From Walton Sun Walton County may be growing too fast for infrastructure to keep up. In a letter received last week addressed to the Planning Department, the Department of Community Affairs said Walton County should refrain from making any more land use amendments until the Evaluation and Appraisal Report, which outlines progress in the county?s Comprehensive Plan, has been approved by DCA officials. The DCA expressed concerned about Walton County?s residential development. With increased urban sprawl, the county does not have the ability to provide urban facilities. ?This is a huge roadblock for land use issues in the next six to 18 months,? Blackshear said. Blackshear believes that the DCA was not referring to small-scale amendments, 10 acres or less. However, the county could not process any large land use amendments until EAR has been completed, explained Tita Sokolff, long-range planner, said. Blackshear will discuss the matter further with DCA and return to the board with more information at the BCC?s Feb. 14 meeting at the South Walton Annex. ________________________ At least every 7 years, counties are required by state law to do an EAR. The purpose of the EAR is for the County to assess how its Comprehensive plan is working and to amend the Comprehensive Plan as necessary. The new Comprehensive Plan should incorporate a vision for the future. Walton County?s EAR was due in August of 2006. According to the State, it takes, on the average, 15 to 24 months for counties to do an EAR and submit it to the State for review. Walton County, however, has not even gotten started on the evaluation process. At this point, the County cannot do a comprehensive EAR and make the deadline of August, 2006. Therefore, the County has received permission from the State to do a ?mini Ear? to be followed by a full EAR at a future date. The mini EAR will result in proposed additions to or deletions from our existing Comprehensive Plan. It will not be an exhaustive revision of the law. Instead, the County will choose certain topics which it feels need immediate attention and process those issues through the mini EAR.
