The county’s design firm, HOK, has new direction from the Santa Rosa County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) following Monday’s lengthy commission committee meeting. The result of HOK’s next steps should either finalize downtown Milton as the site for the new building or send the commissioners back to the drawing board for a new location. The decision hinges on two things: CSX selling a critical parcel and the Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) deciding to permit building on what it may discover is wetlands.
If the question of wetlands seems a new one, it is. HOK Senior Vice President Duncan Broyd said in a recent conversation with the firm’s environmental consultant over the CSX parcel, he was told it would likely to be considered a wetland. According to Broyd, a survey needs to take place to determine how much of the parcel is wet and then the ACE needs to determine whether it will permit construction. Broyd said “Maps identify areas of suspected wetlands, which then somebody has to walk to determine (if they area).” Note, while a survey is necessary here, Broyd said so much of the land on the recently reported United Way property is surely wetland the suggestion has been dropped from consideration.
The current BOCC has long been split over where to put the needed courthouse. While Commissioners Bob Cole and Don Salter have not been in lock step over a site, they’ve both opposed the downtown Milton area from earlier designs to Commissioner Rob Williamson’s recent Pine Street idea. With similarly unique stances, Commissioners Jayer Williamson, Rob Williamson, and Lane Lynchard remain in support of the location after last year’s referendum saw the voting citizenry check off “yes” for the downtown Milton site more than the Pea Ridge site or the East Milton site.
Since his election, Rob Williamson has aggressively pushed the board to make a decision whether supporting his Pine Street plan, coming up with a new site, or otherwise coming to a majority agreement on where to put the new courthouse, which would best serve the needs of Santa RosaCounty. He’s repeatedly stated he believes the downtown site does so. However, he did say if the board agrees downtown isn’t the best location, he’d support a RFP, as Salter suggested, and see if anyone in the county would be willing to donate land.
Chairman Lane Lynchard showed willingness to think outside the downtown box with an idea to locate the courthouse where the county auditorium and public services building are located, noting it’s all county owned property. He said the City of Milton might benefit from an auditorium in place of the current courthouse. However, he noted this was “just an alternative” and did not suggest he held this location above the downtown site.
Jayer Williamson has been the lynchpin on a downtown decision, asking for answers to questions on the site from HOK before he’d be willing to endorse the location. However, negative results on HOK’s current task could mean the end of the downtown site regardless of the board’s decision.
Cole pointed out a city buying a piece of property is not so different from a county buying property, which many who spoke during this meeting and those in the past did not want to see the county do. City of Milton Planning Director Randy Jorgenson said the city has a trust fund fed with dollars from TIF (tax increment financing) proceeds. “Property costs come from that. We’re using money earmarked for that purpose.”
Jayer Williamson and Cole both expressed concern there is no set price on the CSX parcel yet. Jorgenson said CSX should complete its process within 30 to 60 days and then will produce a final cost for the property. “I fully believe we will acquire the property,” he said.
By the end of the meeting, Broyd summed up HOK’s orders to include working with the City of Milton to determine the best parking solution for cars not on the judicial center site, determining where wetlands are precisely, and finally seeing what impact there will be on those wetlands.
Keep up with the Press Gazette for the result of these inquiries.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Courthouse vote close, wetlands a factor