The North Hill residents are following the example of the Spanish Trail and Cordova Park neighborhoods. They created a Facebook page to update each other and the community on the city’s actions regarding the Florida Dept. of Corrections relocating to the nearby old Coca-Cola facility on North Palafox: Not in Anyone’s Backyard.
The North Hill Preservation Association has sent out another newsletter. Four complaints have been filed with the city. They have yet to receive a reply. A lawsuit has been filed by a resident to stop the relocation. They have requested a meeting with Gov. Rick Scott when he visits the city later this week.
Tuesday, March 18th, 2014
Dear Neighbors,
Thank you for the AMAZING job you did last week at the City Council Meetings and thank you to everyone who has written e-mails to the Mayor, City Council and the Governor’s office.
To date, we have heard NO response from our four separate complaints that have been filed with the City of Pensacola, nor from the lawsuit that was filed against the City by individual North Hill property owners.
We must all CONTINUE to contact them as the clock is ticking on when the occupancy is to begin at the Coca-Cola Building on April 1st.
We have reached out to the Governor’s office requesting a meeting with him later this week when he is in town to discuss our concerns, to date, we have had no response.
Please continue to e-mail the Governor and also please write/call/e-mail the person who overseas the entire Department of Corrections, Secretary Michael D. Crews at http://www.dc.state.fl.us/secretary
We must let him know that our concerns with this process have not be heard and that the letter dated March 13, 2014, written to the Mayor and City Council, by Barbara Scala, Regional Director, North Region, continued the stream of errors, misinformation, and ignorance of the State and City laws when she wrote that “Placement of a Probation and Parole Office on Palafox Street is consistent with services provided by other locations in the immediate area. A county probation office, mental health and substance abuse facility, mission and thrift store that assists the homeless, Florida Department of Law Enforcement office, as well as many law offices, are all present operating in the neighborhood.”
Our State Statues which address the distance of Probation and Parole Centers to areas where children congregate has been VIOLATED. Evidence received in our Public Records Request indicated that the State looked 250 feet for areas where children congregate and NOT the quarter of the mile, or greater if necessary, that the statute defined. Our City’s Land Development Code has been VIOLATED. Our Zoning Districts do not allow Ms. Scala’s interpretation that a Probation and Parole Center is in the same zoning district as a law office, thrift store, medical office, bad check restitution & misdemeanor center, or the FDLE office which is full of scientists and crime ‘solvers’…..and does NOT oversea offenders under the supervision of the court system.
We must continue to contact the Governor. We must let Governor Rick Scott know what has occurred and enlist his oversite over the Department of Corrections’ actions in North Hill.
His mailing address is 400 South Monroe Street, Tallahassee, FL 32399 or by e-mail, click on the following link http://www.flgov.com/contact-gov-scott/email-the-governor/Many of you asked us for some particular statutes and items that were discussed. Here are just a few:
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Florida Statute 945.28 was NOT complied with so the lease agreement for the Probation and Parole Office for 1625 North Palafox Street is therefore INVALID by law..
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We have filed complaints with the City of Pensacola under Florida Statute 823.01 that we consider the State of Florida’s intended use of this site to be a Public Nuisance.
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The proposed site is zoned C-3 and R-1AAA. Neither of which lists Probation and Parole as an authorized use. The only area of our Zoning Districts in the Land Development Code which specifically allows Community Corrections Centers is the M-1 and M-2 Industrial Zones. While the Department of Corrections wants to debate that Probation and Parole office, whose functions and programs ALL are contained under the Community Corrections Program and performed by Community Corrections Officers, is NOT a Community Corrections “Center”, our City’s Land Development Code Section 12-1-5 “provides that in the event there is not a particular use listed anywhere in this title that corresponds with a proposed use, then it shall be interpreted that the use described in this title having the most similar characteristics as the use in question shall apply.”
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The existing Probation and Parole Office at 3101 North Davis Highway is in the M-1 Industrial District and has been for years. The present owners of that complex have NOT declined from renewing their lease agreement with the State. They welcome your continued use of this site, in the Industrial District where it is legally allowed. If additional space is needed, there are two vacant parcels of M-1 zoned land for sale that adjoin your existing site where you could expand to meet your needs without moving into a residential neighborhood, adjacent to and within one quarter of a mile to churches, schools, three parks, our city pool, pre-schools, and daycares.
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We are an established and registered neighborhood within the City of Pensacola since 1868 in which over 1,461 single-family residential homes with a combined tax assessment of $165,775,144.00 according to the Escambia County Property Appraiser’s Office, and AREbeing negatively affected by your decision to bring estimates of over 4,000 offenders to our neighborhood at this proposed center. Property owners are already having pending contracts on the sale of their homes CANCELLED since the Department of Corrections Probation and Parole sign went up on Palafox property last Friday.
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The property owner of the State’s proposed Probation and Parole office continues to violate our City’s laws. Work began on the site without construction permits in November 2013 and NO permits were received until January 2, 2014. By law, these permits were to be posted at the construction site. They were NOT posted and the owner had to be forced by Code Enforcement action to post those permits on March 4, 2014. The owner has violated the quiet enjoyment of our neighborhood by violating our City’s laws against commercial construction on Sunday’s and after the legal operating hours during the week.
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These violations of the law do not give us much confidence in the State’s ability: to govern “in the Sunshine”, to oversee and administer contracts OR to manage our tax dollars.