CRESTVIEW — North Okaloosa County travelers anticipate expanded opportunities after the Jan. 12 announcement of a new airline serving Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport.

Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air will offer direct flights to and from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport beginning May 20 and MidAmerica St. Louis Airport in Belleville, Illinois, beginning June 2. Service will be seasonal at first, with introductory fares beginning at $39 each way.

Allegiant has been flying since 1997 using a low-fare formula that has allowed it to dodge legacy carriers’ financial challenges, Okaloosa County Airports officials said.

“They’re a very successful, ultra low-cost carrier,” Interim Airports Director Tracy Stage said.

Allegiant’s à-la-carte services selection model cuts fares by allowing passengers to choose just the services they need. The carrier’s specialty is marketing vacation packages, which drew Allegiant to the Emerald Coast.

“They partner with the community in selling hotel rooms, rental cars and tours,” Deputy Airports Director Mike Stenson said. “To be profitable, they rely on ancillary revenue.”

For local travelers, Allegiant’s arrival adds two more direct destinations, supplementing Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas and Houston hubs now served by American, Delta and United Airlines.

$6 MILLION IMPACT

Local business leaders lauded the opportunities Allegiant’s arrival brings, both for expanded outbound destinations and for attracting more visitors.

“It can only be good for our area,” Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Valerie Lott said. “It’s a no-brainer. It brings more people in and gives local residents and businesses quicker access to more airports. That is always advantageous.”

“St. Louis and Cincinnati have always looked upon us as their no. 1 beach for vacations and getaways,” Emerald Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Ed Schroeder said. “Now, they’ll have a great alternative to the 12-hour drive. That allows them to enjoy two extra days on the beach.”

“In the first year, we’re looking at economic impacts of over $6 million to our communities, and it can just compound from there,” Stage said.

More than half that estimate comes from tourists, Allegiant stated in a press release.

“The new flights will operate twice weekly and will bring more than 12,000 additional visitors each year to the Destin/Fort Walton Beach area and generate an estimated $3.5 million annually in total visitor spending,” the release stated.

MORE TO COME

From Allegiant’s St. Louis and Cincinnati hubs, local travelers can connect with nationwide and worldwide destinations on flights operated by Allegiant and other airlines.

“It would be outstanding for the Okaloosa community because of the fact that we have so many retired and active duty military people with spouses of European descent,” said Jim Mills, a Navy veteran whose wife, Isabelle, is French. “They are constantly looking forward to flying back to see their families.”

Direct flights from Cincinnati to Paris Charles de Gaulle will expand currently limited connection opportunities for student and adult Sister City Program members, Mills, the program’s former president, said.

“It’ll be a great opportunity for Northwest Florida State College and Crestview High School, which have large programs active with Noirmoutier,” Mills said. “It can save adults and students a lot of money.”

Crestview real estate agent Dino Sinopoli, who frequently travels for business and pleasure, said he’s excited about the local airport’s expanded options.

“The better the value in airline seats, the more you can enjoy travel,” he said. “For our economy, the benefit is getting the people down from the north to enjoy our beaches and amenities.

“For us, we can zip up there and connect to some more locations. I’ve got family all over the place. It’s good to have a cheaper airline that services our area.”

A NINE-YEAR EFFORT

Attracting Allegiant Air to Destin-Fort Walton Beach has been a nine-year process involving intense competition from neighboring airports such as Panama City and Pensacola, Stenson said.

“They didn’t just come knocking on the door to tell us they were flying from VPS,” Stage said. “We had a very competitive effort to bring them here, and we won it.

"It is all due to our low operating costs and how we manage our airports.”

“One of the reasons we’re able to keep our airport costs low is because of our partnership with Eglin Air Force Base,” Stenson said.

For local flyers, St. Louis and Cincinnati are just the beginning, he said. Allegiant plans to grow its Okaloosa service to other destinations.

“All the cities they have service from is just amazing,” Stenson said. “What they do is start with service to a couple airports and incrementally add new cities every year. For instance, Myrtle Beach started a few years ago with two cities, like we are, and now has service to 14 cities.”

Stenson said bringing Allegiant Air to VPS should affect the airport’s other three carriers.

“Having a low-cost carrier is going to lower fares across the board,” he said. “You may not see it in year one, but you’ll be seeing it across the board for the other airlines.”

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Allegiant Air begins Okaloosa County service in May

CRESTVIEW — The City Council has unanimously approved an interlocal agreement with the Okaloosa County Board of Commissioners to replace the county courthouse.

