CRESTVIEW — The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office is now Northwest Florida's first, and only, law enforcement agency awarded National Accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies.

The CALEA program is the primary method for an agency to voluntarily demonstrate its commitment to excellence. Fewer than 5 percent of the nation's 18,000 law enforcement agencies are nationally accredited.

Standards focus on department policies, and operational procedures such as police training, use of force, emergency preparedness and accountability. Compliance with these standards means a law enforcement agency follows a code of conduct recognized by law enforcement peers, the legal system and the public, and it meets the best professional requirements and practices for agencies nationwide.  

The OCSO — awarded the honor Nov. 21 at CALEA’s  winter conference — "is committed to providing enhanced service to the citizens of Okaloosa County, while upholding the highest standards of law enforcement practices in training, policies and procedures,” Sheriff Larry Ashley said. “Our agency earned statewide accreditation from the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation in July 2010.

"… We believe this commitment puts us among the nation’s leaders in law enforcement professional development.”

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Okaloosa sheriff's office achieves national accreditation

CRESTVIEW — City Councilman JB Whitten’s next informal town hall meeting will offer residents an opportunity to discuss transportation issues.

Crestview Public Works Director Wayne Steele and city engineer Fred Cook will join Whitten for the gathering, set for 6 p.m. Dec. 17 at Hub City Smokehouse, 168 Main St. S.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview town hall on transportation scheduled

CHIPLEY — Drivers traveling north on State Road 293 (Mid-Bay Bridge) in Okaloosa County will encounter intermittent closures this week.

Crews will perform a routine inspection on the bridge from 9 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 3 to 3 a.m. Friday, Dec. 4.

Motorists are reminded to use caution when traveling, especially at night, in a work zone. 

Planned activities are weather dependent and may be rescheduled in the event of inclement weather.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Routine inspection planned on Mid-Bay Bridge

Are traffic impact fees "just part of doing business," or are they a barrier to attracting businesses to Crestview?

The City Council needs to decide before the end of the year.

CRESTVIEW — The city's three-year experiment with traffic impact fee waivers expires Dec. 31, and the City Council faces two options.

One is to let the waiver expire and resume collecting the fees. After all, with new business comes additional traffic, officials say, and the waiver's purpose was to stimulate development during the recent recession.

The alternative is to renew the waiver, which proponents say encourages businesses to locate in the city. But that option isn't simply a matter of a quick council vote.

Renewal requires a state-mandated traffic study that Growth Management Director Teresa Gaillard said could cost between $12,000 and $35,000.

TRAFFIC STUDY

In preparing council briefs, Gaillard discovered Moore Bass Consulting — which created the 2009 study that allowed the fee waiver — no longer provides traffic consulting services.

An alternate, Gaillard said, is to have SEAS, the city's engineering firm, provide the study through its relationship with Southern Traffic Services.

However, SEAS's contract with the city expires Dec. 8. Further, "Southern Traffic can do portions of it but they can't do the same data package that Moore Bass gave us," Gaillard said.

Options included extending SEAS's contract with the city another year or hiring another engineering firm to keep on retainer. That would require the city to issue and advertise a request for proposals and evaluate responses.

To simplify the process, at its Nov. 9 meeting the council unanimously approved retaining SEAS's services for another year.

NEW ORDINANCE

Extending the waiver requires the council to pass an ordinance, Gaillard said, a draft of which she will present for consideration at a Nov. 30 special council meeting.

Council members have sought further details about the current waiver's effectiveness since the traffic impact fee was implemented in 2009, then waived in 2013.

"I would like to know how much the city has lost in fees under the traffic impact fee waiver," Councilman Joe Blocker said at a recent meeting.

"Oooh, I really didn't need a Thanksgiving vacation," Gaillard said jokingly, indicating answering his question would involve considerable research.

Councilman Bill Cox questioned if the waiver has stimulated much business growth in the city, while expressing concern about growing traffic on State Road 85.

"I don't think there's anybody who doesn't care about the traffic conditions on 85, so what have we done? We waived the impact fees for three years," Cox said. "We haven't seen an avalanche (of new businesses) in that time."

MORE APPLICATIONS

Gaillard said she's noticed an uptick in development plans as the waiver faces expiration.

"I have three developments on my table and a fourth one to be delivered," she said.

Councilman Doug Faircloth said beliefs that the city's impact fees discourage development often come from "coffee klatch discussions perpetuating rumors about traffic."

However, he said, the fees "may not bring anyone in, but we know it'll keep them out."

Gaillard confirmed his assertion.

"Just now in the past year we are seeing an increase — a substantial increase — of new developments trying to beat the Dec. 31 deadline," she said. "They can do it now but they won't be able to do it in January."

Public Works Director Wayne Steele, however, said having the fees in place rarely affects a business' decision to come to town.

"The fees don't have an adverse reaction to development," Steele said. "Most entities use that money to help manage traffic and provide better accessibility to and from these developments. The developers don't mind paying it because they know if it's used correctly, it's going to help bring them more business."

"Most larger businesses already have it factored into their development cost," Gaillard said. "Some of them say, 'Oh, that's just business.' It doesn't inundate them like it would a smaller business."

'A GOOD TOOL'

"If used correctly, (fees are) a good tool to provide more accessibility and better serviceability to all developments," Steele said. "I have heard that we have been a very good model for using our impact fees the correct way."

One example is the city's use of water and sewer impact fees, he said.

"We have been able to set this city up for new growth for the future with our sewer and water capacity," Steele said. "We did more in the last five or 10 years than was done in the last 40 or 50 years by using impact fees without raising water and sewer rates."

But without traffic impact fees, Crestview has very little road money flowing to its coffers, even while more development comes to town and affects traffic.

"How do you pay for roadway improvements?" Gaillard asked. "All we have is our impact fees."

