission members, but I also feel like to your point that we don't need to get into design standards, but we also don't need to get into one parcel at a time. So, I think this is something we need to put on our notes to think about during these updates to the G to the um

ulc. Thank you, Mark. Um and try to cons create some type of consistent plan for I75 and our entry points. I mean, we we think about all of our commercial corridors and our our entry corridors such as North Lost Road and and 122 and, you know, we we do put some emphasis on that, but I think a lot of our visitors and guests to our community see some of the what could be considered mess on I75 first before they ever get a chance to even enter our community.

So, I think that these people may have um these folks may have have um dodged potential, you know, more bureaucracy, if you want to call it that. But I think we need to look further into some type of standards for I75 corridor at some point. But I think that's a question we could probably raise with G dot to see exactly what kind of authority you actually have on their rideway and in there in in that on that quarter. Now, if we want to create an overlay district, for example, of I75, then that that's discussion we can have. All right.

But as we have it right now, to my knowledge, we do not have anything in place. So my recommendation would be to would be to strike the issue on the fence at this time. JD, one last question. You said that area could be CC or CG, but did they apply for CG or it was recommended CG? CG was a recommendation for the commercial zoning there, and we considered uh any adjacent parcels as well in the future moving to some sort of commercial. Again, looking at the comp plan, what it recommends commercially versus uh suitable uses CC versus CG. And those uses are in your packet in the the chart there.

Thank you. If I may, I'll make the motion that um we approve um using the two conditions recommended by staff, which would include um the the one and two by staff that does not include the color of the fence recommended by the GLPC. Okay. So, you're recommending the following the recommendations of of staff of staff. Okay. So, we have a motion to approve with the recommendations of staff. Correct. Quick question. Now, staff that means stricken it from the fence issue. I'm not comfortable telling somebody that they got to paint their fence green.

Okay. That's stricken from that. Okay. Okay. So, you're good with that's good. All right. So, do we have a second? Second. Have a second. Any discussion outside of what we've already had? All right. And if there's no discussion, then we will call a vote. All in favor signify by I. I. Any oppose? Like sign? Hearing? None. The motion carries. Thank you, commissioners. Thank you, JD. All right. We'll now move to agenda item 6A and this is the Lock Laurel Road termination of unused utility easement. Mr. Stoutin.

Yes, sir. The county has been asked to release and terminate a utility easement located adjacent to Lawler Road that the county is no longer using and does not have a future need for. There was formerly a booster station at this site but is removed in 2019. The present owner of the property encumbered by the utility easement is Tim Blandon and the affected property is designated as tax parcel 016806 by the Loun County Tax Assessors. Staff recommends that a resolution to authorize the chairman to sign the resolution approving release, conveyance, and termination of the easement and easement agreement.

Okay. Any questions for Mr. Stout? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion. Motion to approve as presented. So, we have a motion to approve the request as presented. Do I have a second? Second. I have a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, I'll call the vote. All in favor signify by I. I. Any oppose? Like sign? Hearing? None. The motion carries. All right, we'll now move to agenda item 6B and this is the adopting the adoption of the temporary burn ordinance. Miss Dukes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. after um much conversation over the last week or so in an early morning meeting that I had with Georgia Forestry requesting some assistance and policy um related to the drought that we currently have in the numerous wildfires that we have fought not only in Loun County over the last three weeks but surrounding counties as well. Um we have uh received the draft that is before you from Georgia Forestry. You all are aware that local governments in Georgia are not allowed to individually and on their own implement a burn ban, but we have received the language before you from forestry regarding a temporary burn restriction. Um, we understand that as we had a code red call that went out this afternoon. Um, Miss Barwick has has sent some things out to the media. I think we are all currently sharing that on our social media, including some of you. Um, this is not in an effort to uh create an environment where code enforcement and LA County Fire Rescue are writing citations to citizens. This is to give them the authority that they need to let folks know that they cannot have these fires and if we find them, then they need to be put out. Um, we've already had many acres burned over the last two and a half weeks. Um we have already received some questions on social media um related to recreational fires um because there is an a um a there is something that addresses them. But what we're trying to let people know is that the fire doesn't know if it's recreational or not. So um we've had some recreational fires that have gotten out and done quite a bit of damage. So as dry as we are right now and with the wind that we have right now, the best policy is to not burn at all. Again, this does not impact any fires that are agriculture or uh land clearing or any of those things that are routinely managed by forestry. But I will tell you that after my meeting this morning with