Fire Chief Joe Traylor had approved the revised agreement after discussion at the council's December 2015 meeting.

County Commissioner Nathan Boyles said he hopes the old downtown courthouse will be vacated by the end of February, with Crestview retaining some functions during the new courthouse's demolition and construction.

Preparing temporary facilities has delayed vacating the current courthouse, he said.

Boyles said he had originally hoped the current courthouse would've been vacated by the end of 2015.

"We're having to renovate the space at the Old Bethel Road facility, and renovate some of the space in the old hospital to move clerk staff in there," Boyles said.

The former county hospital, on the corner of State Road 85 and U.S. Highway 90, now houses the Crestview Manor nursing home and several county services.

During construction, which is expected to last 16 to 18 months after demolition, county commissioners will have their Crestview meetings in the City Council chamber.

Boyles also said the county may help celebrate Crestview's centennial with related events.

"I hope there would be a ground-breaking ceremony (for the new courthouse) for the city centennial in April," Boyles said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Some court functions to remain in Crestview (VIDEO)

CRESTVIEW — Meeting for the first time in 2016, the Crestview City Council rapidly worked its way through a relatively short agenda.

During the Monday evening meeting, city leaders:

• Distributed awards for parade entries and business window decorations for the Main Street Crestview Association's annual Christmas parade.

"It's one of the greatest events we do as a city and we have to keep expanding it," Mayor David Cadle said. "This year we added another block, and it was lined with people all the way."

• Amended the council's Rules of Procedure to allow the administrative assistant to the council to receive requests for special meetings in the city clerk's absence.

The order of business was also amended to include "opening of the meeting" and provision for old business unresolved from previous meetings to be discussed.

• Unanimously approved providing support for the Spanish Trail Cruisers Club's annual car show, which this year will be April 16 and will include the city's official centennial birthday party.

• Unanimously approved plans for the Camille Cove subdivision on Live Oak Church Road. Developer Paul Cassidy agreed to pay a $3,191.12 recreation fee as the lot available for park use was less than half an acre and too small to turn into a city-maintained park.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview council OKs car show, new subdivision

OKALOOSA ISLAND — A candidate forum for the Florida House of Representatives, District 4, is set for 6-7:30 p.m., Jan. 20, in El Matador condo's Fiesta Room, 909 Santa Rosa Blvd., on Okaloosa Island. 

A candidate meet-and-greet is set for 5:30-6 p.m. followed by the forum and straw poll. 

Candidates Laurie Bartlett, Wayne Harris, Armand Izzo, Mel Ponder and Jonathan Tallman plan to participate.

The forum, co-sponsored by Florida Panhandle Patriots, is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be provided.  

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: House of Representatives District 4 candidate forum scheduled

LAUREL HILL — Technology or web design students at Laurel Hill School or Northwest Florida State College may get the opportunity to design the city's official website.

Councilman Travis Dewrell suggested letting a student gain practical experience and earn community service hours by designing by designing Laurel Hill's web presence.

At Thursday evening's council meeting, Dewrell received unanimous approval from his fellow council members to approach school officials for their suggestions.

"Maybe we'd get an idea and bring it back to the council and say, 'Hey, this is what the IT instructor at the school has to say,'" Dewrell said.

Councilwoman Debra Adams, a teacher at Laurel Hill School, said the proposal may have some flaws, most notably the fact that the school currently has no information technology teacher.

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Undeterred, Dewrell said another idea could be to open the project up to anyone in the community, but he'd like to see a student receive the project.

"Students have to have a certain number of community service hours on projects," he said. "Maybe somebody would like to earn community service hours doing this."

Councilman Scott Moneypenny, who first broached the idea of establishing an official city website, said Ray Howell, the owner of www.LaurelHillNow.com, has offered the site to the city provided its archives of cemetery records, history and area family genealogy remain part of it.

Moneypenny said Howell has used NWFSC student interns to build and maintain the site, and might be open to doing so again to convert it into the city's official site.

NO PERSONAL DATA

Former mayor Joan Smith asked if the site would be secure, given Dewrell's suggestion that photos of community events could be uploaded in a gallery section.

Dewrell said that as he envisions the city's site, while it should include a link to a private vendor's site from which city water customers can pay their bills, it would not collect personal data.

"What I am proposing is something that we wouldn't have to take secure information," Dewrell said. "It would be as secure as any other website. But I don't want to be responsible for accepting anyone's private information."

