Commercial On Dalton Drive Approved [lawsuit filed]

[Mike Jones]

This is something that would have to be addressed by the BCC. They would have to have the will to do this. The people on the board only see this as a decrease in revenues. The way I see it, the majority of the south of the county is owned by absentee owners. They are oblivious to legitimate concerns, as long as they get their rent money. Also, they don't vote. There is a comparatively small contingency of full time resident voters who actually live in South Walton and have no one representing them on the board. I refuse to end this post in pessimism. One tactic I could potentially see is to get the uber-rich absentee owners to gain awareness of the problems (perhaps through their realtors, far-fetched, I know) and to somehow unite their resources to get aggressive lawyers to challenge the county at every "battleground". At this Dalton Street showdown, locals are "passing the hat" to raise around $3000 for a local lawyer to attempt a challenge, but that is simply not enough.

And maybe a lot of those rental owners see having a beach junk emporium in their neighborhood a bonus?

 

[IslandGirl]

Everyone needs to thank the following Commissioners:. Chapman and Jones their 2 votes ONLY approved the 7,000 square foot PCB style tourist/turtle store to be built South of 30A yesterday. Way to go Walton County!!!!! This is a disgrace to our community and a total failure on behalf of our children.

Let's now watch the property values decline in Watersound and on 30A. The tourists and locals will get run over daily crossing the bike bath coming in and out of the Made in China 7000 sq ft warehouse being built South of 30A - South of the bike path on Dalton.

Please boycott all Maui Waves Stores with their live turtles for sale. Also, please boycott the Engineer and Builders for their greed. They could have turned this job down. Please do not re-elect the Commissioners that allowed this to happen.

The really sad thing is when this huge retail store goes out of business we will have this huge abandoned building in our neighborhood. Maybe when it goes out of business the Commissioners will approve a liquor store or sex toy shop or tattoo parlor or motorcycle rental store.

Anything is possible now on 30A.

30A = Front Beach Road

NOW watch your property values decline.

 

[Easternlakefan]

Unfortunately I am one of those rental owners, WHO CAN'T VOTE AND WHO'S WORDS SEEM NOT TO BE HEARD. I miss the days back when I and my husband managed to purchase a slice of heaven near Eastern Lake in 2002. I can't stand how the County Commissioners have allowed the area to become what it has become. We loved the quite, open spaces and how people back then that visited respected what was offered to them to enjoy. And when our property didn't flood because there was enough natural drainage. Now we flood because of poor designs and the County allowing for changes to plans, removing drainage ponds for pools and allowing public access areas to cross over private roads with no viewing into the future for parking issues. But now claim it is our issue and our cost to fix the drainage issue that didn't exist before all this building.
This is a beautiful ecological area and the more it's allowed to cater to souvernior shops and such, the more trash will pile and lay around thus sending a signal to "guests" that the trash is part of the landscape and they can go and walk over whatever they want.
When I am lucky enough to get down to "enjoy" my slice I spend most of the time cleaning up and educating "guests" about our dunes, turtles, and respect for property.

I miss hearing the birds chirp, and wildlife running about where ever I had walked. Now it's to Deer Lake Park or other nature perserves to see wildlife and no trash.

Does anyone remember when there was that large one level building on 30-A for wine. What happened there? Out of business, building torn down and lot looks like heck for HOW many years?? Did we learn anything from that? We seem to be fated to repeat the same mistakes but at what cost this time?

 

[Neill O'Connell]

Everyone needs to thank the following Commissioners:. Chapman and Jones their 2 votes ONLY approved the 7,000 square foot PCB style tourist/turtle store to be built South of 30A yesterday. Way to go Walton County!!!!! This is a disgrace to our community and a total failure on behalf of our children.

Let's now watch the property values decline in Watersound and on 30A. The tourists and locals will get run over daily crossing the bike bath coming in and out of the Made in China 7000 sq ft warehouse being built South of 30A - South of the bike path on Dalton.

Please boycott all Maui Waves Stores with their live turtles for sale. Also, please boycott the Engineer and Builders for their greed. They could have turned this job down. Please do not re-elect the Commissioners that allowed this to happen.

