CRESTVIEW — The city received a gift in time for Flag Day, which is June 14. Thursday afternoon, 12 flags, poles and mounting hardware were delivered to City Hall. The materials will form a patriotic and historical display in Warriors Wall.

A few hours before the truck delivered the flags, Public Works Director Wayne Steele, assistant director Chuck Powell and facilities manager Stan McKenzie met to discuss how the flags will be hung.

The American-made flags, many of them custom fabricated by The Flag Lady’s Flag Store in Columbus, Ohio, will project from Warriors Hall’s side walls.

The six armed services branch flags will hang in order of each branch’s establishment on the west wall. The east wall will feature the six national flags that have flown over the region currently including Crestview.

Those flags will also be hung in chronological order, beginning with the flag of the Muskogee (Creek) Nation, which donated the flag to the city. The Baker Block Museum donated the flag’s hardware.

The $2,400 display, which the Friends of the Arts proposed to the City Council in March, met with unanimous council approval. All but three of the flags were sponsored within three weeks of the presentation.

In addition to honoring Crestview’s current, past and future service members and rich cultural history, the flags serve one other purpose.

“They will really help with the acoustics in the hall,” Friends of the Arts President Rae Schwartz said.

A mid-July dedication of the display is planned, with the City Council expected to approve a date at its June 13 meeting.

Residents visiting Warriors Hall will learn about America’s military branches and the six nations that ruled the area of present-day Crestview when viewing a flag display to be installed soon.

Here is some trivia:

●The first branch of the U.S. armed forces was the United States Merchant Marine, established June 12, 1775, two days before the U.S. Army.

●Two more of the six branches of the armed services were also established in 1775: the Navy (Oct. 13) and the Marine Corps (Nov. 10).

●The newest branch, the U.S. Air Force, was established 172 years later on Sept. 18, 1947. The Coast Guard was established on Aug. 4, 1790.

●The first nation to rule the present-day Crestview area was the Muskogee (Creek) Nation.

●The shortest sovereignty over the Crestview area was the 78-day rule of the Republic of West Florida.

●Spanish colonial rule actually occurred twice, from 1513 to 1810, with a 20-year gap from 1763-83, during which Great Britain ruled the area.

●The first United States of America flag to flutter over the Crestview area was the original 15-star, 15-stripe “Star Spangled Banner.”

THE DONORS

The Warriors Hall flag display was entirely funded by these resident and business donations:

Donors are:

●Cadenhead Pest Control: U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Air Force and United States flags

●Mayor and Mrs. David Cadle: Colonial Britain

●Crestview High School Spanish Club: Colonial Spain

●Curenton family: Confederate States of America

●Brian Hughes: U.S. Merchant Marine

●Muskogee (Creek) Nation and Baker Block Museum: Muskogee (Creek) Nation

●Cal Zethmayr, WAAZ-WJSB: Republic of West Florida

WARRIORS HALL FLAG DISPLAY TRIVIA

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview officials anticipate July Warriors Hall flags dedication

CRESTVIEW — The display of service branch and historical flags being dedicated next month in Warriors Hall isn’t the only exhibit of historic banners at the Whitehurst Municipal Building.

Ten reproduction flags from the United States of America’s early history adorn the hallway outside the Crestview Police Department. These include the 15-star, 15-stripe “Star Spangled Banner” and the yellow Gadsden Flag, a Revolutionary War flag bearing a coiled rattlesnake and the motto, “Don’t tread on me.”

Some of the flags, such as the red, white and blue-striped John Paul Jones banner, or the Grand Union flag, which bears the British flag in its field, remind viewers of the nation’s fight for independence.

Also of interest is the First Regimental Colors of 1791, a blue flag with an eagle clutching the federal shield as it bursts through the sun and clouds.

The framed flags, which bear battle scars and tattered edges, were donated to the city by the American Legion, but until Police Chief Tony Taylor discovered them in the Whitehurst Building equipment bay, were not on public view.

The display may now be viewed at any time by visitors to the Crestview Police Department.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: History hangs on the Crestview Police Department's walls (PHOTOS)

CRESTVIEW — As city officials work toward streamlining the development permitting process, the city’s administrative fees are receiving an overhaul.

And if Crestview's City Council votes in favor of a revised Land Use Regulations Administrative Fees code on June 13, it will take effect that day.

Why is this so important?

“Primarily, in a nutshell, the majority of these fees have not been looked at since 2013,” growth management Director Teresa Gaillard said in a phone interview. “Basically we're doing some modest adjustment in the building inspection fees.

“Some are actually being removed. The majority are being rephrased and revamped for readability.”

