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Diamond Dave

Banned
Mar 6, 2011
50
0
Seagrove
I think a better idea is to do away with the TDC and eliminate the bed tax!

Great Idea Roscoe P!!! Unfortunately this idea only has a few supporters at this time. Maybe more will see the light. I feel this will be a bit unpopular on this site... but thanks for posting it.
 

passin thru

Beach Fanatic
Jun 12, 2007
344
126
I think some interactive displays and videos would be great - rip currents, getting your crap off the beaches, flag system (why this is so hard for everyone to understand is beyond me, but I also don't think the fire lane is a parking space), a calender with major events, dune lakes, why one should not drive golf carts down the bike path, turtles hatching, keeping bears away from your trash, recycling program (if we ever get one), basic rules, you name it.

Love the idea of a beach debris swap and AMEN on the "no palm trees".

And I can think of nothing more satisfying than using BP money to build a renewable energy building with any provided staff cars in the parking lot hybrids!

Good ideas!
 

Dawn

Beach Fanatic
Oct 16, 2008
1,203
519
The TDC has been negotiating with the Florida Forest Service to relocate their administrative offices, conference room, welcome center, etc. to an 11.9 acre section of the Pt. Washington State Forest. It is the forest area on the south side of U.S. 98 and 331 intersection. The actual development will encompass approximately 8 acres. The TDC is seeking a 50 year lease at a dollar a year.


The Executive Director of the TDC, Dawn Moliterno, will be making a presentation to the TDC Advisory Council on Tuesday, March 13th at 9 AM at the TDC offices.


She will also be making a presentation to the county commissioners at their regularly scheduled public meeting on Tuesday, March 13th beginning at 4PM at the courthouse in South Walton.


Both the Advisory Council and the County Commissioners are being asked to approve "working terms" with Forestry. I have provided a copy of the "Memorandum of Working Terms" which will be presented at both meetings. (See below) You can also see some renderings and other documents on the proposed development -
http://www.co.walton.fl.us/DocumentView.aspx?DID=4223



The land the TDC wants to develop is public land which has been placed in conservation. It is part of the habitat which makes up the Pt. Washington State Forest. This proposal would obviously remove at least 8 acres from that habitat. Up until now, there has been no presentation on other potential sites. There are various issues with the proposed forest site including a previous Settlement Agreement, the Forestry Management Plan for the PWSF, etc. as well as the overarching issue of further fragmenting the forest for county needs for which there could be other alternatives.


I apologize for this short notice but I wanted to make sure this items was on the agenda before we sent out a Member Alert. If you are interested in the forest and its role in our community, please try to attend both of these meetings. If you cannot attend both, please try to make the County Commission meeting at 4PM to hear the presentation.


Anita Page
SWCC Executive Director


DRAFT
MEMORANDUM OF WORKING TERMS
To: Walton County Board of County Commissioners, and
Walton County Tourist Development Council


From: Dawn Moliterno
Executive Director, Walton County Tourist Development Council


Dated: March 5, 2012


In re: Working Terms for Negotiation with State of Florida - Forestry
Per the recommendation and approval of the BCC, the Tourist Development Council (“TDC”) has been working cooperatively with Forestry Services to develop working terms on the new South Walton Discovery Center. The TDC recommendation (TDC Advisory Council meeting April 28, 2011 motion; Make a formal recommendation to relocate the TDC building to the south side of 331 and 98, enter negations to acquire property from the Division of Forestry, and to build a building that matches the brand including meeting all building codes, ADA and staffing to support the visitors experience - Passed unanimously) has guided the discussions and resulted in a net benefit to visitors and public alike.


In our conversations with Forestry Services, certain general terms have been identified as possible terms for an agreement between the County and the State to bring this plan to fruition. I have included those herein for review and approval.


Both the TDC and the Board of County Commissioners need to authorize an initial set of “working terms” that can be sent to the State in a draft agreement so that the negotiations can occur, and a public process can be held.


The “working terms” are as follows:



  • The State of Florida would lease to Walton County 11.9 acres of real property located directly south of the intersection of U.S. Highway 331 and U.S. Highway 98.



  • This lease would be for a term of fifty (50) years, at a rate of one dollar ($1.00) per year. Additional terms, up to fifty (50) years each, may be agreed to by both parties.



  • The County would use approximately eight (8) acres of the total parcel to construct a new TDC Visitor Center and TDC Office Building, and related infrastructure, all of which would collaboratively serve as a nature center/nature education center, with a goal of enhancing awareness of the unique natural resources and habitats that exist in Walton County, specifically the portion of Walton County lying south of the Choctawhatchee Bay. The remaining property would be undeveloped and managed in a fashion to prevent controlled burns from crossing the property.



