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PoppaJ

SoWal Insider
Oct 9, 2015
8,336
20,139
You didn't ask a question. You made a nonsensical statement. Just say what you mean, if you have a point, other than a limp insult attempt.
It was a question to myself.
“Why is this guy so concerned with how others spend their money on housing and personal possessions?”
Seems like a strange obsession though most likely harmless so I give up you win.
 

Ken

Beach Lover
Jan 22, 2007
139
23
It was a question to myself.
“Why is this guy so concerned with how others spend their money on housing and personal possessions?”
Seems like a strange obsession though most likely harmless so I give up you win.
It's directly related to the topic of the thread and the survey about growth. The illusion of freedom. That life will be better here because it's booming here and the beach means permanent vacation in their minds.

But the reality is overpriced, bland, cardboard box homes, Walmarts and overcrowded schools. And limited Beach Access to boot.

We should aim to preserve what we have left for future generations and a reasonable number of visitors.

Can we prevent Walco from more mistakes like golf carts and clear cutting?
 

UpNorth

Beach Lover
Apr 18, 2024
97
69
North
Seems like it’s just perspective. Sure you cant cram much more into 30A, and outside of state owned land there’s not a lot left above 30a and below 98. But at least as an outsider, you look at north of 98 between 395 and the Bay County line, and there’s really a whole lot of nothing. If there weren’t the couple Publix and soon to be second Walmart, there’d literally be nothing. Do we not need groceries? I don’t get it.

My first thought some years back was actually the opposite. Maybe if they incentivized more development people will finally start having some options.
 

PoppaJ

SoWal Insider
Oct 9, 2015
8,336
20,139
Seems like for some it’s the old draw bridge mentality. Your neighborhood and your home was once unspoiled but that’s ok just don’t build anymore because that would be too much development.
I do agree that building 4 storey 12 bedroom 10 bath homes with parking for two cars is a bit much, but property owners should be able to develop their land to its highest and best value within reasonable local ordinances.
This area was always going to be developed because of its proximity to existing easily expanded infrastructure and multiple accesses from the north along with its location between highly developed Destin/Fort Walton Beach and Panama City/Beach.
Take a look at your map app and notice the millions of acres of unspoiled beauty to the north and east of us.
In the pre drone days we would charter helicopters for aerial photography of properties.
Sometimes we would have the pilot fly over these areas, especially between here and Mexico Beach and marvel at the beauty.
We were forced to land one day to await a passing storm and it felt as though we could have been in the wild of an African savanna.
To get a good idea of the beauty that is near us spend a couple of days driving leisurely along 98 through PCB, Mexico Beach, Port St. Joe, Apalachacola and just passed Carrabelle head north on 319 to Tallahassee. It really is a short relaxing getaway.
 

bob bob

Beach Fanatic
Mar 29, 2017
818
455
SRB


It has been 6 weeks since we completed the visioning charrette and wanted to provide you with an update.


We are working on a few parallel tracks:

reviewing and summarizing your feedback from the community planning workshops,

completing our assessment of the existing comprehensive plan,

describing and illustrating the possible Place Types, and

collaborating with our technical team on recommendations for managing future development and preservation of Walton County.


Place Types Coming Soon

In the next few weeks, we will begin to share with you our recommended Place Types as a visual reference for the Walton County’s Comprehensive Plan updates. If you remember, these place types help to more clearly define the intended character and intensity of future development for rural, suburban, and urban areas in the county.

Countywide Growth Scenarios

We will also be developing a handful of different scenarios for future growth planning. These scenarios will provide the community with options for how much growth to allocate at specific locations throughout the county. These have to be reconciled with the existing Zoning and Future Land Use Categories as well.


Joe Minicozzi / Urban3 Presentation

Plans are currently underway to schedule a presentation by Joe Minicozzi to the Walton County Commission in July. This presentation will be similar to the “Economics of Land Use” talk that Joe presented during the Charrette. The presentation will occur on July 23rd at the regular Commission meeting.


Commission Presentations

DPZ will present the results of the visioning workshop to each commissioner individually between July 23 - 29.


Heads Up: Public Records Request

Finally, we wanted to inform you that we received a public records request from a Chas Galloway for the email addresses submitted during our surveys. Florida Public Records Law requires us to retain, and provide if requested, that information. We have responded to that request, but felt it important for you to know as we had to share your email addresses.


As an important note, the Plan for Walton 2040 team is not affiliated with any other organization, political campaign, or advocacy effort. We will only send you emails about the Plan for Walton 2040, and like any reputable email outreach, you can find the “unsubscrlbe” option clearly visible at the bottom of our email. (Or right here, if you so choose.


Next Steps

Stay tuned for more information coming soon about Place Types, Development Scenarios, and any follow-up presentations or engagements on behalf of the Plan for Walton 2040 team. We appreciate your commitment to this effort, and look forward to sharing more with you soon!
 

bob bob

Beach Fanatic
Mar 29, 2017
818
455
SRB

Check out the latest news on the Plan for Walton 2040 project.​

You’ve come to the right place. Check out the questions and answers below, and if your question isn’t answered, send us a note and we will try to get it answered.

