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Commission approves DICOM technical training facility and retreat on Highway 78
Summary
The board rezoned about 48.84 acres to B3 to allow DICOM Industries to build a technical training facility and retreat with classroom and hands‑on training areas, lodging for trainees and a mock neighborhood for practical instruction. The approval included a conditional use allowing an on‑site manager to reside on the property and a board request (
Walton County commissioners voted to rezone 48.84 acres from A1 to B3 to permit a DICOM Industries technical training facility and retreat near Jim Dawes Road and Highway 78, approving the planning commission's conditions and a conditional use allowing on‑site residential occupancy for a facility manager.
Andrea Grama spoke for DICOM and described a compact, retreat‑style campus that will include classrooms, a pole yard, an underground utility training field, a driving course, a mock residential neighborhood for hands‑on exercises, and lodging designed to accommodate roughly 40 trainees at a time. The applicant said the site design preserves significant green space, limits impervious surface to about 20 percent, includes 100‑foot buffers adjacent to residential properties, perimeter fencing with a security gate and downward‑directed lighting. An existing house on the parcel will serve as an on‑site manager's residence; the manager (Tom Bones) was introduced to the board.
The applicant emphasized this is not a manufacturing or heavy industrial use but a training and retreat campus; the planning commission recommended approval with a conditional use for an on‑site manager and overnight lodging for trainees. One speaker urged the company to pursue a local recruiting goal for Walton County students.
A motion to approve the rezoning carried on a voice vote; the motion included the conditional use for residential occupancy by the manager and the lodging component. Commissioners noted the applicant's commitments to buffers, lighting control and limited training group sizes to minimize neighborhood impacts.
Provenance: Transcript passages beginning at item introduction 00:46:06 through the motion at 01:29:36 document the applicant presentation, questions and the board vote.