our chief ranger right now, they are not allowing any of that burning either. Um there is some rain in the forecast. Um those little showers are not really what we need to get ahead of the drought and really soak the ground and and get ahead of this. Um Ashley Tai has received some information from the National Weather Service that if we don't have significant rainfall through the end of the month that beginning March one, they may look at upping our our drought category. So pray for rain and pray that our citizens uh will not burn until conditions improve. I think a pretty day for burning is not a safe day for burning. Any questions for Miss Dukes?

Yes. Um Mr. Chairman, um realizing there's never a perfect time for you know, ceasing burning and what have you for the different industries. You know, something came to mind um earlier um in regards to possibly having a conversation with some of our haulers perhaps uh deep south for waste management and seeking a relax some of their uh limitations uh because we do realize um between the elderly um who's who's cutting back right now who pay landscapers as well as uh you know even business owners or what have you. Maybe you could have that conversation if they could perhaps uh you know just lax it a little bit or help us out or just see what they can do period because at the end of the day we don't know how long it's going to last and we know what time frame we're in and then we got summer coming

um as well which might make it even drier. So just you know want see we have those conversations see what kind of conversations with both um that they can help because if we can't um necessarily get any relief now perhaps we can draft it in upcoming agreement renewal. So, we can take a look at all that. Um, one piece of information I'll add real quick that Mr. Ty gave me, it was kind of really a surprising number. Um, but Mr. Ty, correct me now if I if I misspeak here, but since January the 1st, we've had 109 grass fires. Wow.

Right here in Lounge County. So, it's been an ongoing problem that we've been that fire department has been having to deal with. And now we're getting into even situations to where they're getting calls for mutual aid to our neighboring counties. Uh, and these grass fires are getting real serious because they're getting away and they're literally burning structures. They're burning homes and shops and those sort of things. So, this was really the issue here. It was one of those things that really once it came to my attention, I felt like that we definitely needed to address it. Uh it's a communitywide effort to be able to be careful with this sort of stuff. I've spent the last week preparing my place to burn, but I'm not going to burn until until and it's agriculture. I could actually do it, but I'm not going to do it just out of the out of the fact that I certainly wouldn't want a fire to get away. Um and it can get away even with the best of intentions. So again, uh I think that this is the best thing for us. It's a temporary issue. We can look at it. If we get six inches of rain in the next few weeks, we can lift the burn the ordinance, the temporary burn ordinance, and we're good to go.

And this is only for the unincorporated. And as far as we know, all the municipalities don't allow burning already that I'm aware of. Now, there may be one of the smaller cities or something, but to my to my knowledge, most all the cities I do know, the city of Aldosta, there absolutely no burning at all. And quick question, this will cover burning, control burning inside of a barrel as well. Yes, correct. Any any open flame whatsoever just

and if you all approve this this evening then first thing tomorrow we've got staff um on standby to share this with our surrounding counties um because at the rate that we're running mutual aid calls right now. We certainly want to be there for them because we know that they would be there for us. Um but we've run a lot of out of county calls in the last um in the last week or so. We've got three trucks out of county right now. Well, thank y'all for being proactive on this. All right. If there's no questions, I'll entertain a motion. Motion to adopt as presented. We have a motion to adopt as presented. Do I have a second? Second. I have several seconds. Second. Any discussion? Commissioner Evans down a second.

All right. If there's no discussion, then uh I'll call the vote. All in favor signify by I. I. Any oppose? Like sign? Hearing? None. The motion carries. Thank you. Agenda item 7A is the transportation investment act of the TIA for or the or road bids. Mr. Mloud.