Upon the council's unanimous approval of Dewrell's request to approach Laurel Hill School officials, Council Chairman Larry Hendren turned to him and said, "Go to school, Travis."

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Laurel Hill council seeks students' help to design city's official website

CRESTVIEW — A local business owner questions whether city codes are clear and evenly enforced after learning that his store violated an ordinance.

The incident raises a larger question about how well city codes match local businesses' needs, he says. 

Crestview Motorsports co-owner Craig Shaw received a code violation notification after he displayed some vehicles across the street from his showroom.

Allen Flanagan, his partner and store manager, said the store’s location — up the block from South Ferdon Boulevard — is hard to spot, and placing a sign close to Ferdon, also the state highway, would be too expensive.

That's why they displayed some of the vehicles across Williams Street.   

The city’s ordinance states “a separate license shall be required for each place” where a company does business, but Shaw said he believes the ordinance isn’t clear.

“As literal as it's written, you can't do business at any location but the address on your business license,” Shaw said. “If you're going to enforce it, enforce it evenly.”

For example, he said, “what about an insurance agent who writes a policy sitting at your kitchen table?”

REWRITING IN THE WORKS

Crestview Code Enforcement Officer Senida Oglesby said city ordinances do cover a range of situations.

“Let’s say you’re an air conditioning repair business,” Oglesby said. “You would need a business tax receipt for your office location only. But the code does not require a business tax receipt for each home where you go repair the equipment. It’s for the office location only.”

Shaw’s company violated the ordinance by using a lot where it wasn’t licensed to do business, according to the code’s phrasing.

“If you take the merchandise to an offsite parcel, you need to get a business tax receipt for that site,” Oglesby said, noting a camper dealership not far from Shaw’s company must have five licenses to cover all of its sales lots.

Obtaining a tax receipt is the first step in conducting business in Crestview, Oglesby said.

“The city would (consider) the zoning and parking requirements” among other criteria, Oglesby said. “If the parcel doesn’t meet the requirements, the owner can’t conduct business there.”

Shaw said he now realizes that using the lot at the corner of Williams and South Ferdon Boulevard to display off-road vehicles involves more than just getting the lot owner’s permission.

But that still doesn’t address the ordinance’s perceived vagueness, he said.

City officials are aware of the code’s deficiencies, Mayor David Cadle said, noting he frequently receives calls from business owners with concerns about codes and enforcement.

The Growth Management Department is evaluating the code, Cadle said.

“City officials are addressing the ordinance and rewriting the ordinance so it’s not so broad,” he said. “When it’s ready, it’ll come back before the (city) council.”

'NOT BUSINESS FRIENDLY'

Business has evolved a lot since Craig Shaw's father, Foy, a founding Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce member, started Shaw Moving and Storage in the 1940s.

“It (the code) just doesn’t fit today’s business model. To me it seems old. Everybody is digital. People work all over, not just in their office or shop,” Shaw said. “They’re mobile. I should be able to be licensed and then to do business anywhere in the city.”

The broadly phrased code makes it easy to unintentionally violate, She said.

“If I'm mobile or I'm bringing a demo unit to your location, I'm in violation of the code,” he said.

As a leader in the business community, Shaw says he regularly hears from out-of-town business owners who believe it’s hard to open shop in Crestview, and ordinances like the one his company allegedly violated are among the reasons for the perception.

“City officials don’t understand when people come in and say, ‘You’re not business friendly,’” Shaw said. “You have things like this and it creates a perception that Crestview’s not business friendly.”

The status quo doesn't have to remain, City Council President Shannon Hayes said, adding he welcomes Shaw's and other citizens' input about local ordinances.

“One of our duties is, if we think there's a change that needs to be made for the betterment of our citizens, we need to do it,” he said.

“We're here to serve the citizens, and if we think it's for the betterment of the city, we as a group of council members can look into changing an ordinance.”

While the code is being addressed, Oglesby said she will continue helping businesses comply with existing laws.

“Our job is to educate citizens and business owners, let them know that they’re in violation and provide them with the code or Florida statute that covers that,” she said.

Section 18-29 of Crestview's Code of Ordinances, which governs business locations, states: “Any person desiring to engage in any exhibition, trade, business, vocation, occupation or profession for which a license is required shall designate in the application for license the place where the exhibition, trade, business, vocation, occupation, calling or profession is located.

"A separate license shall be required for each place at which any exhibition, trade, business, vocation, occupation, calling or profession is carried on."

