VALDOSTA a The Childrenas Advocacy Center has taken another step toward its goal of helping more abuse victims with an approved rezoning request for the organizationas proposed new site of operation on Skipper Bridge Road.

The Lowndes County Commission voted to approve the CACas request to rezone about one acre of land from residential-agricultural to office-institutional at the commission meeting Tuesday.

aThe main motivation behind the request,a according to documents, ais to allow for the relocation from their existing main office a to a newly constructed facility on the subject property.a

The land originally belonged to the Vallotton family of Valdosta who donated it to the CAC following a 2015 call of communal support for the county to win a Community Development Block Grant from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.

The block grant required applicants have a dedicated parcel of land, officials said.

The GDCA awarded Lowndes County the $500,000 grant earmarked for a new 4,300-square-foot CAC facility.A

The organization had outgrown its Moore Street facility and sought new land in order to serve both an ever-growing number of abuse victims and law-enforcement officials in Lowndes, Cook, Lanier and Echols counties.A

During the public participation portion of the meeting, no one spoke in opposition of the CACas request and one person, CAC Board Member Lee Tarpley, spoke in favor of the request.

Tarpley took less than a minute to thank the commission for its support while the CAC sought the GDCAas grant and to thank the Vallotton family for its donation.

County Commissioner Joyce Evans recused herself from the vote because she is a CAC board member.

Jason Stewart is a reporter for the Valdosta Daily Times