Uh yes sir. Thank you. Our road is a TI1 approved project that is 1.65 miles long. The project will begin at Stton Road and end at Skipper Bridge Road. The project consists of resurfacing, striping, RPMs, eight concrete head walls, new signage, and grassing. Uh the contract time is 60 calendar days after notice to proceed. The low bidder was Reams and Sun Construction, $477,896 15. Okay. Any questions for Mr. McCloud? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion. Motion to approve. Do we have a motion to approve? Do I have a second?

Second. Have a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, I'll call the vote. All in favor signify by I. Any oppose? Like sign? Hearing? None. The motion carries. Agenda item 7B is the consideration of bids for the installation of emergency backup generator generators at Puit Health facilities. Mr. T.

Good evening. As we discussed yesterday, these bids were um requested as part of a hazard mitigation grant that we received. We originally applied for the grant in 2019. Um we actually received notice of award in January of last year. And um this grant allows us to provide emergency backup generators on all five Puit Health facilities here in Loun County. Um, we solicited the bids um for the generator as well as all of the wiring and electric electrical work that required to um fully generate the entire building. Um, we received five bids. Um, two of the bids were deemed to be um non-responsive uh as they didn't meet all of the technical specifications. Um, of the three bids that that did meet the specifications, um, two were received from Current Edge Solutions uh, out of Savannah. The first bid was for them to provide a Windco generator. Um, the second bid was for a Caterpillar generator and that was uh,1,420,000 um for the Windco and 1,470,000 for the for the CAT. And then one 1,834,000 was the bid of Coward Electric here in Valdasta to provide Cummings. After um staff and Puit Health staff um reviewed the the bids, the uh recommendation was to go with the um Caterpillar generators from Current Edge Solutions. Um although that wasn't the lower bid. Um it was um it was preferable because Caterpillar is a is um has greater reliability. Um it has a five-year warranty versus the 2-year warranty for WCO and the service network that Caterpillar has. They can

provide um a lot better service in our area. The only WCO um only person that does service on WCO generators would be um Current Edge out of Savannah. So anytime there was an issue, they would have to come and they only provide service during normal business hours. So um we felt it was worth the um slightly um more expense to get the better warranty and better service through for the Caterpillar. But um be glad to answer any questions you might have about the grant or the or the bids. Any questions for Mr. Tai? Thank you, Mr. Ty. Thank you for your efforts on this. Ashley Mers, I'll entertain a motion. Motion to approve. Do

I have a motion to approve? Do I have a second? Second. I have a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll call the vote. All in favor signify by I. Any oppose? Like sign? Hearing? None. Motion carries. Agenda item eight, county manage report. Miss Dukes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good evening, commissioners. Um, as you all saw on Friday, Quiet Pines is back open. I spoke with Miss Thrasher this afternoon about 12:30 and she reported that they are very busy. So we are very grateful for the support of you all and continuing that intergovernmental service uh agreement relationship with Moody Air Force Base and the Department of Defense as well as your support of staff and uh our department heads. Thank you all for the support that you continue to provide. Quiet pines. I encourage everyone to go out and have a meal. The breakfast is fantastic. The lunch is even better and the golf is is second to none. Uh also we are in full swing uh ready to leave tomorrow for the bird supper in Atlanta. As you all know there's a lot going on legislatively. Um some very significant impacts that could affect not just Lounge County but rural counties across Georgia. So we look forward to advocating um for those um those legislative questions to go in a in a positive direction. Um we we will all be leaving at various times tomorrow. Some of us coming back tomorrow night, some of us coming home on Thursday. Um, but I want to thank u Miss Barwick as well as Miss Lover for their planning and their work. As far as the bird supper goes, we have more than 300 people who have RSVPd a much larger crowd locally than we normally have. So, being that we host this on behalf of our local citizens and the delegation, certainly our business community to get in front of the entire general assembly. We are excited about the conversations that will hap happen tomorrow evening. Also on Saturday, we will be hosting the Marty GR day. This is a community day that was started by Miss Denise Peters. Uh, Commissioner Orinstein had some very early conversations with Miss Peters. She hopes to bring Marty Gro annually to our community. So, we will be hosting that community day on the green space next to this building on Saturday from 10 to 6. Um, there will be uh programs for children. There will be a kids on. This is a very familyfriendly event. So, we hope that you all will have time to come by and see us then. Mr. Chairman,

that concludes my report. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you.