  • The County shall convey to the State of Florida/Forestry the existing 1.1 acre site where the existing TDC Building and Visitor Center is located, including the building itself.



  • All costs shall be borne by the County, except that the State shall be responsible for all costs associated with preparation of documents that it is required to deliver to the County (not including surveys or environmental assessments).



  • The State of Florida/Forestry shall be entitled to select the entity performing any surveying on the property to be leased to the County and the entity(s) performing the environmental assessments on either parcel of land discussed herein, with the County responsible for the costs associated therewith.


These terms shall be placed into a draft agreement of suitable form to the State, and transmitted to State to begin negotiations on these terms. This list of terms is intended to cover all substantive terms initially proposed. Additional not substantive terms, including but not limited wording, language, declarations, and recitals of present circumstance may be included in a draft agreement. No final agreement shall be executed absent approval from the Board of County Commissioners.
_____________________________​
Dawn Moliterno
 

Dawn

Beach Fanatic
Oct 16, 2008
1,203
519
http://defuniakherald.com/?p=4925

By DOTTY NIST


Plans for a new South Walton Tourist Development Council (TDC) building took a step forward on March 13 with TDC approval of working terms for the new building.


The proposed location is directly south of the U.S. 331/U.S. 98 intersection on 11.9 acres that are part of the Point Washington State Forest. The working terms are for purposes of negotiation between TDC staff and the Florida Forest Service for use of the acreage, in a process that will culminate with consideration of the proposal by Gov. Rick Scott and his Cabinet.


The cost of the facility has been estimated at $4.5 million


The tourism council approval, which was unanimous, came after considerable input by citizens attending the meeting.


Among the terms approved were that eight acres of the property would be used for construction of a new TDC visitor center, offices and related infrastructure which would “collaboratively serve as a nature center/natured education center, with a goal of enhancing awareness of the unique natural resources and habitats that exist in Walton County…” The terms call for the property to be leased for a period of 50 years at a cost of $1 per year.


For residents, a common criticism was the location, specifically the use of conservation land for the building. Others complained that the project had come too far along without sufficient notice and without the public being properly involved in the decision-making process. Some maintained that a 1999 settlement agreement in connection with the county’s acquisition of the Government and Education Center property in effect barred the 11.9-acre property from being used for this purpose. The council members were asked if alternatives had been considered for the new building.


“Why are you focused like a laser beam on this particular piece of conservation land?” asked Anita Page of the South Walton Community Council. Page asked the council members to instead authorize TDC Executive Director Dawn Moliterno to look at other property on which to locate the building, or to consider retaining the current location.


Moliterno commented that there were a number of “challenges” with the current building. One of those is that it is difficult for tourists entering south Walton County from the north on U.S. 331 to access the building. Since the four-laning of the segment of the highway south of the bay bridge, there is no curb cut on the highway providing for access to the building from U.S. 331.


Council member Maurice Gilbert, who has served on the tourism council for the past 12 years, noted that over that period various sites had been considered for a new building and had been found to be unsuitable. Gilbert maintained that there had been considerable discussion and also public hearings regarding sites that were not selected.


Gilbert said the proposed location was determined to be a “perfect” one because it would allow access not only from the south but from the east and west. He added that there are approximately 22,000 acres in south Walton County that are public forest lands. “This is a small, very strategically located parcel,” he said of the proposed site.


“We do not think the settlement agreement is violated by this,” said TDC attorney Clay Adkinson. He added that in his opinion the use of TDC bed tax funds for construction of the facility falls within allowable uses of the funds per state statutes. The state attorney general has been asked for an opinion to clarify the matter, Adkinson added.


“I personally do not support a brand new TDC center,” commented bed tax collector Eileen McDermott. She recommended that the money that would be used for the building instead go to a cultural or sports center or arena.


Jacquee Markel expressed disappointment that the public had not been asked if this was what they wanted. “This is the people’s forest,” she said. “I don’t want to see a big monument to tourism when I come over that bridge,” she said.


There was a suggestion by one attendee that the use of parcel be mitigated by putting other property into conservation.


Mary Nielson urged the TDC to put off a decision on the working terms due to “significant community objections and issues brought forward,” including the question being examined by the attorney general.


“I don’t think you should do a darn thing today about that parcel today,” she advised.


“We have been talking about this for a very long time,” said TDC member Stephen Hilliard. Hilliard said he was truly sorry if the public had felt “left out” of the process, but that the proposal to use this parcel had been under discussion by the council for over a year.


Hilliard said the TDC members see “attracting and serving” visitors as their mission, and that they believe the proposed location is the best one from which to do that. He also commented on the importance of educating visitors to appreciate south Walton County’s natural features as was envisioned with the new facility.


