BMBV: Report please...?
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The chain effect is under way. Jason Bryan, County Planner in charge of this project, recommended approval of the project. Planning Commissioner, Tom Patton said that he adds the most weight to the recommendation of our fine Planning Staff. A few people spoke against the proposal, two of whom are attorneys representing clients in the area. I thought that one of our SoWallers was most elequent of all. The last gentleman who spoke against the project wasn't even there for this particular topic, but he spoke against what he thought was obviously wrong. Other people said it in general terms of non-compatibility, but he was more specific in saying the Redfish Village was most like a commercial property with potential rentors coming in every week. When they use this access, it then becomes a commercial extension of the higher density property, however, it is not commercially zoned. He went on to say that once Redfish Village uses this access for financial gain of the commercial property, this private access is considered by County Code to be Commercial property, which it is not zoned for. It is zoned as NPA-Infill -- (Neighborhood Planning Area) which doesn't allow for any commercial uses.
It was obvious that Jason Bryan's speech was well rehearsed, but he was nervous as heck trying to say that it was compatible with code. I wouldn't doubt that someone else helped him write that speech.
The Planning Comm. kindly listened to the public, but they were all suddenly & shockingly silent when the last gentleman spoke (because he caught them with their pants down). He just explained their own code to the Planning Comm. However, they had already made up their mind, and didn't hear anything that was enough to make them change their mind.
It's a small town.
Next step will be for this to go to the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) to seek their approval. They are the next link in the chain. Unless people come out in droves, you should expect the BCC to either table the item, or say that they rely heavily on the Planning Comm, and since they recommended approval, they will likely approve it without raising an eyebrow. Comm. Meadows or Comm. Jones will likely insist that the developer improve the sidewalks to the public access from Redfish Village.
Brad Pickel -- question: The developer of Redfish Village says that they are donating $50,000 to the TDC to go toward building a bathroom at the 83 access, but that the TDC does not have to use those funds to build the bathroom or even use the funds for the 83 public access. What is up with that? Can you speak on where and how these donated funds will be used? It seems to me that since the impact will be on that area, the funds should be used on improving that area. I would love to see restrooms at some of these major public beach access points.
