Design Review Board approves US Highway 98 warehouse and allows black awning deviation

The Walton County Design Review Board approved a minor development application to construct an 18,754-square-foot warehouse on U.S. Highway 98 and granted a color deviation permitting black awnings for the project.

Planning staff said the property, in District 5 on the south side of Highway 98, recently was rezoned to light industrial and is adjacent to the regional utilities wastewater treatment plant. Staff noted signage was not part of the current approval. Chad Williams, representing the applicant, showed material samples and said the wall packs and wall-mounted lighting would be black; he described the primary panel/stucco as "pure white."

Williams said HVAC systems will be split units with air handlers hung inside the structure and that the trash enclosure will be CMU with a white stucco finish to match the building. The board confirmed the project uses an existing curb cut.

A board member noted the county’s updated code draft includes black and bronze awnings among allowed colors so future similar requests may not require deviation. With no public opposition, the board voted to approve both the color deviation for black awnings and the site plan for the warehouse; signage will be reviewed in a later application, and the dumpster/trash enclosure detail will be finalized in the construction documents.

The board recorded no conditions beyond standard site and façade coordination.