DFS City Council declines to extend deadline for Eagles Crossing and Veterans Lodge [PREMIUM]

THE DFS CITY COUNCIL heard a request for deadline extension from Julie Smith, representing Veterans Lodge and Eagles Crossing.

By RYAN CHILCUTT 

NOTE: Due to press deadlines, this story covers only one portion of the business conducted at the Sept. 13 DFS City Council meeting. The balance will be reported in the Sept. 22, 2021 edition. 

The Sept. 13 DeFuniak Springs City Council meeting saw discussion for the Eagles Crossing and Veterans Lodge developments coming to DeFuniak Springs. The developments were represented by Julie Smith. 

City Attorney Clay Adkinson asked the council to consider a request by the developer to schedule special public hearings before the impact fee rate increased on Oct. 1. This request would allow them to remain under the old fee schedule. 

Council member Todd Bierbaum asked the Adkinson that if the developer were to schedule a special meeting for this development, would that mean that the council would have to give other developments the same consideration. Adkinson stated that council would have to give consideration to other developers making the same request. 

Council member Robert McKnight said that the council is being asked to squeeze this in at the last minute, and the Oct. 1 deadline has been in place for a while now. He stated that he saw no reason to hold this meeting. 

Mayor Bob Campbell said that council is still sticking to the deadline, but everyone is trying to move the plan forward. He added that the council is not asking the developer to do a bunch of pushups; they are asking the developer to come to one more meeting. 

Council member Kevin Crystal asked Smith to come forward. He then asked why the developer is bringing this forward for special treatment when the process started six months ago. The developer stated that this is a massive project and that they had talked with city staff as well as individual council members and, after discussion, had to make several changes to the project.

   Crystal asked the city attorney what would happen if the council denied the request. Adkinson responded by saying that the development agreement was based on the current rates, and the developer would have to determine if the agreement would need to be changed. Crystal asked if the developer was aware of the deadline; the developer confirmed awareness of the deadline and stated the group was working very hard to make the deadline. Crystal said that he too is a developer with one project and is under the same deadline. He agreed with McKnight that the council cannot do one thing for this developer and not for someone else. He mentioned that the request is coming 17 days from the deadline. 

Smith responded that they do not want to cause any problems for the city or come across as arrogant and that she wished the group had made this request to council sooner and any mercy the council provides would be appreciated. 

The mayor spoke next and reminded the council that many developers had come to the city, but all of them had backed out. However, this development is still working with the city and the council has the power in these last 17 days to help them. He continued that he hopes the council will give the developer the chance to make this happen. He warned that if the developer cannot get it done by then, that’s on them. 

Bierbaum said that he had listened to everyone and from his perspective, this request would not be fair to everyone to give the developer a special meeting. McKnight made a motion to stop the discussion on this agenda item; the council voted unanimously to stop the discussion. Crystal made a motion to direct city staff to work with the developer to help this to move forward and to set dates for a public workshop; the council voted unanimously in favor.