Eastern Lake Commercial Development With Expired Development Order - meeting 7/14/16

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.