Residents urge caution on rapid development and ask commission to restore Monday meetings

Several residents used the public-forum portion of the Santa Rosa County Commission meeting to press officials on development impacts and a recent change in the regular-meeting day.

Jerry Cooley of Milton told commissioners a new subdivision near Willard Norris will place a retention pond adjacent to the property line and warned that locating ponds so close to the right-of-way could make future widening to four lanes difficult: "If you get to a 4 lane in Willard Norris, then you have a holding pond that's right up to the edge of the property line...you're gonna have to dodge that holding pond." He also said the board should reconsider moving meetings from Monday to Tuesday because Tuesday gives staff one less business day to respond to questions.

Pauline Grimes of Avalon Beach criticized large-scale housing projects for increasing traffic and harming wildlife habitat, and Sherry Chapman (Bell Lane) urged the board to restore meetings to Mondays so volunteers and residents who plan around the old schedule can attend. "This is not conducive to those of us that do come and participate in our government," Chapman said.

Chris Curb of Flood Defenders told commissioners Santa Rosa County’s codes may not be prepared for new state ERP rules that require greater removal of phosphorus and nitrogen in stormwater systems. He recommended updating local rules to adopt current NOAA rainfall data and to require basin-level stormwater planning rather than site-by-site fixes: "You need to revise your code and not allow dirt road paving subdivisions." Curb also urged the county to require pretreatment and green infrastructure where appropriate.

The chair closed the public forum with no immediate action taken on the remarks; several of the concerns raised were echoed later during agenda items that addressed road and watershed work.