Without the fees, the city's only roads money currently comes from the city's general fund, which is allocated for road repairs, and local option gasoline taxes collected by the county and distributed to municipalities, City Clerk Betsy Roy said.

Even if the traffic fee moratorium is allowed to expire now that the recession is over, city leaders seem to believe imposing the fees again will have little impact on developers' plans.

"I don't think they're worried," Steele said. "We're still one of the most affordable places to build in."

CRESTVIEW'S IMPACT FEES REDUCTIONS

Through a series of ordinances, the city of Crestview has waived several impact fees to stimulate business growth during the recession. Here's a timeline:

●Jan. 16, 2009: Ordinance 1419 creates traffic impact fees

●Sept. 28, 2009: Ordinance 1432 waives impact fees by varying amounts over 18 months

●Sept. 24, 2009: Ordinance 1484 removes public schools and transportation concurrency requirements ("impact fees") and proportionate fair share provisions from the city's comprehensive plan

●Dec. 10, 2012: Ordinance 1487 waives traffic impact fees for two years  

●Jan. 1, 2015: Ordinance 1579 extends the waiver another year.

Source: Crestview Growth Management Department

WHAT DOES IT COST?

Crestview's transportation impact fees are calculated by a formula involving vehicle miles traveled, cost per vehicle-mile of capacity, and credits involving miles per gallon and motor fuel taxes.

Businesses that attract more customers are estimated to cause more wear and tear on public streets. Some typical fees collected before the fee waivers are:

Fast food restaurant (per 1,000 square feet)

$27,000 transportation cost

$13,200 fuel credit

$13,800 for impact fee

Furniture store (per 1,000 square feet)

$517 transportation cost

$253 fuel credit

$264 impact fee

Single family residence (per dwelling unit)

$3,448 transportation cost

$1,686 fuel credit

$1,762 impact fee

Source: Crestview Code of Ordinances

IMPACT FEES AT WORK

Residents will soon see benefits of traffic impact fees collected before the three-year waiver went into effect, Public Works Director Wayne Steele said.

"The impact fees that we had collected are what we're using for the Crestview Corners connector road," he said. "The plans are complete and everything is done and we're ready to bring it to the City Council for approval."

The connector will remove some State Road 85 shoppers' traffic between Hospital Drive and Redstone Avenue East by directing it through the shopping center that includes Big Lots and Bamboo Sushi.

Public Works crews will handle construction, which may start within two months. Of the total estimated $60,000 cost, $23,000 was approved for plans and permitting.

WANT TO GO?

The Crestview City Council will hold a special meeting 6 p.m. Nov. 30 at city hall to discuss traffic impact fees.

CRESTVIEW'S IMPACT FEES REDUCTIONS

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview ponders extending traffic fee waiver or letting it expire

CRESTVIEW — Loved ones are mourning the loss of a former Crestview councilwoman, real estate agent and Shalimar’s first female mayor.

Kathleen Bowman — who died Nov. 24 at 88 years old — served on the Crestview City Council from 1999 to 2003, and was named council president in 2002.

She ran for mayor in 2003, but George Whitehurst won the election. She ran again for city council, unsuccessfully, in 2005.

While politically active, Bowman was renowned for standing up for her beliefs.

In December 2002, following voters’ approval in a referendum, she led an effort to display historic documents — including the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Ten Commandments — in city hall. The Ten Commandments effort drew the ire of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.

The same year, Bowman joined a unanimous council vote to keep the rebel battle flag flying over the Confederate veterans memorial, which led to the NAACP's threat of an economic boycott.

Former city councilwoman Linda Parker, who served with Bowman, said she "was steadfast with her convictions. She was a fighter. She tried to see things through to the end.”

Bowman and Parker — who joined Brenda Bush, Sam Hayes and Bill Kilpatrick on the City Council — "were on the first woman-majority council,” Parker said.

"We stayed really busy then," she said, noting Bowman helped implement facilities and services residents enjoy today, including constructing the Crestview Public Library, the Crestview Community Center and Children’s Park in Twin Hills Park.

“She loved Crestview and was always trying to do things to improve Crestview and do things that were best for the community,” Parker said.

Bowman and her late husband, Fred, opened Fred Bowman Realty in Crestview in 1968 after Fred retired from a military career that took the family to Germany in the 1950s. Kathleen Bowman remained active in the business until her reluctant retirement at the end of 2013.

Before moving to Crestview in the 1990s, Bowman served as a Shalimar city councilwoman in the early 1970s, mayor in the late 1970s, and street and road commissioner in the 1980s.

Until she died, Bowman was under Emerald Coast Hospice's care.

Family visitation is between 2 and 4 p.m. today, Nov. 27, with her funeral at 4 p.m. at Crosspoint United Methodist Church, 2250 P.J. Adams Parkway.

She will be buried in a private ceremony at Barrancas National Cemetery at Naval Air Station Pensacola on Monday.

“She’s definitely going to be missed,” Parker said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Funeral scheduled for former Crestview councilwoman, Shalimar mayor

GAINESVILLE — Crestview area land owners may be eligible for assistance with grasslands, wetlands or working lands protection.

Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack said that $350 million is available to help landowners protect and restore key farmlands. The funding is provided through the Agricultural Conservation Easements Program, administered by United States Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Native American tribes, state and local governments and non-governmental organizations that have farmland or grassland protection programs are eligible to partner with NRCS to purchase conservation easements.

Eligible landowners can enroll in a permanent or 30-year easement. Tribal landowners have the option of enrolling in 30-year contracts, too.

Jan. 15 is the deadline to apply; agreements will be evaluated starting in late August.

Applications are available at the Crestview NRCS office, 934 N. Ferdon Blvd. The phone number is 682-2416.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview applications available for grasslands protection