Oops, my mistake if it is true. Regardless, Rosemary Beach's variance is just another example of finding ways to bend the rules.Camp Creek Kid said:
High rise condos coming to SoWal
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It is true, I try not to gossip 
. It is going on the hotel. I don't have a problem with something like a clock tower or a church steeple. It will probably get struck by lightning anyway! It is nice to have a little variety in architecture.
. It is going on the hotel. I don't have a problem with something like a clock tower or a church steeple. It will probably get struck by lightning anyway! It is nice to have a little variety in architecture.
The Eglin limit that's most visible is a 7 story limit on Okaloosa Island. Drive down Santa Rosa Blvd, and almost all the buildings on the Gulf side are exactly at the Eglin height cap in a nice even line.
There was talk with the proposed Turnberry development of something like a 36 story luxury tower near Destin Commons mall. But Legendary ended up pulling the project after Eglin complained it would interfere with radar testing. Legendary's a local comapny, and you just don't try to go against the DoD in a county where 60% of the local economy ties back into the bases, especially when there's a BRAC round on the horizon. Without Eglin's R&D programs and the white collar jobs they bring to the area, Ft. Walton Beach would be as much of a dump as Panama City.
It's funny to watch these days how the environmentalists and slow growth proponents have learned not only how to partner with the bases on conservation efforts, but to play the base encroachment card against the developers in some cases.
There was talk with the proposed Turnberry development of something like a 36 story luxury tower near Destin Commons mall. But Legendary ended up pulling the project after Eglin complained it would interfere with radar testing. Legendary's a local comapny, and you just don't try to go against the DoD in a county where 60% of the local economy ties back into the bases, especially when there's a BRAC round on the horizon. Without Eglin's R&D programs and the white collar jobs they bring to the area, Ft. Walton Beach would be as much of a dump as Panama City.
It's funny to watch these days how the environmentalists and slow growth proponents have learned not only how to partner with the bases on conservation efforts, but to play the base encroachment card against the developers in some cases.
If the commissioners were just representing 30-A, I'd agree, but there is a lot of land and population in North Walton whose interests may not align with those along 30-A.Camp Creek Kid said:
Didn't there used to be two commissioners that lived on 30-A, and now there's only one commisioner from 30-A after the latest election? So it would seem more of the decisions would be driven by northern interests.
It also would seem you've also got a situation where a large revenue stream generated by South Walton is being allocated by interests from North Walton. Sounds like taxation without representation -- which we all know led to the Boston Tea Party. So maybe y'all ought to have your own Chochtawhatchee Bay Tea Party.
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Relations between south and north Walton are actually better than they used to be a couple years back when DeFuniak seemed bound and determined to use South Walton as a property tax cash cow. It got to the point where there was a movement to split the county into two with South Walton County being anything south of Choctaw Bay/Freeport and Walton County being everything north of that to the Bama line.
IIRC, there was enough talk to move part of the discussion to Tallahassee, but nothing was ever introduced in the legislature, and commission boundaries were redrawn to reflect that more people living south of I-10, which seemed to quiet down the grumbling.
IIRC, there was enough talk to move part of the discussion to Tallahassee, but nothing was ever introduced in the legislature, and commission boundaries were redrawn to reflect that more people living south of I-10, which seemed to quiet down the grumbling.
That's interesting. I hadn't heard that bit of political history. During the last election there was an article in the Walton Sun about the source of money behind different Commissioners, and it seemed significant development money was behind ousting the two of the then 30-A reps and replacing them with others. I see on the "county commissioner site" as it's now named that four out of five commissioners live north of the bay.
And as a footnote, I think this is an excellent reason for Kurt to run for County Commissioner next election cycle.lenzoe said:
lenzoe said:
I'd rather have certain parts of my anatomy get caught in a garbage disposal. :shock:
One of the ousted County Commissioners committed political suicide because of an issue with the school board. There was a petty tiff about a piece of property that the school board had an easement on. This commissioner chose to take the issue public, which affected Butler Elementary School and the buses. This same commissioner is also involved with developing property, so I don't think it was the "developers lobby" that ousted him.
Our current commissioner from 30-A, Cindy Meadows, is probably the most anti-development commissioner we have. She won handily in South Walton. Scott Brannon won largely from the Freeport vote. There was a whole other issue in Freeport about the other ousted county commissioner and some property. He tried to close the local swimming hole to locals who had used it for years. The good ole boys didn't take too kindly to that. Scott Brannon is a developer, but there are a whole lot of developers arounds here.
Our current commissioner from 30-A, Cindy Meadows, is probably the most anti-development commissioner we have. She won handily in South Walton. Scott Brannon won largely from the Freeport vote. There was a whole other issue in Freeport about the other ousted county commissioner and some property. He tried to close the local swimming hole to locals who had used it for years. The good ole boys didn't take too kindly to that. Scott Brannon is a developer, but there are a whole lot of developers arounds here.
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I'd almost forgotten about the bus easement incident. Still can't figure what he hoped to gain from that all. It's not like the school board was actually going to land swap with him for anything valuable.