Seems like regular people and businesses have a lot of guidelines and restrictions on keeping SoWal scenic but utility companies do whatever they want no matter how atrocious - flags, markers, poles, stakes, boxes, barriers, fences, trash, wires.... So much stuff in plain sight that people overlook but it adds up to making a place a mess. And then there is the giant obvious honking stuff ... like this "welcome to grayton beach" lovely spot on SCENIC 283 ... how hard would it be to leave a 25 foot buffer of natural vegetation? Or add it now? A wall of Leland Cypress works wonders and require no maintenance.
The power station has been there a long time, hasn't it?? Was it put in before the scenic highway designation? As far as the wires in the above picture, that is possibly the worst thing I've ever seen.
That power station on 283 near Grayton is better looking than most of the new mini-hotel jumbo rental houses that are popping up everywhere!
Is un-scenic a grandfather issue? Speaking of poop lift stations - what a brilliant idea to place them right beside the road at the entrance to a community. unsightly and stinky in one fowl swoop.
If you like having electricity in Grayton and Seagrove, it probably is. Honestly, I am on those roads all the time and never really notice it is over there. Not that there is any great place for a lift station, but entering Point Washington on 395 and also Bay Drive / East Point Washington Road are hard to ignore.
So if we require Chelco to add a landscape wall in front of their installations we won't get our lectricity?
I really think a landscape wall is a bit snobby (which is what everyone says about all of us down here anyway) and a silly waste of money, but feel free to get on the agenda of one of Chelco's Board of Trustees meetings. You may want to not be selective though and request one for every power station in Walton County. Make sure you leave an easement so they can work on it if needed.
How do you feel about the scenic county parking lot next to it? It's a lot bigger and uglier than the power station. How about the scenic clearcutting on 395 without leaving a buffer? How about that new scenic 40 foot tall 4000 square foot monster rental house that's 14 feet from your little beach house? What rules are you talking about that would prevent these type of scenic catastrophes?
In regards to the power substation's lack of landscaping, I would think from a security standpoint that there needs to be visibility 24/7 from the road. What about vandalism or something worse? As for buffer landscaping on most other buildings along 30A this would great. If you have been to Hilton Head Island then you know how aesthetically pleasing this is.
Yes it is, and I believe the Board still has monthly meetings. My father was on Chelco's Board in the early 1980's and it may have changed since then.
OK I am going to live up to my signature but here goes... There is nothing about SOWAL that is "scenic" anymore. The monster houses are not ...the power stations we have to have now to power all those monster houses are not....all of the cars/rude people needed to finance those houses are not....the lift station I have to tolerate (Bay Dr.) is not....(we even try to guess how long it will be before that house on the corner goes on the market..again)...Honestly I wish St.Joe was still a paper company..they were alot better "neighbors" than some of them we have now.
I would add the real estate agent's signs which seem grow larger and larger in size, especially on the east end of 30A, take away from anything "scenic" that is left of 30A.
