CRESTVIEW — Ann Sprague, president of the Crestview Area Shelter for the Homeless' board of directors, is surprised, but undeterred.

A proposed homeless shelter location — next to the Okaloosa Health Department office on U.S. Highway 90 — raised the Crestview City Council's concerns. The site is across the highway from the Northwest Florida State College Robert L.F. Sikes Education Center, which borders Twin Hills Park.

While council members agreed a homeless shelter is needed in Crestview, some just don’t want it near the city’s flagship park.

“Because of the general proximity of that community park, would that be a place where we’d see them (the homeless) more?” then-Councilwoman Robyn Helt said on Monday.

“I have issues of our kids,” Council President Shannon Hayes said. “You know the type of individuals who are in these type shelters. The kids are right across the street.”

“That's my main concern, and I think it’s the citizens’ concern,” Hayes said. “We don’t want it. Not across the street from the park.”

The reaction was unexpected, Sprague said.

“I had no idea it was going to be such a complex situation,” she said after the meeting.

Joe Barley, a C.A.S.H. volunteer who presented the proposal, said, “This would be good for homeless people. It’s right next to the health department. We could send people next door for a medical examination or dental help.”

Barley and Sprague said homeless people prefer to be left alone and are not apt to wander into the park and interact with residents, including children.

“We have very, very few problems with them, and most of the homeless are willing and want to work,” but impediments — such as inaccessibility to the Internet and difficulty obtaining IDs — make getting a job more difficult, she said.

A “generous,” anonymous gift has recently made constructing a shelter feasible, Sprague said. “Nothing’s in concrete,” she said. “We just know we need some type of permanent facility. We need it now.”

Barley, one of the founders of the Caring and Sharing food bank and a HOPE Network soup kitchen volunteer, said the area homeless problem won't be relieved without short-term housing.

Helt agreed that the homeless problem is “a significant issue we have in our city."

"That is certainly a social need that needs to be met within our community, and it’s a spiritual need, a calling that we have to help the needy and the poor and the widows and orphans,” she said.

—

WANT TO HELP?

Residents wishing to volunteer or contribute money toward Crestview Area Shelter for the Homeless may call its board of directors president, Anne Sprague, at 826-1770.

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Proposed Crestview homeless shelter location raises concerns

CRESTVIEW — A local landowner wants to swap land with the city. The deal, if approved, would give Crestview equivalent acreage without its current restrictions.

The city's 2.6-acre plot, west of the Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce office, is part of a 25-acre grant presented under former Mayor George Whitehurst's administration. The first building constructed on the site was the post office. A subsequent donation was intended for a civic center, grantor Don Dewrell said.

“Originally, it was supposed to be three city buildings: the city library, the community center and a city administration building,” he said. The chamber of commerce office was later built under a land-use restriction waiver.

Dewrell said he plans to develop the wooded tract north of the civic center land, and wants to regain possession of the plot beside the chamber of commerce office. He offered to exchange the parcel for similar acreage across Farmer Street behind the Community Center. However, that plot is longer and narrower than the civic center plot.

The swap “would give the city a valuable piece of property that did not have restrictions on it in exchange for property that has restrictions on it,” he said Monday during a City Council workshop.

Currently, if the city built anything other than a civic building on the land, ownership would revert to Dewrell and his partners.

Council members said the city has no plans for the tract, which is used for impromptu children’s soccer games — which, Dewrell said, “is not an authorized use.”

Some city officials were concerned that, if the swap were approved, the city would receive property too narrow for some uses, such as a recreation field.

Councilwoman Robyn Helt, attending her last council meeting, favored the swap.

“If you have someone who works with a spirit of benevolence initially to help the city locate these facilities on the north side, the time has come to reciprocate that,” Helt said.

Fire Chief Joe Traylor, who is interested in locating a new north Crestview fire station in the area, said facilitating Dewrell’s development would contribute taxes and generate jobs while providing the city an unrestricted piece of land for development.

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: DEAL? Crestview could exchange restricted parcel for unrestricted property

LAUREL HILL — Councilman Johnny James has an opportunity to regain the seat that became questionable after he discovered he didn't actually live within city limits.  

The City Council voted 3-1 to grant him time to apply to annex his property into the city.

Though the vote requires James to step down from the council, newly sworn-in council members Debra Adams and Daniel Lane spoke in favor of reinstating him after annexation. That would follow the wishes of voters who twice elected him to office, they said.

James' residency has been under question since November 2014, when it was discovered that his home was not annexed into the city along with other properties across the street in the 1960s, as originally thought.

Newly seated Councilman Scott Moneypenny initially moved to have James forfeit his seat in accordance with the city charter.

Adams resisted, saying, "an error was made some time ago… There was no malicious intent on Mr. James' part."

City attorney Dan Campbell said whether James retains his seat is up to the council.

"You file a petition to be annexed in," Campbell advised James. "It's up to the city council to vote to let you, and after that they can vote you back on the council."

When Moneypenny's vote failed on a 2-2 tie, Adams proposed keeping James' seat open until he could complete annexation.

"We cannot break the law," Moneypenny said, noting the three new council members had just sworn to uphold the laws of the state and the city charter.

"I'm not saying we break the law," Adams said. "I'm saying we remove him now, we annex him in, then we bring him back in like the voters say."

"I think you have an opportunity to correct a mistake," her husband, Mayor Robby Adams, said. "There were 86 people who voted for him. How do you tell those people their vote didn't count?"

"I think the mistake needs to be righted and not throw him (James) out the door," Lane said to audience applause.

Debra Adams then moved to have James take a leave of absence from the council, have his property annexed upon his request, and then have him eligible to be reappointed to his seat.

The motion passed 3-1, with Moneypenny voting nay.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Laurel Hill councilman offered chance for annexation and reinstatement

Okaloosa County’s 2015-16 budget deliberations won’t begin until mid-summer, but officials are already prioritizing funding needs.

Among those is the county courthouse in Crestview, which has served citizens since 1953 and is in dire need of renovation.

Commissioners have budgeted about $12 million for the project but also have asked the state Legislature for an additional $5 million appropriation.

“It’s a safety issue right now for the public,” Commissioner Carolyn Ketchel said, noting that prisoners and the public often are forced to occupy the same spaces.

“ … That’s our county seat. We have to make that a building everyone’s proud of and that works functionally.”

Commission Chairman Nathan Boyles said the restoration and expansion of the courthouse will be “a topic of substantial discussion” during budget deliberations, particularly if the legislature rejects the county’s funding request.

Contact Daily News Staff Writer Kari C. Barlow at 850-315-4438 or kbarlow@nwfdailynews.com.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Courthouse among county's top priorities

CRESTVIEW — A sewer pipeline construction via directional bore under State Road 85 at Hospital Drive will be performed throughout the day on March 26, Crestview Public Works has announced.

No lanes on SR 85 will be closed, however, city officials ask that motorists drive with caution through the work zone to ensure the safety of the construction workers.

Hospital Drive at SR 85 will remain open to traffic, with construction equipment located adjacent to the road on Hospital Drive, officials said.

The work is part of the stormwater runoff and sewer line upgrade that will facilitate expansion in the area around Redstone Avenue, Wal-Mart and Lowe's.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Sewer upgrade may slow S.R. 85 traffic near hospital today