By Johnna Pinholster
VALDOSTA — The Valdosta City Council deliberated for almost an hour on the future of a road leading into a residential area that is adjacent to property zoned for future industrial use at Thursday’s meeting.
The conversation on an ordinance to rezone 155.83 acres from Highway Commercial to Manufacturing at the northwest corner of St. Augustine Road and Lloyd Jackson Road was approved.
The discussions leading up to the approval gave many members on council a better understanding of parliamentary procedure by senior council member Sonny Vickers, District 3.
Lloyd Jackson Road runs down the side of the property back into a neighborhood.
The conversation by the council centered around the ability of the road to support truck traffic and the right of the council to impose restrictions on the traffic down Lloyd Jackson Road.
The request to rezone the property was made by the Valdosta-Lowndes Industrial Authority.
Bill Langdale represented the authority at the meeting. He said the property was a logical expansion of the industrial park and is shovel-ready.
The property is located between two other parcels of land zoned for industrial use and located next to a four lane highway and close to Interstate 75, he said.
He also requested that the council not put conditions on the use of Lloyd Jackson Road.
Mayor John Fretti asked authority executive director Brad Lofton if there were any plans by the authority to use Lloyd Jackson Road.
Lofton said no.
Resident Terry Walker, who lives on Lloyd Jackson Road requested that the council restrict the use of the road for the future development.
“Everyone on council has said we don’t want trucks on that road,” Fretti said.
City Engineer Von Shipman said the weight limit for traffic on the road is five tons. To make the road viable for larger vehicles, major work would have to be down on the road, which would be at the discretion of the council, he said.
Tim Carroll, District 6, asked if Lloyd Jackson was part of the city’s traffic master plan.
Shipman said that the road was on the master plan to eventually become a bypass road.
John Eunice, At-Large, then made a motion to approve the rezoning with city staff handling the requirements to maintain Lloyd Jackson.
Carroll seconded the motion.
Robert Yost, District 6, then asked what the city would do to control the traffic on the road.
Shipman said staff would post signs stating the weight, five tons, which would be allowed on the road, which would be enforceable by law enforcement.
Vickers then made substitute motion with the condition that no truck traffic be allowed to use Lloyd Jackson Road.
The proper uses of a substitute motion were then briefly discussed.
Fretti said a substitute motion must first be voted up or down, and if it failed the original motion would be back on the table.
Carroll questioned whether it was fair to the residents to restrict traffic on the road when down the line the road was going to be opened up for a bypass.
The motion made by Vickers then went to vote with, Vickers, Alvin Payton Jr., District 4 and Mayor Pro Tem Willie T. Head, District 2, voting in favor.
Carroll, Eunice, Yost and James Wright, District 1, voted no on the substitute motion.
The first motion made by Eunice was then voted on with, Carroll, Eunice, Yost, Wright and Vickers voting in favor.
Payton and Head dissented on the motion.
In other news, council approved a request to provide approved SPLOST funding to the Valdosta-Lowndes County Airport Authority and a loan to construct airplane hangars.
The request comes after an intergovernmental agreement between the authority and the City of Valdosta and Lowndes County to use SPLOST funds for hangars was withdrawn.
The price tag on the construction is around $2.2 million. Under the new agreement the city will provide $450,000 in SPLOST funds upfront and $450,000 in SPLOST funds at the end of construction
The county has yet to vote on whether or not to partner in the project at a cost of $900,000.
The remaining funds, around $460,000, will be paid for through the loan approved by council. In the agreement council will provide a loan of up to $500,000 to be paid back at a five percent interest rate over eight years.
