After stepping outside to wash the ice cream shop’s windows, Shutt was almost hit by an e-bike that was whizzing by. Shutt recently told the Crestview News Bulletin that he was able to avoid a collision, but he’s concerned about the safety of his customers.

“We’ve had some complaints about that,” Crestview Police Chief Steve McCosker said on Tuesday about e-bikes being ridden on Main Street’s recently widened sidewalks.

Many of the street’s sidewalks were broadened during the city’s nearly $5.7 million Main Street renovation project that was completed this past spring. The overall renovated area spans a six-block portion of Main, generally between Industrial Drive and U.S. Highway 90, and includes parts of adjacent streets.

E-bikes, which have an electric motor that assists with pedaling, have “definitely increased in popularity” in Crestview in recent months, McCosker said.

When asked whether some e-bike drivers had lost their license to drive a car because of a DUI, the chief said, “I don’t know, but I would not rule that out.”

With increased safety in mind, McCosker said he is working with city staff to develop a proposed ordinance that, with City Council approval, would limit the use of e-bikes on Main Street and elsewhere.

Florida Senate Bill 462, which allows cities and counties to set their own rules on regulating e-bikes, took effect on July 1 as a new state law. It allows local governments to set a minimum age for e-bike riders, require riders to carry a government-issued ID, and offer or require safety training classes.

Amy Koger, who is the executive director of the nonprofit Main Street Crestview Association and the owner of Baby and Me Boutique on Main, said today that she has seen standard bicycles being ridden on Main Street sidewalks but has not seen, or heard any complaints about, e-bikes being ridden on them.

At the council’s July 8 budget meeting, at which the board discussed the city’s overall proposed fiscal year 2026 budget, councilors learned that making the long-proposed sports complex a reality could cost up to $118 million, plus many millions more in finance expenses.

Those details were provided to the city by a bond consulting firm and the Midway-based Ajax Building Co., the latter of which provides the city with various “total project management” services.

‘Too excessive’

The up to $118 million figure includes the cost of developing amenities such as baseball/softball fields and an indoor recreational facility but not a swimming pool, which would have boosted the total price tag much higher. Other project expenses include design and other preconstruction costs, furnishings and equipment, and up to almost $5 million to buy at least 100 acres of land for the complex, according to information from Ajax.

Earlier this year, city officials had considered possibly purchasing at least 100 acres of land for a sports complex from the owners of several hundred acres of land north of the Antioch Road-U.S. Highway 90 intersection.

However, “We never got that far into negotiations” on buying land at that location, Crestview City Manager Jessica Leavins said on Wednesday.

City officials would, with voter approval via a referendum, have to borrow money to pay for an up to $118 million sports complex. According to information provided by the city, the total debt on a 20-year municipal bond to pay for such a complex would be over $179 million, with average annual debt payments amounting to almost $9 million.

To pay the total debt, city officials said, they would have to increase the city’s millage rate by 4.4 mills. The rate of 4.4 mills per $1,000 of taxable property is equal to $440 per $100,000 of property value, which means many Crestview property owners would face greatly higher property tax bills just to pay for the sports complex.

The required millage rate increase, however, is not tenable, council members said at the July 8 budget meeting.

“That, in my opinion, is too excessive an amount to put on the citizens,” Councilor Shannon Hayes said. “There’s no way you can get me to support that millage rate for anything. The people I associate and talk with wouldn’t support it, either.”

Mayor Pro Tem Doug Capps said he is “absolutely” against any kind of property tax rate increase to pay for a sports complex.

After more discussion, the council agreed to focus on having an indoor recreation facility – to include basketball courts and, possibly, pickleball courts – built somewhere in Crestview, rather than establishing a major sports complex.

“The primary goal is to meet the needs of our kids,” Leavins said at the meeting.

A city-owned site

Leavins noted at the budget session that the Twin Hills Park gym, which received roof upgrades and other structural repairs in recent years, is many decades old and no longer a viable structure. She added that city officials learned relatively recently that the gym does not have a humidity-controlling vapor barrier, which makes installing a new HVAC system at the facility futile.

One possible location for a new indoor rec center, city officials said, is the city-owned Spanish Trail Park. About half of the property at this almost 24-acre park on Stillwell Boulevard is unutilized.

The park currently includes two ballfields, the Senior Activity Center, and an amphitheater. During the budget meeting, city officials talked about the possibility of demolishing the amphitheater to provide space for an indoor rec facility.

Leavins on Wednesday said Ajax will later be asked to create a master plan for the entire Spanish Trail Park. The plan will include information on whether an indoor rec facility at the park is feasible. The city does not yet have an estimated timeline on when the plan will be made, Leavins said.

She and some city councilors have pointed out that the overall cost of developing an indoor rec center would be much lower if it’s built on land the city already owns.

During the budget meeting, the council approved setting the city’s proposed FY ’26 millage rate at 6.65. With final council approval in September, the 6.65 rate would mark the second consecutive of the millage rate being decreased by one-tenth of a percent.

The new budget year starts on Oct. 1.