Per the Northwest Florida Daily News, the Walton County, Florida commissioners appear headed for a closed-door meeting to discuss launching an independent investigation on their behalf into alleged irregularities with storm water retention standards at the Sandestin resort and residential community in Miramar Beach.
The storm water retention issue is the subject of a Walton County Circuit Court filing earlier this month from Alan Osborne, a longtime resident of the Driftwood Estates development within Sandestin.
Osborne has been involved in legal wrangling with the county over flooding in the residential area for a number of years. He has alleged, broadly, that the county has not been enforcing proper storm water retention standards in Sandestin for years, which has led to regular flooding in his neighborhood.
In his latest court filing, Osborne is asking a Walton County judge to issue a declaratory judgment on whether or not the county is violating its land development code and storm water retention standards in Sandestin. In addition to alleged problems within Sandestin, Osborne contends that the alleged storm water issues have adversely affected water quality in the adjoining Choctawhatchee Bay.
Recently, in apparent connection with that litigation, Osborne has been sending emails to county commissioners, some of which also have been sent to the Daily News. The emails contain letters and various other documents related to Osborne’s contention that development has been allowed to proceed at Sandestin over the years without adequate storm water retention standards.
At Tuesday’s commission meeting, Commissioner Mike Barker, elected to his seat in November, obliquely pressed for the county to conduct an investigation into Osborne’s allegations.
Under discussion of an item he placed on the agenda titled “Driftwood Estates,” Barker said, “This has nothing to do with any lawsuit or any legal proceeding now pending or that might come up in the future. What this does have to do with is a ton of emails that we all get, all the time, concerning things, insinuations and improprieties for the board, for the commissioners, which points a finger directly back at me and all of us.”
Barker went on to note that the alleged issues at Sandestin date back years before his time on the commission.
“But since the election, I do have a responsibility of what happens in the county,” he said, adding that “a lot of things that have been said (apparently in connection with the Sandestin issues) just go way over my head. It’s stuff that I really don’t have any idea of what is accurate.
“What I would like to see is an independent study or an investigation into that area,” Barker said, “simply to see if there’s anything that we’re doing wrong, or have done, that we need to own it, and correct it.” Similarly, Barker said, “if it’s determined that we’re doing nothing wrong, then so be it, and we’re done with it … .”
As Barker was making a motion for the independent study, outgoing Walton County Attorney Sidney Noyes, whose resignation becomes effective within a matter of days, interrupted him to warn of the latest pending litigation with Osborne.
In light of Osborne’s latest legal move, Noyes suggested that, with the next county attorney, any investigation related to the application of storm water retention standards used at Sandestin be “privileged and confidential while that litigation is pending, rather than us doing that in this open forum.”
Otherwise, Noyes told commissioners, an investigation “could hinder us in that pending litigation.”
Commissioner Danny Glidewell joined Barker in calling for an independent investigation conducted on behalf of the commission, but agreed with Noyes that it be kept confidential.
“There’s so much that’s been said back and forth that I don’t know who’s right and who’s wrong,” Glidewell said. “… If we’re right, I want something to say that. If we’re wrong, I want to know how to fix it.”
Noyes offered to meet with commissioners individually in private to discuss the storm water issues, or suggested that commissioners have such discussions with the Adkinson Law Firm, which likely will be brought in as temporary county counsel following a vote at the commission’s March 9 meeting.