All right, we'll move right into our citizens wishing to be heard. Our first citizen is Miss Gretchen Quarterman. Please come forward and state your name and address for the record, please. Good evening. My name is Gretchen Cordman. I live at 6565 Cordman Road. I take my mail at post office box 461. Hey Hyra. Um I'm here this evening. I appreciate you listening to me every time I come to talk about solid waste and recycling. I know that the solid waste um franchise agreements get approved at the end of March and so this is the time to be talking about it. Um I'd like to give a real long history. I sort of dug around in my old files and I saw that um way back in 2002 there was some talk of changing from having eight drop sites to four when Charlie Clark was the uh county engineer and we kept having eight. And I liked it when we went to the drop sites and dropped off our recycling and we put our white glass here and our brown glass and our blue grass and our green glass and plastics number this and cardboard and magazines and oil and batteries and everything. I loved it. Honestly, I liked taking it and knowing that it was going to a place. Well, those were being abused apparently and so we switched models. Oh, and then we had House Bill 481 and um couldn't do things for the county and the city anymore and we had our own way and blah blah blah. And Chairman Casey assured us that the the staff knew everything about trash and solid waste and we'd be happy with the solution. And so we had drop sites with the card for a while. That was okay with me. Still could drop my stuff off. Then we had to have curbside as required. And Dicky Lee told me, "I

would love having a garbage can at the end of my driveway. Um, but you can't make me buy anything. You can provide me a service, but you can't make me buy that garbage can at the end of my driveway." Eventually, I caved in, I have to confess. Um, and we were going to have two things, one for uh trash, solid waste, and one for recycling. and single string recycling. Let's not even pretend that's just all goes in the trash because people comingle and they don't wash their cans out good enough and it's a real it. So when it came time to be renewed, the haulers said, "Hey, that's not cost-ffective for us because we're taking two garbage cans full of garbage to the dump now. It's costing twice as much as what we were expecting. So could we please do recycling at the drop off?" Yay. I take my recycling to the drop off. Well, they don't take oil. They don't take batteries. So, I got to go batteries. I got to go to battery source. Oil, I got to go to Orley's or Napa or something. Um, they don't take magazines. They don't take newspaper. They only take cardboard. Well, I went the other day. They don't even take tin cans anymore. So, I take my aluminum cans always to the fire burn place because somebody's benefiting from that. But tin cans and and I don't know, some one of the rules in the in the in the ordinance says they have to. And yet they didn't notify us that that their tin cans, if I take my tin cans down to Industrial Boulevard, they throw them in the trash. They go with the solid waste. The girl told me, "Just put it in your trash at home." Well, I wondered about waste management. They don't take plastic. So, if you go to the waste management over on Pine Grove, you can't drop off plastic there. They say just put in the trash. Don't bring it here. They don't want to have to pay for it. So, I would like to have Oh, and by the way, um the price went from about $13 a month to $22 a month. I

know things go up, but that's a lot of money to get rid of my trash. And if I'm paying them to get rid of my trash, and I'm giving them things they can make money off of, I don't know. It just seems Okay. So, my ask I would like to have real recycling in this county. Real recycling. And I'm and the people who really care about recycling, they're willing to put white glass, blue glass, green glass, brown plastic, whatever number, cardboard broken down. They'll do it right. Um I sort of had the idea. Well, for a long time I was taking my glass over to the city when they had it at Five Points. They had that nice one bin. You put all your glass in there. That was great. Now they've locked that up and and the county can't get to taking our glass away. So I'm getting a surfet of glass again. Um, I sort of was thinking, how much time do we have? Maybe over at Robins, we could have a bin outside of uh public works where people could put their glass in at least the glass. That's glass and cardboard is sort of my biggest thing. Could we have a place where glass and cardboard and could you please review the franchise agreements and make sure that they take recycling? Thank you very much.