The current TDC building is on property under a 50-year lease to the county by the Florida Forest Services at the same rate proposed for the new lease. The approved working terms call for the existing site and the building to be transferred to the forest service for offices.


Also approved by unanimous vote at the meeting was an RFP for architectural services for the new facility. Public meetings are to be held locally to obtain input on the proposed building and features to be included with the facility.


Since the TDC is an advisory board to the Walton County Board of County Commissioners (BCC), these approvals were set for consideration by the BCC at its next meeting, which was scheduled for 4 p.m., also on March 13.
 

Dawn

Beach Fanatic
Oct 16, 2008
1,203
519
In response to concerns about a lack of public input, residents can weigh in next month on a proposal to build a multimillion-dollar welcome center in Walton County.


The proposed South Walton Discovery Center would be located on 11.9 acres in the Point Washington State Forest south of the intersection of U.S. Highways 98 and 331.


The county’s Tourist Development Council has been pursuing a new welcome center for years since it outgrew its current home on 1.1 acres of state forest land on the northeast corner of the intersection.


See the materials submitted to the County Commission on the proposal. »


The existing center also has become difficult to access since U.S. 331 was widened to four lanes. Drivers headed south on U.S. 331 now have to head east on U.S. 98 for a half mile and make a U-turn to get to the building.


“As a result, our visitation numbers have plummeted,” said Dawn Moliterno, the TDC’s executive director.


Last week, Moliterno asked county commissioners to approve terms for a draft agreement with the Florida Forest Service for the new site.


Commissioner Scott Brannon laid out the terms in a Jan. 24 letter to the Forest Service.


The state would lease the land to the county for 50 years at $1 a year.


In exchange, the county would relinquish the donated state forest land it now uses and give the building, valued at $500,000, to the Forest Service for administrative offices.


The new center, which still is in the conceptual design phase, could cost between $4 million and $6 million, Moliterno said.


The TDC would pay for the center with reserve bed tax dollars that have been set aside for the project.


Commissioners did not grant approval of the terms at their meeting March 13. Instead, they voted to hold a public hearing on the issue on April 10.


Commissioner Kenneth Pridgen requested that the board schedule the hearing in response to several residents’ concerns that a hearing to specifically address the issue had not yet been held.


Last June, commissioners voted unanimously to give the TDC authority to pursue the location, but the resolution was added to the agenda at the meeting and was not advertised to the public.


Anita Page with the South Walton Community Council said after a commission meeting last month that she was concerned a deal for the project was being hammered out without public input.


She said county officials had told her several times that a hearing would be held, and she was surprised to find that so many details had been drafted before one was scheduled.


Moliterno said the TDC Advisory Council has been discussing the proposal for a year-and-a-half. She said council members unanimously approved the working terms at their meeting March 13.


At that meeting, council members were appreciative of residents’ concerns, but felt there had been ample opportunity for public input, she said.


The new headquarters would serve as a visitors center as well as a nature center with boardwalks through the forest, educational kiosks and a connection to the Longleaf Greenway Trail.


The proposal also includes office space and a conference room for TDC staff.


Buildings and parking would take up about eight acres. The rest of the land would be managed to prevent controlled burns from crossing onto the parcel, according to Brannon’s letter.


Moliterno said if commissioners agree to the working terms and give approval for her to seek architectural bids, she can formally begin the process for state approval.


Once agreements have been drafted, they will be brought back before the TDC Advisory Council and county commissioners, she said.


“This is a journey,” she said. “We have a long way to go. This is not the beginning or the end.”
 

Dawn

Beach Fanatic
Oct 16, 2008
1,203
519
At the intersection of Highway 98 and 331, a battle is brewing.


A 12-acre parcel of the 15,399-acre Point Washington State Forest is being considered as the site of the new welcome/Discovery Center for the South Walton Tourist Development Council.


“It’s a real nature center, and we want to put in a concrete parking lot and put up a ‘nature center,’ ” said Bonnie McQuiston of the Walton County Taxpayers Association.


The need for the new building, according to TDC Executive Director Dawn Moliterno, is the result of a building analysis that revealed some problems with the existing TDC facility across the street. Moliterno maintains the TDC has outgrown the existing center and it has also become difficult to access since U.S. 331 was widened to four lanes. Subsequently, the number of visitors to the center has “plummeted.”




“It will allow us to create a visitor center that matches the brand and destination and create an inviting environment,” Moliterno said. “Moreover, it will address the many challenges that came out of the current building analysis. It will also allow us to highlight our many natural assets unique to Walton County like the forest, coastal dune lakes, native habitat and animals such as sea turtles.”