BUSINESS TAX RECEIPTS

Obtaining a business tax receipt is the first step to conduct business in Crestview, Code Enforcement Officer Senida Oglesby says. The Planning and Zoning, Building, and Crestview Fire departments review the application.

An application can be rejected for several reasons, but the most common is a business that wants to open in a section with conflicting zoning. “The city would (consider) the zoning and parking requirements,” among other criteria, Oglesby said.

Sometimes, a business’ supplemental address doesn’t meet code requirements. “If the parcel doesn’t meet the requirements, they can’t conduct business there,” Oglesby said. “You don’t want people parking out in the streets, and you don’t want people crossing the street to get to the office.”

THE ORDINANCE SAYS…

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Do Crestview's business codes deter growth?

CRESTVIEW — The City Council has unanimously agreed to extend the city’s traffic fee waiver four months to allow a required traffic study to be completed.

But City Councilman Bill Cox said that’s enough.

“That's going to be three years and four months,” Cox said. “I can't agree to extending them any longer than that. If you put something on sale without any kind of deadline, the mindset is ‘You can always buy something on sale.’”

The fees — which, until waived to stimulate development during the recent recession, put more than $600,000 into the city’s roads coffers — have not been collected for three years.

If the council allowed the waiver to expire, on Jan. 1 the city could resume collecting the fees, which help compensate for additional traffic development contributes to local roads.

Whether fees are waived or not, Growth Management Director Teresa Gaillard said, by law, the traffic study must be performed anyway. If the city chooses to do away with the impact fee entirely, it then needs to revise the comprehensive plan, Gaillard said.

Public Works Director Wayne Steele supports the fee because it helps compensate the city for extra traffic on its roads. Right now, he said, the section of State Road 85 by Wal-Mart is beyond its designed capacity and can’t support further development.

“The (Florida Department of Transportation) can actually deny any access to Highway 85 (for new development) because we'd be in violation of our ordinance,” Steele said at Monday evening’s City Council meeting. “They would say we have to make improvements before they allow us to add any new development that will add more trips to 85.”

Councilman Doug Faircloth said he favored reinstating the fee, but with a slight change.

“I would move we change the name of the impact fees, and there's a reason. There are some businesses that want to come to the city and they don't want to have to pay a traffic impact fee,” he said.

“I would propose we call them infrastructure maintenance and construction fees.”

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview City Council extends impact fee waiver

CRESTVIEW — The public Monday night got a good look at several façade renderings that led to the stately, six-columned design accepted by the Historical Preservation Board for the new Okaloosa County courthouse.

"I felt we had a consensus at the meeting (with the board) for the columns, the use of brick, the opening of the windows, the stair towers," architect David Alsop said during the presentation.

Some of the designs included a hipped roof on top of the central section as well as the courthouse's side wings, and two versions had ornamental brackets along the roof line and stair towers.

Both features didn't sit well with the preservation board, which felt they didn't follow the spirit of the original 1918 courthouse originally on the site.

"It was the consensus that the brackets should go," Alsop said.

CLASSIC DESIGN

The approved design keeps the hipped roofs on the wings, as well as brick cladding and tall, but not floor-to-ceiling, windows.

Alsop said the nearly 70,000-square-foot building's floor plan is essentially designed, but was not presented as the exterior façade was the focus of the public presentation.

While the Sam Marshall Architects design has classic elements and massing to compliment Crestview's historic downtown, it will be energy efficient and handicapped accessible, Alsop said.

Modern features include impact resistant, fixed glass, high energy efficient windows with aluminum frames and standing seam metal roofs on the wings.

"It has to be built to last 50 or 60 years, because that's how often you get to replace a courthouse," Alsop said.

SECURITY

Unlike the current courthouse, in which judges, prisoners and the public use the same entrances and hallways, judges will have their own entrance in the new building, which will also have a secure sally port for bringing in and removing prisoners.

The courthouse's main entrance will face downtown Crestview, with no entrance on the U.S. Highway 90 side.

While most residents were cautiously complimentary of the design, one man was not satisfied.

"I have to say it but this doesn't look like a courthouse. It looks like a library or something," he said. "And the site is wrong. A good site is across from the Winn-Dixie. As this city grows and the parking problem grows, downtown, it can't grow."

DEMOLITION

Okaloosa County Public Works Director Jason Autrey said he expects the current building to be vacated by February, allowing asbestos mitigation and then demolition to begin immediately afterward.

"It's not as simple as taking that Lego structure you built on your living room floor and running over it with your foot," Autrey said.

Construction of the new courthouse is expected to take about 16 to 18 months, depending on the weather, he said.

