Sorry for the late post. It has been a hectic day:
Escambia County’s Board of Commissioners breezed through their regular meeting on May 15.
After approval of the agenda, the meeting opened with a commissioner’s forum.
Commissioner Kevin white applauded the efforts of volunteer firefighters earlier that day. “I just wanted to take a minute to commend the volunteer firefighters that were on the scene today,“ White said. “I guess it was a tornado in McDavid. They did a very good job.â€
Commissioner Grover Robinson IV discussed some changes that may be coming to the beach. “You will be seeing a noise ordinance coming to Pensacola Beach through the island authority, if you have any questions, please notify your island authority member,†Robinson said. “Also, there is the potential ban of alcohol in public parking lots.â€
Commissioner Marie Young thanked the citizens of her district for their turnout at a recent budget review. “I was really impressed with the number of people that showed up,†she said.
Commissioner Gene Valentino thanked county staff and board members for their recent trip to Tallahassee regarding the “continuing saga in our efforts to secure a removal of the caps in Perdidio Key,†he said. “It’s been a journey, the likes of which I haven’t seen… There are revenues being lost by an unfair and inappropriate cap that’s being imposed on Perdido Key that affects the entire county.â€
The board then moved to ratify three proclamations, claiming May as water safety month, national safety month and recognized John Ellis for his creation of the “Believe in the Cure Cycling Tour†to benefit the Hepatitis B Foundation.
After ratifying the proclamations, the board recognized Escambia County Deputy Sheriff Mark Butler and his drug-interdiction dog, Harley, for finishing in fifth place in room searches and for finishing in the top ten overall competition at the State-wide K-9 re-certification testing held in Gulf Breeze last month.
The board then unanimously approved the county administrator’s report and opened the first public hearing.
The public hearing approved the use of $166,000 in grant money for payroll purposes for the sheriff’s office.
The board then unanimously approved three agenda items, conceptual approval of the Scenic Highway land swap, Direct staff to move forward with the memorandum of understanding for the Escambia River Muzzle Loaders and approved travel expenses for a trip to meet with Tallahassee based lobbyist, Richard Gentry, on the above mentioned Perdido Key issue.
The board then unanimously approved the clerk of court and comptroller’s reports.
The board then heard three rezoning requests. Board members unanimously approved the rezoning of a parcel located on 72nd avenue from R-2 residential to R-4 zoning.
The board then voted to resend the next rezoning package back to the zoning department. Willie Gaines said he is interested in rezoning the property he bought two years ago so he can open a restaurant. He said the zoning review process was unfair because people opposed to the rezoning didn’t live in the neighborhood of the building, located at Trammel Boulevard.
“I’m looking at Mr. Messer’s finding and I simply don’t understand. It says ‘I specifically base my recommendation for disapproval on the evidence provided by vast numbers of local residents in opposition of the proposed rezoning on the basis of increased crime, noise and a reduction of property values lead by Pastor Gordon.’ I’m not questioning the pastor or anyone who spoke but I have never seen this in a recommendation and I question whether that’s a legally sufficient finding on his part….It is not a public opinion poll when we do rezoning, its not apart of the legal criteria,†Whitehead said.
The board voted to remand the request back to the zoning department for further clarification.
The board then voted to deny rezoning a parcel on Chemstrand road from R-2 to R-5 zoning.
The board also approved an amendment to the official zoning map to include several rezoned beach parcels.
Finally, the board approved a Short Term License Agreement with Bayou Chico, LLC, providing the county with access to certain land owned by Bayou Chico Properties, LLC, for a temporary staging area for miscellaneous debris removed from the navigational channel of Bayou Chico.