The really sad thing is when this huge retail store goes out of business we will have this huge abandoned building in our neighborhood. Maybe when it goes out of business the Commissioners will approve a liquor store or sex toy shop or tattoo parlor or motorcycle rental store.

Anything is possible now on 30A.

30A = Front Beach Road

NOW watch your property values decline.

IslandGirl,

We understand that you are frustrated, however, on behalf of our staff and their families we would greatly appreciate some restraint on your behalf.

If you have any questions about the design of this project we would be happy to discuss them at your convenience. You are welcome to contact me at our Grayton Beach office at (850) 403-4555 to schedule an appointment.

Thank you for your consideration,

Neill O'Connell
O'Connell & Associates Consulting Engineers

 

[James Bentwood]

Yes this is clearly a planning / BCC mismanagement matter probably allowing a business that isn't compatible with a residential neighborhood - builders, engineers, architects who do good work and are conscientious should not be blamed that is just silly.

 

[Gingersnap]

Yes this is clearly a planning / BCC mismanagement matter probably allowing a business that isn't compatible with a residential neighborhood - builders, engineers, architects who do good work and are conscientious should not be blamed that is just silly.

Chapman addressed the comp plan & LDC at the BCC meeting last night and explained this had more to do with the way the Codes are written which is going to allow a business to be put where it clearly isn't wanted by the homeowners. Please don't quote me on this because I'd have to go back over the video of the meeting but the homeowners disagree.

Beyond that the homeowners were visibly upset that they had absolutely no representation on the BCC which clearly (because of Mark Davis's move) they did not. I think many felt that was by design. I tend to agree.

I don't have a dog in this fight but I will say again what coulda/shoulda happened is, the developer should have been made to start the process over after the 2 new Commissioners came on board. IMO even that would not have changed the outcome and I think it would have been a 3/2 vote in favor of the developer anyway.

Bottom line as one woman put it last night...VOTE EM OUT! That sounds like a plan.

 

[Jimmy T]

I'm pretty sure Cindy Meadows would have voted against this project. My expectation from my new district 5 commissioner would have been for him to object to the vote because of lack of representation from a commissioner where the project is taking place. His constituents have a dog in this fight and we deserve a vote.

 

[Gingersnap]

I'm pretty sure Cindy Meadows would have voted against this project. My expectation from my new district 5 commissioner would have been for him to object to the vote because of lack of representation from a commissioner where the project is taking place. His constituents have a dog in this fight and we deserve a vote.

I absolutely agree with you.

Someone at that meeting would have pointed out or commented Anderson had a conflict of interest because of campaign monies he took from the developer and the attorney. I seriously doubt he would have voted against it. Anderson was allowed to save himself some public humiliation in the process.

 

[Lake View Too]

Yes this is clearly a planning / BCC mismanagement matter probably allowing a business that isn't compatible with a residential neighborhood - builders, engineers, architects who do good work and are conscientious should not be blamed that is just silly.

I agree. From the things I heard at Tuesday's meeting, the applicants followed guide lines from the planning department as to what comparables they were allowed to use in their compatibility study. I have no idea how these guidelines are established or how arbitrary they might possibly get, but the way they were allowed by these guidelines to claim their project was compatible was fairly far outside the realm of common sense. I think most of the problem is within the planning department itself, using or setting guidelines, which may be "legal", but do not follow the spirit of what most of us want the Comprehensive Code to do.

 

[coondog]

Is anyone really surprised by the outcome here? The commissioners who voted for approval could care less what 30 A becomes while they are in control, and are more focused on expanding the tax base by whatever means necessary so they can suck more cash up to north of the bay to spend on their pet projects. If we wanted to live in the midst of this massive retail structures in the midst of our (formerly) quiet residential neighborhoods, we would have bought in Destin or PCB. This will be a blot on the entire 30 A scenic corridor, not that our wonderful commissioners care. And, obviously, Tony Anderson would have voted in favor as most of the developers, including those involved here, donated massive amounts to his campaign. I also agree that unless we vote out those who show little consideration to what they are turning our community into, things will get worse, quickly, and that we as consumers have the right to organize and boycott the engineers, builders and attorneys involved as they also obviously don't care about the harm they are causing.