Walton: No projects affected by height rule

SANTA ROSA BEACH - None of the nearly 450 active development orders in Walton County will be affected if a countywide height ordinance goes into effect as expected later this summer, according to Gerry Demers, the county's director of development services.

The only project that would have been affected - a proposed 12-story condominium off Jolly Bay Road in Freeport - already has been turned down by county commissioners, who said the building's height would be incompatible with the surrounding area.

With some exceptions, the proposed ordinance would limit buildings in South Walton to 50 feet. Structures north of Choctawhatchee Bay would be capped at 50 feet in residential areas, 75 feet in commercial areas, and 100 feet in industrial zones.

There are exceptions to the 50-foot height limit in South Walton. For example, Grayton Beach has a 40-foot height limit and the Point Washington Overlay District has a limit of 32 feet.

"The city of Freeport is not governed by our height ordinance and may have their own restrictions," Demers said in an e-mail. "This new ordinance will provide a height limit for the rest of the county (north of the bay)."

Demers said in the e-mail Monday that a previous 50-foot height ordinance north of Choctawhatchee Bay expired at the end of May. The new ordinance is "to have a height limitation in effect for the area north of the bay until such time this height restriction will be made permanent by (its) incorporation into the Walton County Comprehensive Plan."

The first public hearing on the height restrictions was June 9. Another hearing is scheduled for Tuesday during the County Commission meeting in DeFuniak Springs, and a third will be July 14 at the commissioners' meeting in Santa Rosa Beach.

Meanwhile, local developers appear to look favorably on the proposed restrictions. They say that the lack of high-rise hotels is largely what separates Walton County from over-developed areas along the Emerald Coast.

Developer John King, owner of Indian Creek of Destin, Inc., said that although his company does not build high-rises, the height ordinance would prevent the buildings that obscure residents' and tourists' views in Destin, Fort Walton Beach and Panama City.

Don Rutland, president of Miramar Beach-based Rutland Co. - whose projects include The Inn at Blue Mountain Beach and the Inn at Crystal Beach - said setting a countywide height limit "sets an appropriate tone for the population that lives here and keeps us somewhat different from the rest of the state of Florida ... I believe it's a positive move for Walton County."

"As developers, we want as much density as we can get, but as residents, we're trying to keep our emotions out of it and be practical," said Matt Olsen, Rutland's executive vice president.

Density is driven by lack of land, he said, and there is plenty of it in north Walton County.

Rutland and Olsen said their company always has tried to conform with height ordinances, knowing that it is "an uphill battle" to get a variance and that trying to persuade commissioners to allow them to build anything taller than 50 feet "is not a good use of time and money."

They also say height restrictions are not the biggest hurdle developers must overcome.

Instead, their battles center on proportional fair-share payments for expected traffic impacts, the downturn in economy, the time it takes for the county to approve projects and elaborate land-use regulations.

Those obstacles are "the macro issues that are really stifling ability to create new tax revenues and jobs," Olsen said.

For example, one of Rutland's planned developments - a mixed-use project on 10 acres of land near Helen McCall Park - already has been approved, but construction has not yet begun because of the financial downturn.

Olsen said the company would like to include two fast-food franchises in the hotel and retail complex, but the county has said such businesses would be outside the Scenic Corridor guidelines that sets standards for landscaping, architecture and signage.

The company is lobbying hard to change the commissioners' mind, Rutland and Olsen said.