Today, the longleaf pine ecosystem is seen as the sixth most biodiverse ecosystem on the planet, but due to development, only 2 percent is still in existence.


Because of this, Topsail Hill and Point Washington State Forest ranked, by the Florida Land Acquisition and Management Advisory Council, in the top 100 places to be protected in Florida — with Topsail being in the top three and Point Washington ranking at 55. But this is not the first time the forest has created dissension between those who wish to preserve it and those who wish to build on it.


“We have an over 20-year history dealing with issues in Walton County,” said Manley Fuller, president of the Florida Wildlife Federation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that aims to conserve, preserve, and protect Florida’s natural resources.





Beginnings


Disputes over the land have periodically flared up since 1992, but the source of the strife can be traced to the 1920s, when the St. Joe Paper Company took ownership of the 20,000 acres of longleaf pine ecosystem from Edward Ball.


“It was never real valuable property for them because it was so far from the paper mill,” said Celeste Cobena of the environmental watchdog group Beach to Bay Connection. “It was never really harvested and cut over, and because of that, the longleaf forest basically remained intact.”


The forest became a plat of interest in the 1970s, when the then-18,000 acres was acquired by Emerald Coast Joint Ventures from St. Joe.


The story goes that, years after the acquisition, the group went bankrupt, leaving the land in a state of foreclosure.


But, in what would determine the fate of the forest for future generations, “On May 19, 1992, an auction was held on the steps of the Walton County Courthouse,” said Cobena. “George Wilson, with the Nature Conservancy, stepped up and won the land.”


The Nature Conservancy is a nonprofit conservation organization with satellite offices throughout the world. The conservancy partners with governmental agencies, companies, other nonprofits, and local populations to protect natural resources.


With a price tag of $1.2 million taxpayer dollars, the state took over ownership of the wooded land. And the struggle for its future began.





A history of conflict


The tug of war over nature versus infrastructure culminated in 1997, when there was a heated forum at Butler Elementary. Heated, not just because the air conditioner at the time was out, but also because the over 500 people gathered were incensed that the county wanted to acquire 3,000-plus acres of the forest land for development, not for recreation and conservation.


“Citizen after citizen got up, all with the same message: Don’t sell it! Don’t give it away!” said Cobena. “People were stomping, beating on tables.”


“It was an eight- to 10-year fight,” remembered McQuiston. “It took a lot to save what we have.”


The very next year, the county revised its proposal, cutting the request down to hundreds, rather than thousands, of acres.


“Then (Walton County commissioners) made a proposal for a 420-acre town center in 1998. We filed a lawsuit for that. It had clear conservation value. We lost at that time, but we contended that it would be an unconstitutional disposal of state conservation lands,” said Fuller.


Ultimately, the county government’s request for thousands of acres was whittled down to 420, around 110 usable, and the rest promised as conservation land. This is now the site of the Coastal Branch Library, the Walton County Courthouse Annex, and the South Walton Campus of Northwest Florida State College.


The land again became an issue in 2004, when the South Walton Fire Department pondered trying to run a road through the forest to make speedier rescues. Critics contended that the proposed road was very closer to the actual emergency corridor and would save little time. The plan was ultimately voted down.


And, while McQuiston uses the past tense in saying, “We fought the good fight for many, many years,” the fight continues today.





‘The precedent is huge’


Now, with the South Walton TDC eying a small parcel on which to put their 12,000-square-foot Discovery Center, the gloves are back on. Though the acreage is but a small portion of the thousands of acres of forest, to conservation groups it is significant for what it represents.


“The precedent is huge. Natural resources are what draw the tourists,” said Anita Page of the South Walton Community Council. “Buildings, we’re always going to have. The forest… it’s finite. It’s not going to expand.”


Earthjustice, an environmental law firm connected with the Florida Wildlife Federation, is planning to submit a formal letter, detailing why using a parcel of this land violates the conservation initiative.


“You can’t sell land that was bought with bonded dollars as state conservation land,” said Fuller of the proposed development.


“This preservation land is a promise,” said McQuiston, “to the people of Florida, especially Walton County.”


But for now, those against the land acquisition are waiting for the county’s move.


“We have sued Walton County on multiple occasions, I hope we never have to do it again, but if we have to we will,” said Fuller.
 

Abby Prentiss

Beach Fanatic
May 17, 2007
577
123
TDC Director Dawn Moliterno reviewed the process and how the county has come to the point of planning for moving the TDC Center to south of U.S. 98. After a lengthy time of public input, from a packed house, Commissioner Larry Jones said one aspect he has not heard from is the Forestry Service. Jones made a motion to continue the public hearing to May 8[SUP]th[/SUP] to allow for the Florida Forest Service to attend.
 
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