Small Town News

Eleventh-hour EAR concerns raised at planning commission

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Members of the planning commission came together last month for what they assumed was the purpose of putting the final touches on the conservation element of the Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR) which has been under discussion and public workshops for the past several months. Instead, they were somewhat blindsided when Gerry Demers, director of development services announced he felt the detailed and specific requirements contained in the conservation element of the Comprehensive Plan should be moved to the Land Development Code (LDC).

A memo to the planning commission stated, "The complexity and detail that is being presented in the Conservation Element of the EAR is of great concern to me and my staff. The Comprehensive Plan, once approved by the State, must be strictly adhered to with no exceptions or deviations. For this reason, most counties in Florida have a Comprehensive Plan accepted by the State that is general and simple in nature. The specifics of how the policies in the Comp Plan will be carried out and the details of what the standards will be are contained in the Land Development Code, a document that can be changed by adopting local ordinances."

Commissioner Tom Patton jumped on the bandwagon saying, "I'm concerned about our ability to enforce much of the comp plan. I think it is a great idea to move most of this to the LDC."

Demers noted county ordinances could be adjusted to make sure they are in the LDC. "I've heard the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) will not accept it, but surrounding counties have a general conservation element in the comp plan and they reference the county LDC for specifics," he said. Demers provided the commissioners with specific sections of the conservation element he felt should be moved.

"I ask the planning commission to provide direction to the staff to move the detailed and specific requirements out of the conservation element and place them in the LDC, if they are not already there. If you do not think it is within your authority to direct the staff in this direction, I ask that you make a recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) that they provide staff with additional guidance in this matter."

Chairman Tom Terrell commented, "Due to the complexity of what I am looking at, I don't see how we can make a decision on this during this meeting. I think we need to study this a bit further."

Patton added, "I think we should discuss the conservation element that we have been studying for a week and allow the public to express themselves."

Terrell continued, "The public is all holding the same document we have. I'm very confused on some of what we have here, but I think it needs to be discussed at another meeting."

"It is a little disconcerting saying I have one document representing this point of view and another document representing a different point of view."

--Randy Gardner, planning commissioner Randy Gardner went straight to the heart of the matter saying, "My confusion is why this was presented to the planning commission tonight, rather than working with Pat's group." Gardner was referring to Pat Blackshear, long range planning director whose staff drafted the document.

Demers answered, saying, "Pat feels as if she has been mandated by the BCC to work the EAR as she has."

Blackshear said, "We had a specific scope of work we were to address as directed by the planning commission and confirmed by the BCC and that is what we did."

"It is a little disconcerting saying I have one document representing this point of view and another document representing a different point of view," Gardner noted.

Terrell said, "I was going to suggest we take Demers' information and that we pass this along until the next meeting and try to analyze some of it and come back and discuss it." However Patton disagreed saying, "I don't think we need to be put in the position of comparing documents."

Terrell tried to clarify by saying, "Are you telling us to tell Demers and Pat to work it out between them as there are obviously some conflicts? Are we asking them to go over all aspects of the conservation element and come back with some compromise? I think we need a third person to oversee the talks. I would feel more comfortable if we had someone closely associated with the county commissioners involved in this. I know Pat has received direction from the BCC in certain areas, as has Demers."

While both factions expressed respect for the opposing points of views, there was palpable tension in the room. Terrell then asked assistant county administrator Shirl Williams, who was in attendance, and local land use attorney Ken Goldberg to mediate the discussion between Blackshear and Demers and come back to the next meeting with a cleaned-up document.

Patton said, "The conservation element has the potential to affect people's property rights."

Bob Hudson, president of the Walton County Taxpayers Association said, "I came tonight because the taxpayers association installed a hotline for people to call. Over the last three weeks the line has lit up like a pinball machine over the EAR process. From the calls, we know many of the callers are county employees. It appears we are going about this in a totally different way and at a cost that is astronomical compared to other counties. Just looking at the legal billing says a lot. What I just heard occur tonight adds credence to what the taxpayers are talking about. What I heard suggests there are two ways to look at this. What I want to know is what this will cost? If we are implementing an overly cumbersome system we need to take a look at it for when development starts again."

Jacquee Markel commented, "I want to say with all due respect to Demers and Hudson we have spent months working on this and thoughtfully put protection into place to protect what we have. If we are more restrictive than other counties, I say good for us. To think that we are now going to dumb it down a bit does not sit well with me."

Terrell responding saying, "We want to make it clear this is not an effort to put aside what we have done for the last six months. We need to look at the entirety of it."

Commissioner Patton made a motion to have the county remove language duplicating service regarding wetland protection being overseen by other agencies. All passed the motion.

The final motion, also made by Patton, asked the staff to develop a policy to allow upland retaining walls with rip rap landward of the normal mean high water line on Choctawhatchee Bay. Again, all passed this motion.

Leah Stratmann can be contacted at leahwrites@ gmail.com

"The complexity and detail that is being presented in the Conservation Element of the EAR is of great concern to me and my staff."

Gerry Demers, director of development services division of the planning department



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© 2010 The DeFuniak Springs Herald DeFuniak Springs, Florida. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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