Our next speaker is Miss Mary Francis Row. Please come forward and state your name and address for the record, please. I am Mirror Row. I reside on 4515 Jones Lane, Lake Park, Georgia. I have talked with Commissioner Joyce Aan and also Commissioner Marshall about the paving of Green Road off the Oeller Road. I have turned in the petition to the engineer and also to signatures. We have um I have one land property owner with me today and that is Mr. Willie Jones. Commissioners, we are looking at uh paving Green Road from Old Naylor Road uh all the way down to the light pole by the Heritton's house. If we can get it paved that far, that will help most of the neighbors to get out. But if you plan on plan uh paving it differently, we'll be fine with that. Commissioners, please consider paving Green Road. Thank you all.

Thank you, ma'am. Our next speaker, it looks like Joel Dion. Is that correct? Please come forward and state your name and address for the record, please.

Good evening. My name is Joel Dion and I live at 4107 Quail Hollow Circle. Uh I'm here tonight as a resident of Foxboro and as a father. Next month I'm supposed to sign papers to purchase the house we've been living at for the past year and a half from the owner. This property backs up to the land reszoned in summer 2025 against our protest uh to M1. Part of that land is also an area deemed as conservation land including wildlife habitats along the with Luchi. uh how can such an area possibly be considered uh for the construction of a data center? I've seen the videos. I've read the stories of homeowners who had data centers move in, creating noise, light, and air pollution, drying up water resources, and becoming a burden on local communities. And now I'm terrified to purchase this house, knowing that this nightmare could become my future. What happens to my neighborhood when the data center moves next door? What happens to our natural resources, our utility bills? Will our peace and quiet give way to unnatural sounds and light? Who can we, the taxpayers, turn to for help? Will you, the commissioners, push the pause button in the form of a moratorium so we can more carefully assess what we're dealing with? Several uh Georgia counties and cities have already put a moratorium on data centers, and I strongly believe Loun County should do the same. It's by no accident that several bills have been introduced in the Georgia House, HB1012 and HB 1049 to impose a statewide moratorum. And we as a community must be proactive in this to give ourselves time to do the research uh for the long-term effects of data centers on nearby communities and natural resources. Do our current zoning laws even have a set of codes specific to data centers? um are are data centers even mentioned in our wordings for zoning and operating

standards. We must ask ourselves what are the actual benefits if any of data centers for the citizens of Lens County. Uh they offer quick financial returns for a few while the envir environmental impacts and resource consumption present significant concerns. In all the reading I've done, I've seen nothing positive from data centers that makes any sense uh in comparison to the resources and pollution created in rising utility costs. They use as much power as 100,000 homes or more, putting enormous pressure on our existing or on the existing electrical grid. And who pays for the expansion and upgrading of those grids? Data centers run 24 hours a day, seven days a week without interruption, creating noise, air, and light pollution. negatively impacting nearby wildlife and residential areas while lowering the real estate values. The rapid obsolescence also contributes contributes ever growing amounts of electronic waste and environmental waste. Health issues, stress, and sleep disturbances have been documented from areas uh surrounding data centers. Not to mention the noise pollution having having a negative effect uh on the property values of nearby homes. A recent audit by Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts also revealed that the economic impact of data centers was massively overstated. At the same time, only a handful of jobs remain once a data center has been built. Since data centers are highly automated and require a specialized workforce filled by specialists brought in from other locations as opposed to local residents, I believe it is in our best interest to instate a moratorium on data centers so that all of us have the opportunity to reflect on what's truly at stake and I sincerely hope that you can support us in this. Uh if there's members in the audience who are also deeply concerned about plans to construct a data center near Foxboro or in our region, could you please rise to show your opposition to data centers in

Loun County? No, ma'am. Everybody, please sit down. Sorry, I didn't know that was a bad thing. No, can't do that. Um, please note that uh, Loun Citizens Against Data Centers are hosting a panel discussion with experts familiar with data centers on Tuesday, February 17th at 6 PM at BSU Student Union Theater. And you are all welcome to join us. Um, thank you for your attention to this important matter. Commissioners, any other business, any discussions? Can I get a motion to adjurnn?