Here is a brief rundown of how the Walton County Small Business Association came to be. A new parking ordinance was proposed. As written, it has the potential to crush most of the small businesses in our area. While parking is clearly one of many problems we face in this county, this particular draft would create rules that are almost impossible for existing businesses to comply with. A handful of local business owners heard about it and starting spreading the word. The organization grew quickly from there. You can call us special interest if you want but keep in mind that one voice doesn't carry much weight. Of course we would organize and create a larger collective voice. It is our right and the right of all citizens to do so.
We feel that the parking ordinance as written is terrible for business and tourism and the community as a whole and would have little if any short term impact. Long term impact would likely be the closing of current businesses. And I would like to also point out that these business owners are not asking for special treatment. They would not be in business if they had not followed all the rules set forth to get into business. Changing the rules now would not be fair and would place undo burden on existing business. Effectively, it would create an environment ripe to be taken over by bigger business. The ordinance would apply county wide which means that if you live on a farm in the country, you would be subject to the same parking regulations even though there is no need for that. Also, communities like Seaside, Watercolor etc. would not be subject to these regulations because the county has no authority to impose such ordinances upon them. We feel that the ordinance attempts to address a problem but doesn't hit the mark. We would all be subject to the new rules except for the very places where the problem are the worst. Effectively, there is no real estate available for most existing businesses to create more parking. And if there was, all we would be doing is paving paradise, creating a run off problem and turning our quaint little town into just another concrete jungle. We are simply proposing a committee that looks for a solution that will work with our county's current situation. Better zoning would have been a great idea some years ago. But our community has already evolved past that. Unless you want to wipe the county clean and start over, we must look forward. Imagine this, a community with plenty of public parking, free or cheap shuttles and less traffic congestion. That is exactly what we are proposing. Instead of paving what little land is available to accommodate more traffic, why don't we work from where we already are? What if we had more feeder roads? What if tourists could arrive at their condo and leave their car at the condo for the duration of their trip. That would get cars off of the road, alleviate traffic and give people a much more relaxing experience. Let's not forget, this would also reduces the number of intoxicated drivers. Parking is one of many traffic problems in this county. It is not the responsibility of business owners to accommodate every car that enters Walton County. If that is the case, then the first thing we need to do is cap tourism because we can't realistically all expand our parking every time a new person visits or moves here. We want to see a long term solution that every county citizen can live with. That is exactly why we are asking for a committee of ALL stakeholders to look at a comprehensive plan. We are not asking for our group to be the committee. We are asking to have a seat at the table as one of the stakeholders. Commissioner Meadows suggested that this could be done in a workshop. She also suggested that our members do not attend such workshops. Had she been at the last parking ordinance workshop, she would have seen that myself and many members of our association were at that workshop. As Mr. Shipman pointed out, we were only allowed to address the parking ordinance, not how to tie it into a more comprehensive solution. Imagine talking to your child's teacher about a bad test score and only being able to talk about that test score. You wouldn't be able to talk about better study habits, homework, problems with a teacher or another student... That bad test score is a symptom of the problem but not the whole problem. Talking about that bad score would not help solve the problem as a whole. We simply want a chance to address the whole problem. I have rambled long enough. I would however like to invite all of you to go to our website and read our mission statement. You will also find useful information about why we feel the way we do. We are not trying to railroad this county into doing favors for us. We want a fair playing field and a community that we can all be proud call home. Walton County truly is a special place. That is why we live here and that is why other people want to come here. Let's find a way to keep it special even if that means we have to get creative.
http://waltoncountysba.org/
