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SoWal Staff

Serving the Community!
Staff member
Apr 14, 2006
3,835
511
South Walon, FL
SoWal.com
Informational meeting set for Thursday July 14th, 5:30pm at Counts Real Estate Office on 30A in front of Old Florida Fish House.


This is the information passed to us who asks all who care about South Walton please attend.


The county approved a building on Eastern Lake next to Old Florida Fish House based on an 12-year-old expired development order. When the DO was issued 12 years ago, this was one parcel. The first building was completed and did not meet the parking requirements so they got a parking reduction based on not building the second building (the building that is now proposed). A few years later the property was sold and the new owner did a lot split. A few years after that, this new parcel, the parcel next to Eastern Lake was sold. So now it again has new owners on a new parcel.

So the new owners went to the county and said they had the right to build on this based on a DO 12 years ago. So they have a expired DO, on a parcel that does not exist, next to a coastal dune lake inside a retention pond with no parking. The county approved without any public notice. The Coastal Dune Lake Advisory Board, advised against this approval.

During this process, he put on his application that his parcel was 1.9 acres, it is approx .7 acre. He put on his application that he has 42 parking spaces, he has 10. This was all brought up at the TRC meeting (which we have a transcript from), the question was asked how many parking places are required and were told 42, then asked how many provided, and they said 42.

This was all after the current owners of the adjacent property told the TRC committee that those 32 parking places he put down as his, certainly are not, and they are not allowed to park in those spaces. Those spaces, on a separate parcel with a separate parcel number are for the condo owners, both residential and commercial.

His parking spaces number 10, period. And as far as those 10 spaces go, there is not a handicap spot. So he should be required to add a handicap spot, reducing his spots to 9, when he adds a dumpster for his new business, it will reduce his spots to 8. This area is congested and there is not enough parking now, adding this will worsen an already bad situation.

There are flooding concerns, the area already floods and this building will add to the problem.

The building is not adhering to the coastal dune lake 25% requirements. This parcel has already been disturbed above the 25%, when asked at the TRC meeting if they were adhering to these requirements, they were told yes, even though the committee was told and shown this not to be the case.

He applied for and received a commercial dock permit for Eastern Lake.

The Administrative appeal is scheduled for July 28th at the county building on 331. He is starting construction on his building next week.
 

Truman

Beach Fanatic
Apr 3, 2009
650
270
Certainly an expired DO is dead. You'd have to start all over. I am against any development on any coastal dune lake.
 

Garner

Beach Fanatic
The entire parcel is within the Coastal Dune Lake Protection Zone (300' from Eastern Lake). The planning department determined that this constituted a "less than minor" development and the approval was done at the Technical Review Committee. It never went to the planning commission at all.
 

Dawn

Beach Fanatic
Oct 16, 2008
1,203
519
The entire parcel is within the Coastal Dune Lake Protection Zone (300' from Eastern Lake). The planning department determined that this constituted a "less than minor" development and the approval was done at the Technical Review Committee. It never went to the planning commission at all.


Are you for this development?

Smells stinky to me.
 

Garner

Beach Fanatic
Here is a link to the tax assessor map:
Attached is a .pdf showing the Coastal Dune Lake Protection Zone as well as the plans for the building;
I'm pretty sure it was heard at the May Technical Review Committee meeting but did not appear on the agenda and the minutes have not been published. I just went to the Walton County website and can't find it on the agendas. However, I was there, so I know it happened. The applicant was there with his attorney Gary Shipman and Jill McDonald, owner of Old Florida Fish House was there with her attorney David Pleat. There was also a court reporter present. Jill is in opposition to the development due to flooding / drainage and parking issues. The plans call for a two story building utilizing some of the land that was to be the drainage / retention basin for the development. I spoke at the meeting on behalf of Eastern Lake. There is no way that this development can be good for the lake and it doesn't comply with the Protection Zone.
The meeting this Thursday will be an informational meeting to educate neighbors as to what is getting ready to happen. Jill has been trying to fight this and it was supposed to have been heard in a formal appeal hearing several weeks ago, but it got delayed. At this point, there are building materials on the site so the developer is ready to go. I have no idea who will be utilizing the commercial space in the building. The hope is that enough people will attend and vocalize their concerns so that this development will be halted.
 

Attachments

  • Eastern Lake Village map.pdf
    74.3 KB · Views: 215
  • OLeary plans May 2016.pdf
    383.6 KB · Views: 152

LarsAtTheBeach

Beach Fanatic
Jul 19, 2008
704
326
Question?...
What happens to all the buildings currently on properties within the lake buffer zone? Like the restaurant and the homes?
Some are in the buffer zone and are not lakefront. What happens to those?
Are they slated for demolition so the buffer zone can be restored?
 
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