Industrial Park drainage issues addressed

Published 2:42 am Tuesday, December 6, 2005

VALDOSTA — Problems with water drainage in the Lake Park Industrial Park were brought before the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority Tuesday evening.

Ben Futch of Super Cooker and his attorney, Converse Bright, presented the serious problems Futch is having with water not draining properly off the land he purchased earlier this year from the Authority in the park.

Bright showed enlarged photos to the Authority clearly depicting a parking lot completely underwater, water lapping up next to the building and overflowing drainage ditches. Bright said the land was engineered with assistance from the Authority as well as the county and its engineer.

“His investment is prejudiced. The whole area is too low and he’s being drowned,” said Bright.

When the property was developed, Futch was advised that the runoff problem could be corrected by lowering a culvert, but when the county attempted to do so, they discovered a sewer line underneath and the culvert could not be lowered to the degree necessary to fix the issue.

Now the parking lot pavement is tearing up and the concrete slab on the building is starting to crumble, according to Bright. “A customer of your Authority who has developed in your park is drowning.”

Bright said Futch is requesting the Authority purchase the land back from him and facilitate helping him develop possibly in another area.

After much discussion concerning the best course of action and what the Authority could do to assist Futch, Authority Chairman Jerome Tucker and Executive Director Ken Garren stated they would help Futch approach the county to see if there was any potential relief from an engineering standpoint and pledged to help resolve the issue.

A plan to re-engineer the industrial park to address the water issues was presented by Bill Kent of ASA Engineering. The two-phase project would provide a retention pond and better drainage. The first phase was bid out with Roundtree Construction having the lowest bid of $51,982. No motion was made to accept the bid at this time.

It was agreed that the improvements would have only a “minimal” impact on the Super Cooker property and would not alleviate all of the issues.

In other business, Garren discussed several current prospects the Authority is working with as well as other prospects interested in learning more about the community.

The Authority will be presenting a detailed slide show to a group of project managers in Atlanta on Dec. 2 and will host the director of the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism on Dec. 8 in town.

On Dec. 2, a group of community leaders will also attend the presentation to answer questions and issues, representing the leadership of the county, city, educational institutions, and the chamber of commerce.

The presentation is designed to acquaint project managers from the various state departments and utility companies involved in industrial recruitment to Georgia with Valdosta and Lowndes County, and all the new metropolitan area has to offer.



To contact Business Editor Kay Harris, call 244-3400, ext. 280.