The Escambia County Board of Adjustments denied yesterday the appeal of the neighbors of Development Review Committee’s approval of a RV park and campground for Wilde Lake Blvd – near I-10 and Pine Forest Road.
The grounds for the appeal were that the DRC and county staff did not consider the safety dangers of large RVs traveling on Wilde Lake Blvd or Klondike Road. The neighbors, led by Theda Peck, showed the board photos of two RVs on Wilde Lake Blvd traveling opposite directions and less than two feet between them.
Larry Newsom, the county’s traffic engineering manager, agreed the road was too narrow, lacked proper shoulders, but added that there are narrow roads all over the county. “We have $40 million worth of road widening projects on the books.”
Newsom added that if the BOA were to stop the RV project because of traffic concerns they would, in effect, be placing a moratorium on all development in the county.
Newsom did say that he had been instructed by County Administrator Bob McLaughlin move Wilde Lake up on the priority list for widening and that $100K would be spent on the road. However, he cautioned that would not completely fix the problem, just add shoulders on the sides of the road.
The BOA was in a difficult position. The property was zoned agricultural. The county code allows RV campgrounds on such property.
With all the new subdivisions, it is time the county reexamine its zoning in the once rural areas. When it approves the rezoning of property for residential or even commercial use, it should look at the impact throughout the area and consider rezoning larger areas. Otherwise, we will keep seeing these battles.
….of course, land zoned as agricultural pays less property taxes than that zoned as residential or commercial so expect developers sitting on such land to fight large rezoning efforts.