Gaillard has said some sections of the city’s fee schedule haven’t been updated since October 1996.

BY STATE LAW

The Florida Building Code tasks municipalities with assuring new construction or renovations meet state standards.

By law, the city’s permitting fees can only be used to cover the cost of inspecting development to ensure it meets state codes. Crestview makes no profit from fees and inspections.

Constructing a new building in Crestview and neighboring communities requires a variety of permits costing various fees, beginning with a $55 non-refundable base fee proposed under the comprehensive proposed ordinance Gaillard submitted to the City Council on May 9.

Other permits include:

●Building permit: under the proposal, fees would begin at $35 for the first $7,000 of value of a $15,000 or less project, plus $5 for each additional thousand dollars of value

●Plan review fee: beginning at 25 percent of the master permit fee to review plans submitted to the city

●Ancillary fees: For expenses including addendums to plans, revisions of plans, re-submittal of lost or stolen job-site plans, and extra job-site copies of approved plans.

●Mobile home fees

●Temporary use permits, such as for tents, job-site trailers and temporary structures placed for less than 180 days

●Demolition fees, sign fees, electrical permit fees, service fees, circuit fees, electric motor fees, swimming pool electrical systems fees, and transformer fees.

FEES FOR EVERYTHING

Nothing is left to chance, Gaillard said. Thus, doctors’ offices have a fee to install an X-ray machine ($50). Buildings with elevators incur a $175 fee for each lift.

Building heating, air-conditioning, kitchen exhausts, plumbing, gas, water and sewer, and sprinkler systems each get respective fees.

Want to have a sprinkler system in the front yard? There’s a $30 permit fee for that. Fire and security alarms also require permits and fees, as does any driveway connecting to a city street.

If the city’s Land Development Regulation City Code and its fee schedule seem a bit complicated, under the proposed revisions, Growth Management staff will gladly research and interpret it.

For a $40 per item fee.

BAD FOR BUSINESS?

A local business owner questions the fees, and 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, and fees, 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?”

ANALYZING TAX RECEIPTS

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.

STEP BY STEP

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.

ANNUAL FEES

In addition to permits for constructing or renovating buildings, permits and fees collected by Crestview to assure compliance with the Florida Fire Prevention Code include:

●Bonfires and outdoor rubbish fires: $13

●Refinishing and resurfacing bowling lanes: $65

●Calcium carbide storage: $33

●Dust explosion prevention: $33

●Fireworks storage, manufacture, sale or discharge: $65

●Grandstands, tents, membrane structures: $65

●Private fire hydrants: $17

●Special outdoor events, carnivals and fairs: $65 (except carnivals under the jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services)

●Spraying or dipping: $33

●Places of public assembly except those used solely for religious worship: $65

In addition to permits for constructing or renovating buildings, permits and fees collected by Crestview to assure compliance with the Florida Fire Prevention Code include:

●Bonfires and outdoor rubbish fires: $13

●Refinishing and resurfacing bowling lanes: $65

●Calcium carbide storage: $33

●Dust explosion prevention: $33

●Fireworks storage, manufacture, sale or discharge: $65

●Grandstands, tents, membrane structures: $65

●Private fire hydrants: $17

●Special outdoor events, carnivals and fairs: $65 (except carnivals under the jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services)

●Spraying or dipping: $33

●Places of public assembly except those used solely for religious worship: $65

ANNUAL FEES

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: There's a fee for that: Crestview administrative fees get overhauled

CRESTVIEW — The Okaloosa County Supervisor of Elections Office is not making automated phone calls to area residents, SOE officials stated June 9 in a media release.

The office has received multiple reports of voters getting automated phone calls pertaining to requesting absentee or vote-by-mail ballots.

The release states, "At some point during the call, voters are connected to the SOE Office.

"Neither the Supervisor of Elections Office nor any representative service is conducting these calls.

"The voter information used in these calls has not been distributed by the SOE office to any third parties."

For more information, contact the SOE headquarters, 689-5600; or the branch office, 651-7272.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Automated absentee ballot calls not coming from Okaloosa elections office

CRESTVIEW — Okaloosa County Supervisor of Elections Paul Lux is one of three Florida SOEs  appointed to the Military and Overseas Voting Assistance Task Force by Chris H. Chambless, president of the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections.

The other two SOEs are David Stafford of Escambia County and Craig Latimer of Hillsborough County.

Lux said, "With all five service branches represented here in Okaloosa County, the work of this task force is essential to give us the tools to provide the best service we can to the very men and women defending the sacred right to vote. I am honored to be selected to serve."

