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deborsk

Beach Lover
Jul 10, 2005
126
52
From what I have heard, the developer of the Seagrove Market project is asking the county planners and BCC to waive the 250-foot buffer required for residential preservation neighborhoods – down to 20 feet – with removal of the dense trees and bushes that provide screening. This request is stunning and shows total disregard for longtime residents and homeowners. There is a reason the 250-foot buffer exists for residential preservation neighborhoods.
This restaurant/bar area is 5,518 sq ft, souvenir store is 1,225sqft, and the dining porches are 1,232 sq ft. That is 7,975square feet, with a restaurant about the size of Cafe 30A(exclusive of offices) that serves 600 people on a weekend night and 300 on a weekday evening in season. There are 51parking spaces planned. Traffic, noise, parking problems and daily garbage pickup will impact these residential areas.
The parking abuts lots with single-family homes in the Sugarwood Beach neighborhood, as does the retention pond that is likely to breed mosquitoes. Sugarwood Beach has many full-time residents, including many who purchased their lots and built a quiet, stable community based on Seagrove's neighborhood character.
Plans call for patio and porches of more than 1,200 square feet, where food and liquor will be served, with noise traveling across the small buffer and through the wetlands i.e. people eating and drinking, music playing, not to mention the traffic, noise, parking problems and daily garbage pickup .
While my husband and I have always considered the Market Cafe to be one of our favorite eat out places, I think this is way over the top. I am glad we do not live in the neighborhoods near this proposed project and empathize with those that do. Surely, there can be some kind of compromise reached.
 
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deborsk

Beach Lover
Jul 10, 2005
126
52
I agree--we do not want it to go through the way it is being presented. What is proposed is not compatible to the surrounding neighborhoods.
 

BeachSteelers

Beach Fanatic
Feb 18, 2006
473
48
Seagrove
For those too busy to pay attention, but the Seagrove Mkt Cafe is closing and wants to move down the road. Into a TND land use bordering a RPA(Residential Preservation Area). In order to accommodate this change The Citizens of Walton County will receive $37,000 in Mitigating Fees. For a incomplete traffic study and waving the required sidewalks, The Planning Dept is basically set to give this project a green light. The neighbors are ask to give up their 250' mandated buffer, a shortened buffer off 395. Their compatibility study has no name attached to it and is seriously flawed.
Wake Up SoWal, the end is near. Stand Up and Be heard or become informed. Meeting tonight at Watercolor Inn at 5pm to discuss the issues.
If the County Gives up a foot of Our RPA then next time it's 2 ft then 4 then soon no RPA to protect anyone. We as citizens need to act soon or The Counties Commizars will take it all away. We shouldn't have to break nearly All the Land Use Codes in place in order to accommodate commercial development in a RPA area. And this RPA variance is granted then consider it the first domino to fall in the end of Paradise. Either Change the Land Use codes or Live By them. enough of Variances for $$$ schemes. And want some Funn, call up Tax collectors and Planning offices and ask for an accounting of all these Mitigating Fees?
Quickly though, this variance of 250' RPA buffer will allow the builder to site a Storm Water Pond, parking lot runoff and roof top greaser/ac unit runoff into the Wetlands that abut a major tributary of Western Lake. As well as put a parking lot within 20' of residential houses. Sound Great? Silence will encourage this and many more like it. We ae all Forewarned.
 

Dawn

Beach Fanatic
Oct 16, 2008
1,203
519
Quickly though, this variance of 250' RPA buffer will allow the builder to site a Storm Water Pond, parking lot runoff
I am concerned with wetlands and Western Lake. But I thought stormwater ponds were to collect runoff and protect wetlands?

Isn't the real issue having a business too close to houses? I think that's enough to make your case without all the hyperbole. Present yourself as a concerned neighbor with a face and a name at the meeting and it'll take you far. Variances are OK if it is good for the community.

Is there any restaurant possible on that site in your eyes and how would it be done?
 

Teresa

SoWal Guide
Staff member
Nov 15, 2004
30,240
9,277
South Walton, FL
sowal.com
This is a unique project by local business owners who love our community and are invested here. The owners of Seagrove Village Market Cafe have a vision and will be good neighbors as always. The neighborhood meeting is a great time to express any concerns. The project will be better for it. I'm in support of local development by people who know our town, care for it, and seek to bring excellence. The new restaurant is an expanded version of the old, with charm and history and keeping a very casual Cafe atmosphere. Excellent local architect, builder, and owners to create a something special in SoWal. Go and hear about it, see the plans and let them know your concerns. That's the whole idea.
 

Jdarg

SoWal Expert
Feb 15, 2005
18,068
1,973
I understand the concern of not just the immediate neighbors in Seagrove, but also of the community. We have had one after another developer try to adapt the property to their plan instead of develop a plan that is suitable for the property and neighborhood. Another example of "that's always how it's been done here", but it is getting ridiculous. Everyone loves the Seagrove Village Market, but at the end of the day, they sold their current property and are now trying to make something very unsuitable to their new property work in a way that only benefits them and sets a bead precedent for other developments, and is a detriment to the neighbors and community. Just enforce the land codes and listen to the neighbors, and quit rush approving projects (especially in sensitive areas). Nobody is against development- but South Walton has reached the tipping point where the community as a whole needs to be considered FIRST in decisions, and not developers.
 

seabythegrove

Beach Fanatic
Nov 16, 2012
479
155
The architecture of the Seagrove V does not fit with traditional Old Seagrove. Will the new Seagrove Village Market? I agree - go to the meeting and find out. But let's not assume locals, who are really transplants (like 90%+ of South Walton) are interested in tradition - they have already proven money comes before tradition.
 

Matt J

SWGB
May 9, 2007
24,643
9,496
I'm betting if the CDLPZ hadn't been altered this project would have been dead in its tracks.
 
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