By REID TUCKER
It was a packed house once more at City Hall as the DeFuniak Springs City Council addressed problems arising from a misunderstanding about the nature of its draft blight ordinance.
Principally, a mistake was made in the way the draft was posted to the city website, leading to much public confusion as to whether the ordinance – perceived by many as being far-reaching – was soon to be put to the vote. However, Code Enforcement Officer Jason O’Daniels, who created the draft at the Council’s direction, said this was not the city’s intention. Rather, he copied a conglomeration of far-reaching International Code Council blight and public nuisance regulations, assembling them in a line-itemized list for the purpose of enabling the Council to easily tailor fit the final ordinance to the city’s needs.
“The Council had instructed me to put something together for red-lining and discussion purposes only,” O’Daniels told the standing-room-only crowd at the Sept. 8 meeting. “By no means did I want to make this a matter of a city-wide homeowners’ association.”
O’Daniels said the community members that reached out to him since the draft was posted had expressed their concerns and suggestions in a constructive manner, which was the purpose of the draft all along. Councilman Ron Kelley further allayed the crowd’s concerns, saying he’d already gone through the draft, excising the aspects he thought went a shade too far. He encouraged the other councilmen to give the draft equal consideration, reinforcing the notion that the board always intended to take its time to make a decision on the blight ordinance’s final form.
“This is not something we intend to vote on quickly or without lots of careful study because it is far reaching and it is a work in progress,” Kelley said. “I’m sorry the word got out that we were about to take action right now. That’s just not true. We can take as long as we need because we want to get it right.”
The City Council members and the mayor all expressed their desires to hold a public workshop in a few weeks’ time to discuss the ordinance after completing the city budget-making process. Meanwhile, city staff has extended the deadline for public input on the ordinance to Sept. 17 in order to make sure as much of the community has a chance to be engaged prior to the workshop.
Even so, several DeFuniak Springs residents were on the agenda to speak on the topic of the draft ordinance and other matters of concern. LaTanja Neal said many low-income property owners and disabled and elderly individuals on fixed incomes could not afford the penalties that may be applicable if the ordinance moves forward as-is. She questioned whether or not such an ordinance needs to be created in the first place, as even middle-class citizens may be unfairly burdened by the terms contained in the draft of the ordinance.
“This type of ordinance resembles a homeowner association,” Neal said. “Although it has publicly cited that this is not the intent, the citizens would be denied the choice that all homeowners are given when considering purchasing their homes as to whether or not they want to live in a community encumbered by a [homeowner association]. They would subject to the rules of one but without the right to choose.”
Gregory Chrishon, who, among others scheduled on the agenda, also brought up problems such as insufficient street lights and unfinished curbs and sidewalks on the east side of town. While Chrishon agreed that there are homes in the city in need of attention, he nevertheless called the draft ordinance “a killer, like methane gas” because of what he viewed as excessive fines. The Rev. Ernest Powell likewise said the ordinance would not need to be so far-reaching if the city’s current codes were adequately enforced, mentioning several boarded up or otherwise dilapidated homes in his neighborhood.
Though talk on the blight ordinance was the main item on the agenda, the Council still had to deal with several other items in need of a vote.
The board voted unanimously to hear first reading of two proposed ordinances regarding land use and zoning changes requested by the Emerald Coast Children’s Advocacy Center in preparation for the construction of its new facility on College Avenue. The existing land use at the property will be changed from recreational to institutional and zoning will switch from C-2 commercial general to R-2 multi-family residential if the ordinances are approved at the Sept. 22 public hearing date.
The Council also voted 5-0 in favor of Morada Enterprises’ variance request to sell alcoholic beverages at the site of its forthcoming new restaurant project, located at the former Murray’s Café building on Baldwin Avenue. The new restaurant is located within the 500 square-foot proximity of two downtown churches, but representatives from each congregation gave written consent for the restaurant’s request.
