For now at least, separate proposals for an automobile dealership and an apartment complex on U.S. Highway 98 in Walton County have failed to clear an early public hurdle for eventual approval by the Walton County Board of County Commissioners.
At Wednesday's meeting of the county's Technical Review Committee (TRC), which takes a first look at proposed developments regarding adherence to the county's comprehensive plan and land development code, representatives of both the dealership and the apartment complex were told that significant questions remained about their prospective projects.
First up Wednesday was a proposal for a Porsche dealership on almost 3.5 acres on the south side of U.S. 98 between Don Bishop Road and Sugar Drive, part of the route designated as a scenic corridor. The proposal came to the TRC with a report detailing some relatively routine technical concerns from various county government departments.
There had been no public comments received on the proposal as of Wednesday's meeting.
The proposal came to the TRC with a recommendation from county planning staff that it be approved and forwarded to the county's Design Review Board. That recommendation was based on the condition that the developer answer concerns expressed by other government departments and provide the county with a copy of state and federal wetlands permits.
All of that, though, was eclipsed by a couple of questions from Walton County Planning Director Mac Carpenter to David Smith of Innerlight Engineering, which is steering development of the proposed Gregg Orr Porsche of Santa Rosa Beach.
"We have never allowed an auto dealership ... in the U.S. 98 scenic corridor," Carpenter told Smith, "and one of the main reasons has been the need to have outside display of merchandise — the vehicles.
"How are you going to keep any of these vehicles from being seen from U.S. 98?" Carpenter asked.
"We've gone to great extent to have them positioned and screened," Smith answered.
He conceded that customer parking is planned for the front of the dealership, but told Carpenter that "the inventory storage is not visible from 98. ... (W)e strategically have the inventory where it's not visible."
Clearly unconvinced, Carpenter told Smith, "I'm going to want to look at that myself."
Carpenter then told Smith and the TRC that he was "not comfortable moving this project forward with this list of outstanding questions, and my question about whether or not this development can even exist in the U.S. 98 scenic corridor."
The committee agreed and decided unanimously to move the proposal forward to its next meeting Feb. 3. In the interim, Smith and Carpenter will meet to further discuss the proposal.
"We probably need to sit down and talk about this one before we get there (to the Feb. 3 meeting)," Carpenter told Smith.
Also facing questions from Carpenter on Wednesday was Tonia Nation, a site developer for AVCON, Inc., the engineering, planning and construction firm working with Florida SJS LLC, the company developing the proposed Bella Rosa Apartments. The proposed 158-unit, three-building complex is planned for a 13.23-acre tract on the southeast corner of Sugar Drive and U.S. Highway 98 West.
Questions from Carpenter focused on its recreation component, which is set to include publicly accessible trails and boardwalks in and around wetlands areas on the site.
Nation told Carpenter that the trails and boardwalks would include signage designed to educate users regarding wetlands.
Carpenter, though, countered that to meet the standard for a public recreational amenity, the trails and boardwalks would have to be "robust," and would have to attract users. On that point, Carpenter noted that a parking lot intended for use with the trails and boardwalks was behind a gate into the development.
"It just needs to be somewhere that people will want to go," Carpenter said of the proposed amenity, "and if it doesn't look like that's what it is, it's probably not going to meet the test (of being an adequate public recreational amenity). Meeting that test, Carpenter said, would require creating a "sense of place ... and I'm not sure we're there yet."
In addition to Carpenter's concerns, the other county departments had a number of comments on the proposal, including concerns from the South Walton Fire District on the location and number of fire hydrants.
The developer had planned for the project to move forward to county's Design Review Board next month, and from there to the Walton County Board of County Commissioners, also next month, for a final decision.
However, as a result of a unanimous decision by the TRC, the project development was set for reconsideration at the Feb. 3 Technical Review Committee meeting. That decision pushed the project to the March cycle of design review and county commission meetings for a possible final decision.
In other action Wednesday, the TRC gave conditional approval to a proposed "commerce park," comprising 15 single-story commercial buildings of 6,000 square feet each. The development is proposed for slightly less than 10 acres on the east side of Goldsby Road, north of U.S. Highway 98 West and south of Commercial Parkway.
The conditional approval will move the proposal forward to the Walton County Planning Commission for further consideration. In the meantime, the developer, Goldsby Road LLC, and its engineering firm are set to address a number of questions from the county government. Those questions include concerns that the current plan calls for just two Dumpsters, and that one of the buildings does not include a loading zone.
In a separate issue, the TRC voted to send a proposal for some changes at the WaterColor residential and resort community on County Road 30A to the Planning Commission for further action.
The proposal C involves replacing three residential units with seven hotel units.
Finally Wednesday, the TRC approved moving a proposed bathhouse replacement at Topsail Hill State Park at U.S. 98 and County Road 30A forward into the development order process, which will require county commission approval. The project calls for replacing the existing 668-square-foot bathhouse with a 1,479-square-foot facility.
