Walton County planning commissioners opted Thursday to take some additional time to consider a couple proposed amendments to the county’s comprehensive development plan and land development code.
One of the proposed amendments would eliminate a current provision of the comprehensive plan that allows the transfer of allowable development density of any given land-use category on properties containing wetlands to the upland areas of those properties.
In effect, the proposed amendment would reduce the allowed density of development in south Walton County, at least as far as developments containing wetlands are concerned.
A second proposed amendment would increase the allowable residential development density on land zoned for large-scale agriculture and general agriculture to one unit per 5 acres from the current one unit per 40 acres on large-scale agricultural land and one unit per 10 acres on general agriculture land.
In both instances, planning commissioners opted to move consideration of the amendments to their March 11 meeting and to schedule a workshop on the proposals sometime before that session.
At their Thursday meeting, planning commissioners appeared somewhat blindsided by the proposed amendments, which were forwarded to them by the Walton County Board of County Commissioners for consideration and an eventual recommendation for approval, rejection or modification.
Changes to the land development code and comprehensive plan must ultimately be approved by the County Commission.
During consideration of the proposed amendment halting wetlands-related development density transfers, one planning commission member noted that the proposal had “way more questions than it’s got answers.”
At least a couple people who spoke to the planning commission regarding the amendment, including at least one attorney, warned that reducing the currently allowable development density on properties containing wetlands likely would land the county in court at some point.
One attorney told the planners that reducing currently allowable development density would represent an unconstitutional “taking” of the property, in that it couldn’t be developed to the extent that had previously been allowed.
Also according to public comment, applying the new density rule only to south Walton County would constitute an “arbitrary and capricious” action on the part of the county, thus leaving it open to legal challenge.
Renee Bradley, the senior planner with the county planning department who presented the proposed amendments to the planning commissioners, agreed that there could be some legal questions about the proposal.
