By DOTTY NIST
Walton, Fla.– In their second meeting for the month, Walton County planning commissioners recommended for approval of 11 projects, including an 84-room hotel at Grand Boulevard, a 25-room bed and breakfast in Inlet Beach, a farmer’s market, two stores, a medical office, another office building, and four subdivisions.
This was at the county board’s May 18 special meeting at the South Walton Annex.
Hyatt Place hotel
The hotel is a Hyatt Place which engineer Jim Martelli, developer’s representative, noted was proposed to be constructed 400 feet west of the Grand Boulevard theater and behind the existing Residence Inn.
According to the staff report, the proposed location is currently a vacant lot, a commercial parcel that is “part of the previously approved Phase II/III Master Plan for Grand Blvd.”
Questioned about the height, Martelli said that plans were for 70 feet, five stories.
Renee Bradley of the Walton County Planning Department commented that the parcel was considered vested for that height per a determination by a previous county planning director for another hotel at Grand Boulevard.
Representing the Sandestin Owners Association (SOA), Tom Cooper told the board members that the SOA does not oppose the hotel. The owners do have concern about potential flooding related to the project, Cooper said, requesting time for the SOA members to review the drainage plans with their engineers.
Planning Commissioner Lee Perry commented that there would be sufficient time before the proposal going before the Walton County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) for this review to be accomplished. He moved to recommend approval.
Perry’s motion was approved with all aye votes.
Summer House Bed and Breakfast
The Inlet Beach proposal is known as Summer House Bed and Breakfast and would be constructed on a 0.65-acre parcel on the north side of U.S. 98 that is currently occupied by a number of Katrina-type cottages surrounded by a gravel parking lot.
Three stories, to include parking on the bottom floor, are proposed, with a total of 13,130 square feet and 25 guest rooms. The land use classification of the property is Neighborhood Infill and, per the Inlet Beach Neighborhood Plan, Neighborhood Commercial.
Planning Commission Chairman Teddy Stewart asked about the difference between a bed and breakfast and a hotel.
Walton County Senior Planner Tim Brown responded that the main difference is that a bed and breakfast looks residential and a hotel looks commercial.
Brown later stated that the Inlet Beach neighborhood plan limits lodging to bed and breakfasts for the land use category of the subject parcel.
Engineering representative Scott Jenkins told the board members that all units are to be one bedroom.
Project architect Steve Piaza commented that the building has been designed to have a distinctive appearance with white stucco and coquina stone exterior, chocolate color wood trim, and a clay tile roof. The building features communal elements such as a library and living room to lend a residential character, he added.
“This will not fit in for that area,” attendee Melanie Marshall told the planning commissioners.
Marshall was of the opinion that the small cottages existing on the site did fit in with the surrounding area—but that the proposed building would not. “This is a hotel,” she said of the proposal, warning that the three-story building would overlook the surrounding subdivisions.
Marshall concluded with the question, “What is the vision for our community?”
Charles Schattie raised objections, as well, noting that per the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation definition, a bed and breakfast is limited to 15 rooms. He also warned of increased traffic and congestion associated with the proposal and negative lighting impacts from security lights for the structure.
Schattie requested that, if the proposal were approved, an existing fence remain in place rather than being replaced by a shorter one specified in the plans.
Jenkins responded that the applicant would be willing to leave the existing fence in place but that if it is replaced it would have to be shorter in order to comply with the current Walton County Scenic Corridor requirements.
He added that the lighting plans were approved by the Walton County Scenic Corridor Design Review Board and that lighting would be placed under the structure.
Planning Commissioner George Abert called the building “a stretch” for a house. Steward agreed that the proposal was “more than a stretch” but said that the bed and breakfast versus hotel issue should be addressed in the Walton County Land Development Code (LDC).
Wayne Dyess, county planning and development services director, acknowledged that judgments on residential or commercial character of proposals are somewhat subjective. He said that rather than making such determinations, it was staff’s practice to leave such decisions to the planning commission and BCC.
Planning Commissioner Nina Horn moved to recommend approval on the condition that the BCC be made aware of the lighting and fence issues, and her motion was approved.
Other proposals
In other action, the board members approved motions to recommend approval of: Arnett’s Farmer’s Market, a 20,000-square-foot commercial farmer’s market to be constructed on 9.77 acres on the west side of CR-393, approximately 1,500 feet south of the U.S. 98/CR-393 intersection; Emerald Sands Subdivision (formerly proposed as the Steffen Subdivision), the redevelopment of three existing lots on 1.11 acres at 258 West Park Place in Inlet Beach to eight lots, with all access to be from West Park Place; Surfsong Estates, a four-lot single-family residential subdivision on 0.55 acre at the end of Surfsong Lane on the north side of Surfsong Condominiums in Miramar Beach; Dr. Patton Primary Care South, a medical office building with attached leasable office totaling 4,860 square feet on 0.86 acre on the south side of U.S. 98, approximately 1,700 east of the western CR-30A/U.S. 98 intersection; Electric Cart Company, two buildings totaling 13,900 square feet on 1.09 acres at 5426 U.S 98 West, to provide sales and service space for electric carts; Southern Pines Subdivision, consisting of 53 single-family residential lots on 20 acres on the east side of Nellie Drive, approximately 1,000 feet north of Chat Holley Road; the Henshaw Subdivision, consisting of four residential lots with one unit per lot on a 1.51-acre site on the south side of CR-30A, just west of Stinky’s restaurant; Emerald Coast Business Center, Lot 10, 3,784 square feet of office space and 608 square feet of storage on 0.34 acre on the east side of Business Center Drive in Miramar Beach; and a request by the Tom Thumb convenience store located on the south side of U.S. 98 south of Sandestin Estates Drive to relocate four gas pumps to the property adjacent and to the west, formerly a car wash, and add two additional pumps and a new canopy on the former car wash site.
Continued to the 5 p.m. June 9 planning commission meeting at the South Walton Annex were the Grand Boulevard Building T, Highland House Bed and Breakfast, and Sugar Sands Estates development proposals.
Planning commission recommendations are provided to the BCC, which has responsibility for a final determination in public session on matters taken up by the planning commission.