In 2008, the Okaloosa County Supervisor of Elections conducted independent research efforts to gather data on needs of military and overseas voters from the county, leading to the formation of Our Mission, Your Vote, a digital platform available to overseas voters registered in participating Florida counties.

 Despite widespread advancement in technologies, Lux said, "We have been conducting absentee voting for our military much as we did during the Civil War. With today's technology we simply have to do a better job serving our military."

Okaloosa County currently leads a consortium of 34 Florida counties working together to provide state-of-the-art ballot access to uniformed service members, their families, and citizens living outside the United States through Our Mission, Your Vote. The challenge lies in making certain the ballots are received and counted by the close of the voting period. Lux said, "Now we have to work on how do we get their voted ballots back."

 The task force will study issues involving the development and implementation of an online voting system which allows overseas uniformed services voters to electronically submit voted ballots.

Task Force members are:

●The Secretary of State or his or her designee, who serves as chair

●The Adjutant General or his or her designee

●The executive director of the Agency for State Technology or his or her designee

●One member of the Senate appointed by the President of the Senate

●One member of the House of Representatives appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives

●Three supervisors of elections appointed by the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections

●Three individuals appointed by the Secretary of State who have relevant expertise in computers, the internet, or other associated technologies.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Okaloosa County Supervisor of Elections is on statewide voting task force

Some say impact fees stifle growth. Some say they’re needed to pay for growth’s impact on infrastructure. For more than three years they haven’t been collected at all. Now the fee waiver has expired. What’s next?

CRESTVIEW — When the economy faltered in the late 2000s, many communities, Crestview included, sought to stimulate growth by waiving transportation impact fees.

On April 29, the waiver expired, but without a decision on how to proceed, the fees weren’t being collected and both the city’s Growth Management Department and developers were in a sort of limbo.

At a May 26 special meeting, the City Council agreed to pursue an additional 16-month fee waiver period to allow Growth Management Department staff time to research construction costs, roadway indexing, synchronize capital improvement plans, “and just get the whole scheme of things in line,” Growth Management Director Teresa Gaillard said.

By state law, the city has to do the every-five-years study before it can pass an ordinance to waive or resume collecting traffic impact fees, Gaillard said.

“Most of the contractors are on hold,” she said. “They’re in limbo between their development order and purchasing permits.”

The prospect of the three-year fee waiver expiring spurred a development spurt as developers rushed to get their projects permitted before fees resumed.

“We had several commercial projects came through and secured development orders,” Gaillard said. “We’ve had them going on since the end of November. They all came in to make it before the end of the traffic fee waiver.”

INFRASTRUCTURE STRESS

Development contributes to stress on the city’s infrastructure, including state-owned highways 85 and 90, officials say.

But a substantial amount of that stress on Crestview’s streets comes from outside city limits, Public Works Director Wayne Steele said.

“The county has (permitted) almost 4,000 homes around Crestview in the last five years,” Steele said. “That is more than we built. We have other agencies around us that are allowing people to take up our capacity.”

Steele said impact fees are necessary to help mitigate development’s impact on local infrastructure, but some help is needed from Okaloosa County.

“If the county can allow development to occur in the rural areas right outside our limits, why should we ask our developers to carry that burden?” Steele said.

HELP AND HURT

Officials said impact fees can both help and hurt development. Major businesses, such as national chain stores and restaurants, factor local impact fees into construction costs.

“Sometimes those fees are enough to make or break a small company,” Gaillard said. “Your bigger people pretty much guesstimate when they’re planning. It’s the smaller companies the fees hurt. They’re not prepared to handle that amount.”

Steele said he doesn’t believe the fee waiver has spurred too much development as much as it has taken funds from infrastructure improvements.

“I haven't seen a lot of development happening here while we've had a moratorium,” he said.

And now developers are getting used to Crestview, Destin, Panama City and other neighboring communities scrapping their fees, Gaillard said.

“Traffic impact fees have pretty much been suspended or cities have come up with alternate funding mechanisms to fund transportation improvements where they don’t have to have traffic impact fees, and that’s going on statewide,” she said.

STUDY PERIOD

The 16-month fee waiver extension will be added to the 46 months the fee has already been waived out of the impact fee’s 85-month existence thus farm far, Gaillard said.

Crestview’s population is forecast to grow to 35,000 people by 2035, she said. It has experienced 41 percent growth since 2000.

“A fundamental requirement for economic growth is transportation management,” Gaillard said at the City Council’s May 23 meeting. “In order for us to prosper we need mobility and accessibility.”

“How can we complain about infrastructure and gridlock if we don't do anything?” Councilman Bill Cox asked. “We're dealing with issues now because previous councils have done nothing.”

