By DOTTY NIST
A new building for Point Washington Medical Clinic, a subdivision, and a mixed-use development were minor projects receiving final approval by the Walton County Technical Review Committee (TRC) on May 5, with other projects on the lengthy agenda moving forward in the process and other requests continued.
This was at the TRC’s regular meeting on that date at Freeport Commons.
Point Washington Medical Clinic
Point Washington Medical Clinic is a no-fee-for-service, volunteer-based primary care medical clinic currently operating since April 2017 in the Stephens Center at Point Washington United Methodist Church.
With over 10,000 patient visits since 2017 and having outgrown its location, the clinic has plans to construct its own facility on property leased from the church. A building fund is now underway for the new clinic with the goal of raising $1.4 million for construction, $600,000 for equipment, and $500,000 for the first year of operations.
Stephen Schoen of Walton County Planning and Development Services introduced Point Washington Medical Clinic’s request at the May 5 TRC meeting for approval of a 4,643-square foot medical office on 0.62 acres at the northwest corner of the CR-395/Eden Gardens Road intersection in Point Washington.
Representing the applicants, Point Washington United Methodist Church, engineer Jamie Eubanks indicated that the Point Washington Neighborhood Plan had been consulted closely with the design of the clinic.
Approved in 2011, the neighborhood plan sets standards for setbacks, build-to lines, tree protection, lot coverage, accessory structures, signage, and parking, with the aim of ensuring compatibility of new construction within the 112-acre plan area.
Eubanks said, “One of the things we’ve really done a significant job on with this, thanks to the clinic, is saving the trees that are on site.”
“There’s a number of 36-inch oaks…that this has been designed around, and that’s one reason you see the rear of the site’s pretty open,” he explained.
Eubanks also said that tree preservation had been one of the reasons that a shared parking agreement was being proposed between the clinic and the church, since the church has excess spaces on weekdays.
Walton County Planning and Development Services Director Mac Carpenter voiced his thanks for the preservation of the large heritage oak trees with the project plans and his appreciation for the tree protection requirements contained in the Point Washington Neighborhood Plan.
“We appreciate you working with the neighborhood and the neighborhood plan to protect those,” he said of the trees.
With all aye votes, the committee members voted to move the project forward to development order issuance on the condition of any remaining comments from staff reviewers being addressed.
Starkey 30A Commercial
Also getting the green light to move to the development order stage was Starkey 30A Commercial, a proposed 1,850-square foot commercial retail development with living space on 0.36 acres on the south side of CR-30A, approximately two miles east of the CR-395/CR-30A intersection.
Proposed by Butterfly Services of Northwest Florida, Inc. (David and Kara Starkey), the development is to feature a one-bedroom living unit above 1,700 square feet of commercial space and 150 square feet of restaurant on the ground floor.
The approval was conditioned on the applicants satisfying any remaining comments by reviewers.
Alys Beach Block DD Lots 4 through 17
Alys Beach Block DD Lots 4 through 17 was a minor development order application consisting of 14 single-family lots and associated infrastructure to be located within the Alys Beach Planned Unit Development (PUD) on 1.97 acres.
Representing the applicants, engineer David Smith stated that their intent was now to reduce the number of proposed lots from 14 to 11 lots. He requested that the project be able to move forward with coordination with staff on the minor change, since a reduction was being proposed and all roads would remain in the same place.
The board members voted to move the project forward to development order issuance based on this coordination and any remaining reviewer comments being addressed.
Requests moving forward for further review
By vote of the TRC members, a number of requests on the agenda were approved to move forward in the process to hearings by county boards and commissions, conditioned on any remaining reviewer comments being addressed.
Moving to hearings before the Walton County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) will be two agenda items.
The first of those, the Walton’s Landing Plat, consists of the platting of 73 single-family lots, 98 townhomes, and associated infrastructure on 38.22 acres at the northwest corner of Nellie Drive and Chat Holley Road in Santa Rosa Beach. A development order had previously been approved for the project by the BCC.
The second is Winter Garden 2 of WSO (Watersound Origins), a less-than-minor request providing for the replatting of existing lot 197 in the subdivision to include adjacent property for a total of 0.42 acre. It was explained that the adjacent property to be added had previously been thought to be part of a common area. The location is the north side of Cannonball Lane.
Progressing to review by the Walton County Planning Commission will be five agenda items, the first of those being Watersound Origins Phase 7, consisting of 76 single-family lots and associated infrastructure on 60.53 acres within the St. Joe Company’s Bay-Walton Sector Plan and located on Log Landing Street within the Watersound Origins subdivision.
The second will be the Walton County Civic Use Large Scale Amendment (LSA) and Zoning Change, which would apply to the former Forman property now under county ownership and located south of Chat Holley Road and west of Nellie Drive in Santa Rosa Beach.
Approved after considerable discussion to proceed to Walton County Planning Commission were three related additional agenda items: the Watersound PUD Amendment, the Prominence DRI Amendment #2 (Grace Point), and the Prominence PUD Amendment #2 (Grace Point). The amendments were described as proposing to reallocate existing commercial intensity and residential density within the PUD and DRI into a mixed-use development area on the north side of Grace Point within the Watersound development.
Moving next to the Walton County Scenic Corridor Design Review Board review will be Origins Restaurant, a proposed 5, 594-square foot restaurant to be located at the northeast corner of the Watersound Parkway North/U.S. 98 intersection in southeastern Walton County, and Southbay Lumber Modernization and Expansion 2021, a request to demolish, reconstruct and expand the existing business at 2924 U.S. 98 West in Santa Rosa Beach.
Continued items
Continuances were approved for a number of agenda items, with one item tabled. Continued to the May 19 TRC meeting were Nautilus Pointe @ Inlet Beach, Tanglewood 30A Shops, and The Preserve at Pt. Washington. Continued to the June 2 TRC meeting were the Santa Rosa Beach Regional POP, Buffalo Springs Resort, and Churchill Oaks Replat. Continued to the June 16 TRC meeting were Bay Grove Motor Lodge & Food Court and Tru by Hilton Santa Rosa Beach. Greg Orr Porsche of Santa Rosa Beach was tabled until a later date after readvertising.