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Elephant Child

Beach Lover
Aug 11, 2010
183
1
It is obvious the writer of the article does not live in one of these "wedding destination" neighborhoods. She seems to have distain for those of us who live here year round, have invested fortunes to own a special home in the area, wanting to have peace and quiet in their neighborhoods. She implies that we are few in number...I beg to differ with her...
 

WaltonIsOne

Beach Lover
Nov 14, 2009
88
40
Walton County, FL
I still don't understand why existing noise/parking/etc. ordinances are not sufficient to keep wedding parties from infringing on neighbors rights to quiet and peaceful enjoyment of their own properties.

A friend of mine who lives in Walton County served as a police officer for 30 years before retiring here. From his perspective, he believes that the real problem here is that when someone violates the noise, parking, and disturbing the peace ordinances are "civil" infractions as opposed to "criminal" law violations.

His view is that the Sheriff's department in Walton County is forced to focus on public safety, driver safety, and criminal law enforcement due to the fact that there are just not enough resources for deputies to be running all over the county and issuing parking tickets and noise ordinance violations for every event going on in the county on or off season.

He could be right.

This could be a situation where the county has existing laws that could be enforced, but not enough county "governance" committment or available county budget resources to do so.

This is the same problem the county has regarding beach ordinance enforcement. This is why we often see glass bottles on the beach, etc..
 

WaltonIsOne

Beach Lover
Nov 14, 2009
88
40
Walton County, FL
One must wonder how this new "version" of the proposed ordinance is supposed to rid the county of noise, parking, littering, and the disturbance of the peace issues that were originally voiced by those property owners who were living near "event houses" and other rentals that were holding "private" weddings and other gatherings.

This issue still comes down to the need for the county to enforce existing noise, parking, littering and disturbing the peace ordinances and the allocation of resources to do so.

This current version of the legislation does nothing more than regulate business occupancies and short term rental occupancies while generating county fee income versus addressing the real problem. The problem being the county's inability to enforce the current laws.

Maybe a new version of an ordinance needs to be written that simply states the county government's affirmation that local law enforcement, code enforcement, and the fire marshall will enforce the laws under their departments' jurisdiction to ensure the "peaceful enjoyment" of one's property.

Then the county should dedicate personnel and funds to enforce these existing laws using funds already contained within the TDC's current budget. Of course it would be necessary to cut other TDC expenses to make these funds available.
 

lenzoe

Beach Fanatic
Section 7. Posting of the Certificate and Fee

A. Issuance of the Certificate of Land Use Compliance shall be the responsibility of the Director of Planning and Development Services. Proof of ownership and proof of registration for transient tax (if applicable) shall be provided with the application.

Question: What is "transient tax"? Is that the bed tax?

I don't really understand the reason for this certificate business. Is this the county's method of trying to ensure its getting bed tax from short-term rentals? If so, I don't see that this would help. The owners that are currently paying their taxes (we are among those) will continue to do so. The ones that aren't won't be lining up to go apply for a certificate in the first place. This just makes the ones paying the taxes and following the rules have to jump through more paperwork hoops. Why?
 

Matt J

SWGB
May 9, 2007
24,646
9,496
So it finally comes out that this is just a way for the county to make additional money off of already cash strapped tourists.

Attention County Officials:

This takes money out of local businesses and in turn out of locals pockets.

Good thing they laid off all those folks from the Planning Department, now they'll be hiring in cronies to process all of the permits.

I don't want to get her sucked in or state an opinion, but I wonder if ShallowsNole could post exactly how many known rental units there are in South Walton?
 

Kurt

Admin
Staff member
Oct 15, 2004
2,233
4,925
SoWal
mooncreek.com
from WZEP AM


Commissioner Continue To Address Rentals and Use

Is the business operating on your property the type of business allowed for the property when the development permit was approved? The Walton Commissioners have been considering a measure that would require businesses to register with the county so the government and emergency services know what is going on where.

The commissioners started the effort after deciding a business needs to be operating in the right land use, but they did not want to have a county wide business license like cities such as DeFuniak Springs. This also started a question about short term rentals where a business such as wedding events take place in a home developed as a residential unit. The effort also questioned if the registration should be just south of the bay or the whole county, if it should include all business and commercial enterprises such as agriculture and churches or should some be exempt.

At their recent meeting, Commissioner Sara Comander said she has been working on the issue for several years and hoped the two sides could come together, but after threatening emails, she decided they needed to take another approach. She said they should look at Land Use Compliance registration and at the short term rentals, separating the two issues. Comander also asked to work with the sheriff and bring back the noise ordinance. Walton has a noise ordinance, but it is not always being enforced due to training, equipment and other factors. Commissioner Kenneth Pridgen asked about state statutes and how the county could better enforce regulations.

Commissioner Scott Brannon said they need to look at enforcement, noting both the Sheriff’s Office and Code Enforcement will be used and their work should be defined. Commissioner Cecilia Jones said they need someone to work weekends and to be on-call at night. She said some know what they can get away with on the weekend. Comander agreed, saying the problem is both north and south of the bay. Acting County Administrator Gerry Demers said they have worked on the weekend and found it is more effective to work on Monday after the mess.

Brannon talked about noise, saying the Board needs to consider the problem and how to address it, even on the weekend. He said the fines they levy are considered by some to be a cost of doing business. Brannon asked to find a way to make it effective without overlapping what the Sheriff’s Office is doing. The sheriff has offered to send a deputy out with Code Enforcement. Jones noted the county has been down the noise ordinance path several times and needs to decide what they want. Jones said the Sheriff and Code Enforcement need to have a good document to enforce.

The ordinance would require all businesses in the county, other than home occupation, register to make sure the business is in compliance with the land use. Commissioners agreed to move forward, but took out section five, separating the short term rentals. The ordinance includes silver culture and agriculture. Commissioners said they are not trying to regulate, only wanting to know what is going on in the county since there are no business licenses. This means if you live in a residential area and operate a business, the county wants to know.

Sheriff Mike Adkinson said he deals with the symptoms of the problem. He told commissioners a problem is, if they go to a complaint such as a loud party, then they can give a warning, but not cite due to the owner not being there. He offered to help by using deputies and providing office space for Code Enforcement. Adkinson said they have to address the problem when it happens.
 
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