Gaillard said projects currently on hold while developers determine what the council will do will probably move forward should the 16-month waiver be approved at a June 13 council meeting.

“By the time the projects we’re working on are worked through and ready for their permitting, the waiver will be in place,” she said. “If it had to happen sometime, now was a good time.”

Though the fees are waived until Sept. 30, 2017, the City Council has until July 31, 2017, to pass a new ordinance maintaining the waiver or reinstating the impact fees. Workshops will probably begin around April 2017.

“They’ll be looking at the figures and crunching options during workshops,” Gaillard said.

And in the meantime, Crestview will continue to grow.

Crestview has had traffic impact fees since May 2009. Of those 85 months, the fees have been waived for 46 months. Here’s how much revenue they have produced:

Fiscal year 2008-2009: $112,200

Fiscal year 2009-2010*: $180,419 ($292,619 balance)

Fiscal year 2010-2011**: $243,253 ($535,872 balance)

Fiscal year 2011-2012: $142,928 ($31,716 spent; $647,084 balance)

Fiscal year 2012-2013***: $17,820 ($664,904 balance)

Fiscal year 2013-2014: $0 (fee waived) ($664,904 balance)

Fiscal year 2014-2015: $0 (fee waived) ($30,643 spent; $634,261 balance)

Fiscal year 2015-2016: $0 (fee waived) ($6,075 spent; $628,186 balance)

*Fees waived first six months, 20 percent collected next three months, 40 percent collected last three months

**70 percent collected first six months, 100 percent collected last six months

***100 percent collected first three months; fee waived rest of year

Source: City of Crestview Growth Management Department

IMPACT FEE INCREASES PROPOSED

An April report recommends increases in the city’s traffic impact fees, which are currently waived.

“Everything we touched on about doubled and a quarter,” Growth Management Director Teresa Gaillard said. “But they’re waived until Sept. 30, 2017.”

Gaillard provided these examples showing what planned developments would have had to pay had fees not been waived, and what they would’ve paid under the proposed new traffic impact fees:

●Jimmy John’s: 1,250 square-foot sandwich restaurant: current impact fee (waived) $27,554

Proposed impact fee: $59,880

●Express Oil: 8,000 square-foot automotive shop: Current impact fee (waived): $17,552

Proposed impact fee: $38,272

●Single family dwelling:

Current impact fee (waived): $1,762

Proposed impact fee: $3,898

IMPACT FEES COLLECTED

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: The impact of Crestview's impact fees

LAUREL HILL — After a contentious debate over Mayor Robby Adams' use of his veto powers, two ordinances required to annex former Councilman Johnny James's property into the city were approved on 4-1 votes.

The ordinances must have second readings and approvals at the council's July 7 meeting to pass into law.

James, who was twice elected to the council, and his wife, Ernestine, have been trying for more than a year to have their property annexed into the city after it was discovered in November 2014 that it was actually adjacent to Laurel Hill's boundary.

The property was believed to have been annexed into Laurel Hill with other Robbins Road properties in the 1960s, but due to a clerical error, it was not included.

MAYORAL VETO

Adams vetoed Ordinance 320, which established the city's annexation procedures, informing the council of his decision by a letter read at the May 5 council meeting.

Adams said he would sign the ordinance after the James annexation was complete, assuring the annexation could occur under the city's former procedures.

However, upon researching the veto, Councilman Scott Moneypenny, who has consistently opposed the James property's annexation, discovered that by state statute, an ordinance passed by a municipal council goes into effect 10 days after passing unless vetoed within that time.

"The mayor did not notify the council until 29 days after the passing of the ordinance," Moneypenny. "The mayor had only 10 days, per state statute."

When city attorney Dan Campbell said it appeared Adams' veto was overturned, Moneypenny then said the James annexation couldn't take place because it was not consistent with the newly passed annexation procedures ordinance.

OUTCRY

"You've tried everything else to stop this annexation, which has cost the city more money than it should have," Councilwoman Debra Adams said. "He (James) has already submitted his papers…"

"He paid his money, too!" resident Jeff Senterfitt added.

"He began the process before 320 was in action," Councilman Travis Dewrell said.

"Mr. Johnny James come to the city hall," Senterfitt continued during a public comment period. "He wanted to be in the city. The man done everything he was told to do. Now Mr. Moneypenny, for some reason or other, is fighting it tooth and nail to not let this man become a citizen of Laurel Hill. I don't understand this thing. I don't know why.

"Let's get this behind us. We spent a lot of money that didn't need to be spent. It's going to end up in a legal battle, I assure you."

