By DOTTY NIST
Miller Commerce Park is a request on behalf of David Miller for approval of a 19-lot industrial park on 57.06 acres on the south side of SR-20, across from Bunny Lane, east of Freeport.
The property is in an Industrial and Extractive Uses future land use area and a Light Industrial zoning district.
The site contains 19.22 acres of wetlands, according to the project staff report, and it includes a granite manufacturing facility, a small residential building with septic tank, and vacant pasture land.
Five acres of the site located at the northwest corner of the vacant pasture land are proposed for the industrial park location.
The staff report also states that proposed stormwater management is to consist of six wet stormwater ponds located throughout the development that meet the requirements of the Walton County Land Development Code (LDC).
The applicant has requested an exemption from code sidewalk requirements for 398.1 feet of property frontage adjacent to wetlands or a wetlands buffer. The highway frontage along SR-20 totals 584 feet. A sidewalk is proposed for the eastern side of the property where it would not be next to wetlands or wetlands buffer. The project has been determined to meet traffic concurrency requirements.
Introducing the project, Stephen Schoen of Walton County Planning and Development Services confirmed that the applicant had requested a sidewalk exemption on a portion of the sidewalk bordering SR-20 and that the decision whether or not to grant the exemption would be by the BCC.
In response to a question, Schoen said planning staff was not recommending one way or the other on the exemption. He observed that he believed the intent for it was to minimize wetland impacts.
Speaking for the applicants, engineer Michelle Baker confirmed the latter.
In response to questions, she said no turn lanes for the project were required, according to a study that Walton County Public Works approved. However, she said the applicant’s representative had been talking with the state Department of Transportation (DOT) about voluntarily providing an exclusive right turn lane onto the property, since most traffic would be coming from Freeport.
Baker said sewer is not currently available to the site and that the applicant was told by the city of Freeport that sewer would not be available for two years.
Schoen clarified that what was before the planning commission was a master plan for the project, with each lot to be required to come back to the county for an individual review and a development order prior to construction. He noted that at that time sewer may have become available.
The board members voted to recommend approval of the project with the condition that the applicant has notification from DOT saying that the state would not allow the sidewalk in the area where it would be adjacent to wetlands, otherwise it would be required along the SR-20 right-of-way.