Boys & Girls Club gets planning approval

[beachmouse]

Finally, several years after a developer muscled them off their original site, it looks like the Club is getting close to a proper groundbreaking:

Boys & Girls Clubs gets OK for South Walton complex | boys - News - Northwest Florida Daily News

Three years after the Boys & Girls Clubsof the Emerald Coast applied for a development order, it finally has gotten the go-ahead to build a $5 million complex behind the Coastal Branch Library. Crawford “Bear” Henley, the president of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Emerald Coast, said the bidding process for construction will begin sometime in the next six months and the facility should be open within two years at the most....

 

[Jdarg]

Great news! Thanks for posting~

 

[kkddbb]

Finally, several years after a developer muscled them off their original site, it looks like the Club is getting close to a proper groundbreaking:

Boys & Girls Clubs gets OK for South Walton complex | boys - News - Northwest Florida Daily News

it was just a matter of time and im grateful for it. itll be a great addition to a great community. However, I think its important not to throw a developer under the bus when it was the local residents that were originally against it. Developers get a bad enough rap as it is these days even though they have brought extreme wealth to many in this town and beyond.

 

[beachmouse]

While the reaction to the original development plan was mixed, the guy who basically said he planned to sue the national Boys & Girls Club, Inc. and demand the revoking of their non-profit status if they didn't sell the land to him... I don't know if you could have called that anything but strong-arming it all.

 

[kkddbb]

while the reaction to the original development plan was mixed, the guy who basically said he planned to sue the national boys & girls club, inc. And demand the revoking of their non-profit status if they didn't sell the land to him... I don't know if you could have called that anything but strong-arming it all.

why would he threaten such a thing though? Dont know much about the land purchase dealings. There seams to be a bigger reason why a developer would threaten a national organization over a land purchase matter. Do you know the specifics? Sounds rather interesting. Im for the project all day long, i just dont like smearing and passing blame unless its justified thats all.

 

[beachmouse]

I don't recall the details, only that it was someone taking coercion to a bizarre level as part of that whole saga.

 

[Matt J]

IIRC those "outraged neighbors" were fed all kinds of propaganda by the developer. Things along the lines of gangs, depressed land value, etc.

 

[Smiling JOe]

I, too remember the talk of bussing in people from north Walton.

I'm just glad to hear that the Boys and Girls Club is progressing in South Walton.