The council then approved, on 4-1 votes, first readings of ordinances approving the James's petition for annexation and approving a small scale amendment to the city's comprehensive plan adding the couple's property as low-density residential housing.

Moneypenny voted nay both times.

"We will consider the veto was invalid until we get something different from the attorney," Council Chairman Larry Hendren said, referring the matter to Campbell for clarification.

"So 320 is in place?" Dewrell asked.

"It is in place," Campbell replied.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Former Laurel Hill councilman's property closer to annexation (VIDEO)

CRESTVIEW — The Northwest Florida League of Cities has made it official: Crestview is excellent.

At the confederation of municipalities’ recent dinner, city officials were presented with a glass trophy recognizing Crestview’s livability.

“We received the 2016 Community Excellence Award for cities over 20,000 population,” City Clerk Betsy Roy said.

City Council President Joe Blocker called it a “prestigious moment” when Crestview’s name was announced for the award. Councilman JB Whitten accepted the trophy on behalf of Mayor David Cadle, who was delayed arriving at the event.

Whitten said one of the accomplishments the league found worthy of recognition was the Crestview Centennial Committee’s planning for the city’s 100th birthday celebrations.

“It was nice to be recognized in front of all the other cities,” Whitten said. “It was fantastic.”

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview receives Community Excellence award

CRESTVIEW — After a comprehensive presentation by Okaloosa County officials, the Crestview City Council shifted their support behind the new courthouse orientation decision.

Three dozen residents filled the City Council chamber Thursday night for a special council meeting, during which County Commissioner Nathan Boyles and Public Works Director Jason Autrey described the process that led to rotating the new building's footprint clockwise to face the north leg of Main Street.

As a Main Street business and property owner and former member of the Historic Preservation Board, Boyles said he, too, was at first skeptical of the orientation away from the courthouse's traditional southern orientation down Main Street.

"I share a love of historic downtown Crestview," Boyles said. "I'm heavily invested in downtown Crestview."

But the courthouse's designers' technical review of site options, including an exhaustive analysis of how best to situate the new building, changed his mind.

"Their decision was rotating the building like they did in the '50s would take the best advantage of that site," Boyles said. "I went from being a skeptic to being a supporter."

REQUIREMENTS

Autrey said the building's requirements drove its site situation.

"We spent the majority of the upfront time saying, 'What did the building need?'" he said.

For starters, to allow growth, the new, four-courthouse building will be 68,000 square feet, surpassing the current courthouse's 42,000 square feet.

Despite diligent efforts and much brain-wracking, the plan could not be wedged into the site's limited property. Noting that the current building is already rotated clockwise from the original 1918 courthouse, designers recommended further rotation to take full advantage of the site.

"The building is set back 60 feet from Main Street," Autrey said. "You will see the columns when you approach it, but you won't be looking right at the front. The best part of it is, if we ever want to expand, go right ahead."

PRAISE

Council members were pleased with the detailed explanation and presentation of design renderings prepared to show actual vantage points from downtown streets toward the new courthouse.

The belated presentation also smoothed some feathers ruffled when councilmen and members of the public felt the decision to approve the orientation was pushed through at county commissioners' Shalimar meeting earlier this month.

"I liked what we had tonight," Councilman JB Whitten said. "I would've liked to have had that before the vote took place."

"If I had seen this presentation before last Monday's meeting, I might have been a little more swayed," Councilman Doug Faircloth said.

"We needed to know the facts before we jumped the gun," Councilman Shannon Hayes said to Boyles and Autrey. "I really respect you for coming here. I really think in your heart this wouldn't have become such a big issue."

Okaloosa County Public Works Director Jason Autrey offered these factors that led to the decision to rotate the new Crestview courthouse to face Main Street's north leg.

●Improved access to mechanical areas

●Adjacent cell tower separation

●Circulation/facility access

●Entrance toward Main Street

●Maximize parking

●Preservation of 50-foot oak tree on north side

●Potential expansion

●Security

●Underground utilities currently running through site

●View from Main Street

COURTHOUSE SITE CONSIDERATIONS

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview council adds support for courthouse orientation

CRESTVIEW — The Crestview City Council will meet 5 p.m. May 26 at city hall, 198 Wilson St., N.

Here is the special meeting's agenda.

1. Call to order

2. Pledge of Allegiance

3. Public opportunity on council propositions

4. Presentation from the public

a. Okaloosa County Courthouse

5. Items for discussion/consideration

a. Traffic impact fees

b. Ordinance 1603 – traffic impact fees

6. Comments from the audience

7. Adjournment

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview City Council special meeting agenda: May 26