For security reasons, court functions will have to be temporarily relocated to the courthouse in Fort Walton Beach, though some clerk of court services will remain in Crestview, possibly in the Brackin Building on Wilson Street, Autrey said.

"We will have some services in the north end," Autrey said, especially clerk of court functions.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview courthouse exterior designs presented

CRESTVIEW — A quick between-meetings discussion in the city council chamber resolved a potential sticking point in an interlocal agreement between the city and the county to expedite replacing the Okaloosa County courthouse.

Prior to a workshop before Monday evening's City Council meeting, county board of commissioners Chairman Nathan Boyles presented a draft memorandum of understanding that would allow the county to handle all aspects of the project, including inspecting plans and on-site construction details to assure code compliance.

That didn't sit well with Crestview building official Jonathon Bilby and Fire Chief Joe Traylor.

CITY INSPECTORS

Bilby, who inspects building sites to assure codes are met, requested the council to vote against the request "so I can do my job as I've been charged with doing."

Traylor said legally his department is obligated to perform inspections for fire code compliance.

 "The authority to enforce the fire code rests solely with the fire department, per state statute," Traylor said. When the project is complete, "the Crestview Fire Department is required to provide fire protection."

Boyles said the agreement as written was simply a way to streamline the demolition of the current 1955 courthouse and expedite construction of its replacement.

"At the end of the day, what we should all focus on is getting this project done as quickly and efficiently as possible for the benefit of all our citizens," Boyles said.

COMPROMISE

Mayor David Cadle urged the city and county work together on the project.

"We need to get past this competition between the county and city," he said. "Let's work something out that's a compromise."

After the workshop adjourned, Cadle, Traylor and Boyles held a brief discussion and agreed that the fire department would fulfill its obligation to perform fire inspections.

The City Council agreed with the plan, noting the agreement already made provision for Bilby's department to augment county inspectors as needed, for which the city would be reimbursed.

"I think we're of the consensus we go with the changes to the agreement with the fire department added, and go with it, and to maintain the building inspector under the purview of the county," city Council President Shannon Hayes summarized.

Boyles assured the council there were no hard feelings and appreciated the city's cooperation.

"There is not problem. This is working things out before there are issues," Boyles said. "This is a way to streamline the project. My take is, it doesn't make a hill of beans bit of difference to me who does the inspections. I just want a quick and efficient process."

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview, Okaloosa officials compromise to expedite courthouse project

CRESTVIEW — The Southern Rail Commission may expand membership eastward as Amtrak considers restoring Gulf Coast passenger rail service between New Orleans and Jacksonville.

Crestview Mayor David Cadle said commission members — currently representing Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana — recently briefed DeFuniak Springs Mayor Bob Campbell, a Destin City Council representative and him following the SRC’s Dec. 4 meeting in Mobile.

“The restoration of Gulf Coast rail service depends on what Congress does with Amtrak’s budgeting,” Cadle said.

Commission members were encouraged by the U.S. Senate’s Dec. 3 passage of a $325 million transportation bill, including $500,000 to study restoring passenger rail service to the Gulf Coast, according to AL.com. The potential for federal rail service funding marks a turnaround from the government’s previous stance, which demanded affected states pay for passenger rail service, the website stated.

Before Hurricane Katrina, Amtrak’s “Sunset Limited” passed through Crestview and neighboring communities including DeFuniak Springs and Pensacola. However, Cadle said, the train’s inconvenient Crestview stop in the early morning hours, coupled with a poor on-time record, deterred ridership.

The proposed service, if approved, likely would follow the “Sunset Limited’s” New Orleans-to-Jacksonville route. That train had stops including Gulfport, Mississippi; Mobile; Pensacola; and Tallahassee.

SRC Chairman Greg White said restoring Gulf Coast rail service in three to five years is “realistic," according to a report by WBRC-TV in Birmingham. “Amtrak specifically has established a series of meetings across the Gulf Coast with stake holders that they hope to bring to the table,” White said.

Meeting participants include leaders of communities, such as Crestview, where the new service could stop, and railroads such as CSX Transportation, which would provide some of the rail infrastructure.

If passenger rail service does return, it would work well with local plans to promote the downtown area by renaming a portion of Industrial Drive as Crestview Junction.

“The CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) has plans to build a new depot similar to Crestview’s original station for its Crestview Junction initiative,” Cadle said. “Maybe one day that new depot can be used for the real thing.”

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Amtrak may restore Gulf Coast service with Crestview stop