Closing Presentation

05/09/2024
The Plan for Walton 2040 is a 16-month project to develop a long-range plan for the development, that will guide changes and amendments to your
Read More »

Transportation & Infrastructure

05/07/2024
What are the important transportation and infrastructure issues that need to be addressed to ensure a sustainable future for Walton County? Alex Navarro of Jacobs
Read More »

Economics of Land Use – Joe Minicozzi

05/03/2024
If citizens are the joint owners of the “corporation” that is Walton County, and policymakers are your Board of Directors, it’s important to understand the
Read More »

Gridics Zoning Software Now Available for Walton County

05/03/2024
If you’re someone who really gets into zoning and land use, or just curious about what the allowable development in your neighborhood could be, we’ve
Read More »

Opening Presentation

05/02/2024
The Plan for Walton 2040 is a 16-month project to develop a long-range plan for the development, that will guide changes and amendments to your
Read More »

Working Session: Land Use & Zoning

05/01/2024
As part of the planning process, the Plan for Walton 2040 consultant team is reviewing Walton County’s zoning and land use categories. In Wednesday’s working
Read More »
 

Jim Tucker

Beach Fanatic
Jul 12, 2005
1,230
508
Please plan to attend or tune in for Marina Khoury’s virtual presentation to the Board of County Commissioners tomorrow, Thursday, October 17, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. She will present the team’s work from the past few months, and provide an update on the place types and growth scenarios discussed during the charrette.

Following Marina’s presentation, Joe Minicozzi of Urban3 will present to the County Commissioners at 11:00 a.m. on the economics of urban design.

You can find a link to the agenda here.


Review of Current Comp Plan

Since the charrette workshops a few months ago, the planning team has been hard at work applying your input, along with their technical expertise to a review of the existing comprehensive plan.

As you can imagine, this is very detailed and specific work. The consultant team reviewed the current comprehensive plan (more than 150 pages), and made suggestions and best practice recommendations to address the future growth, preservation, sustainability, transportation, and infrastructure needs of Walton County.

These recommendations will hopefully be included and addressed in Walton County’s upcoming Comp Plan amendments later this year.


Approach to Growth Management

As our team continued to work through the summer and engage with your planning staff, in addition to the concept of Place Types, we also developed an approach to overall growth management for the county.

This approach, similar to an overlay district, would identify certain areas in the county where growth should occur, at what level of intensity, and where growth should not occur, or be limited. You will see more about this in the presentation tomorrow, and we will share more about this approach in future communications to you. We will also want to hear what you think about the various place types and development areas.

So, stay tuned for more information, and we’re looking forward to the presentation tomorrow!

Sincerely,
The Plan for Walton Team
 
J

jm tucker

SoWal Guest

After our comprehensive analysis of the Walton County Comprehensive Plan (“Comp Plan”)and integrating your feedback from the visioning workshop, we’re pleased to share our recommended updates.

Thanks for being part of the process—your input shaped the vision.

The recommendations are organized by each element of the Comp Plan. Each section begins with a summary list of key recommendations, followed by more detailed policy suggestions along with explanations for each.

Every few days, we’ll be sharing one element of the Comprehensive Plan along with its recommendations. This gives you time to review and reflect on each section before the next is posted. County staff is currently reviewing the full recommendations report, which has also been shared with the Board of County Commissioners. They’ll ultimately decide which recommendations will be incorporated into the updated Comp Plan.

The first element we present is the broader set of Future Land Use recommendations.

The FLU recommendations are organized around a proposed new planning framework that makes development and conservation more adaptable and predictable.

We divided the County into three context-sensitive sectors that should be mapped:

  • Protected Areas (conservation lands, agricultural and rural areas, generally north of the bay)
  • Maintained Areas (established neighborhoods where character is preserved, generally south of the bay)
  • Growth Areas (targeted corridors for walkable, mixed-use development, generally around existing municipalities and priority corridors).
A key feature of this framework is the use of Place Types, to further guide development based on location, intensity, and character appropriate to each sector.

This place-based approach helps align policies and investments with local needs, ensuring that growth supports economic sustainability, environmental stewardship, and community identity.

To learn more about the proposed changes to the Future Land Use, click here.

If you wish to review the entire document of recommendations, click here.

{Contents
Introduction ............................................................5
Capitol Improvements Recommendations ........... 10
Conservation Recommendations ......................... 16
Coastal Management Recommendations ............22
Future Land Use Recommendations ....................42
Housing Recommendations ................................. 74
Infrastructure Recommendations ........................79
Recreation Recommendations .............................84
Transportation Recommendations .......................87}


A substantial portion of Walton County significantly restricts or outright prohibits residential development. As illus-
trated in the accompanying maps, a total of 78% of the county falls under these restrictions, including:

• 17.3% zoned for conservation and open space parcels
• 17.9% zoned for Eglin Air Force Base
• 42.8% zoned for agriculture

Even excluding industrial parcels that could potentially be rezoned for residential use in the future, only 22% of
the county remains available for residential or commercial development.
Within this limited area, some parcels are
already developed, others remain vacant, and some present opportunities for redevelopment or infill. Consequently,
how the county chooses to grow—and the strategies it employs to do so—will have a significant and lasting impact
on its future.
 
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