One simple bypass could relieve congestion around Crestview High School and Davidson Middle School. The road is already there — it just needs to be paved.

CRESTVIEW — Traffic is a top concern in the Hub City. But did you know there's a way to improve peak traffic flow around Davidson Middle School and Crestview High School?

And it's really quite simple: Just pave Jones Road as an alternative to State Road 85.

“My dad was always so dumbfounded that county roads got paved stretching so far out into the country, but this road, which would be such a pivotal connector, alleviating traffic on 85, remained unpaved,” Crestview resident Bruce Teel said of his late father, Billy.

SLOWDOWNS

When school starts or dismisses, drivers encounter slowdowns around Old Bethel and Airport roads' intersection with S.R. 85. This is due to parents entering and leaving the schools, 25 mph school zones and the intersection’s traffic light.

But Jones Road remains almost empty, paralleling S.R. 85 behind DMS and CHS before entering the Adams-Powell neighborhood or joining S.R. 85 via Park Lane. Scenic, rural and unpaved from Old Bethel Road south to Adams-Powell, Jones Road has minimal neighborhood traffic and no school zone speed limit restrictions.

In addition to bypassing backups, the few drivers who use Jones Road also bypass S.R. 85’s traffic signals at Old Bethel/Airport Road and Garden Street, respectively. “I used to use Jones Road all the time when I attended Bob Sikes Elementary,” said Crestview attorney Bert Moore, whose family has lived on Old Bethel Road for generations.

‘IT’S MADDENING’

Bruce Teel’s sister, Ann Teel Hatcher, said their dad promoted paving Jones Road for years, gathering project feasibility information from city and county sources. She said his volunteer efforts accumulated enough community service hours to secure almost $5,000 in State Farm Foundation Good Neighbor Grants for DMS, CHS and the Okaloosa County School District.

Their mother, Clara Jo Teel, still champions her late husband's effort. “To go out to a band concert, or the chorus or the drama club is just maddening,” she said. “On a game night, it isn’t just Crestview residents involved, but all the guests are joining in the madness to get in.”

Drivers improvise parking spots along local streets or use lots at neighboring businesses, including at the Crestview post office and First NBC bank across the street from the high school. “People are walking across four lanes of highway, with cars coming and going, to get to the school grounds,” Clara Jo Teel said. “That doesn’t make good sense to me.”

OFF THE RADAR

After Billy Teel died in 2012, paving Jones Road dropped off local and county officials’ radar. Okaloosa County Public Works Director Jason Autrey said current focus is on paving Okaloosa Lane's middle section. “It’s a road that we maintain but it’s not on our capital improvement plan at this time,” he said.

CHS Principal Dexter Day said pastureland across Jones Road could offer expansion opportunities for the county’s largest school. He could see building a new high school there someday, or athletic facilities in the short term. “We’re in dire straits for practice facilities,” Day said. “Look at soccer: we have four teams. Where do they practice? We have five basketball teams and one gym. Where do they practice? We’ve grown, but we haven’t grown our facilities”

Even without buying the land across the street — “We’d love for someone to come up and say, ‘I’ll purchase that for the school," Day said — paving Jones Road will help the school. “That would knock down the dust when we have graduation and games back there,” he said.

“If it’s something the school would like to discuss, they can pursue it,” Autrey said. “They can do it like Okaloosa Lane, which is one we’re heavily pushing."

Without being on the capital improvement plan, there is currently no cost calculated for acquiring right-of-way and paving the road, Autrey said.

DUST STORM

Mayor David Cadle said talks between the county and city about paving Jones Road diminished when the economy took a downturn in the late 2000s.

Though the city only has jurisdiction over about 200 feet on Jones Road's south end, Cadle said tight financial resources must be spent on Crestview streets. “The Public Services Department has a hard time keeping up with our own city streets,” he said.

But, he agreed, the Teel family’s plan has merit for many reasons. “When it comes to graduation, people are parked all the way up Garden Street to Jones Road,” Cadle, a former Crestview High educator, said. “There’s just no place to park. And we always used to wet the road down for graduation to kill the dust.”

Something must be done soon, the Jones Road plan's supporters say.

“We’ve got to plan, because if we’re not planning, we’re planning to fail,” Day said. “How are we investing for our kids and our community?”

“It’s just crazy that it’s not paved,” Bruce Teel said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Family's suggestion could relieve Crestview High, Davidson traffic (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

CRESTVIEW — Crestview’s new city attorney is its previous city attorney. The City Council agreed to rehire Ben Holley, who previously resigned the position in March 2012 after 30 years.

Holley will replace Jerry Miller after the council chose not to transfer to Miller the contract with the city held by the firm with which he previously practiced.

Miller has held the post since June 2012 and chose not to submit an application, feeling the council’s decision to seek other attorneys’ qualifications was a snub against his service to the city. Holley resigned for similar reasons.

In the 3-1 decision to hire Holley, Councilman Bill Cox cast the dissenting vote, saying Councilman JB Whitten’s original motion to hire a team of Holley and fellow applicant Jonathon Holloway was “preposterous.”

Some councilmen were concerned that Holley, as a one-man law practice, wouldn’t have a back-up should he be unavailable. Whitten said Holley and Holloway agreed to partner, with Holley being appointed city attorney and mentoring Holloway, who currently serves as the North Okaloosa Fire District’s attorney.

“Mr. Holloway, you want to make him a secondary attorney-in-training?” Cox asked. “That makes no sense.”

Cox also expressed concern that the four applicants’ fees were all more than Miller currently charges, and that Holloway’s “municipal experience is in suing municipalities.”

Whitten revised his motion to refer solely to Holley for the city attorney position without mentioning Holloway. Miller’s contract as city attorney expires Sept. 28.

ATTORNEY’S FEES

Councilman Bill Cox expressed concern that newly reappointed city attorney Ben Holley will charge more than outgoing attorney Jerry Miller. Here’s how their fees compare:

Service                     Miller           Holley

Retainer                    $175/hour     $3,500/month

Public finance issues .4 percent*   .1 percent*

Litigation                   $225**         $175/hour**

*Such as loans and bonds; fee is a percentage of total amount

**Fees do not include court costs

Source: Crestview City Clerk’s office

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Editor's Note: A previous version of this article erroneously stated that Ben Holley's public finance issues fees are 1 percent. In fact, they are .1 percent. We regret the error. 

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Holley rehired as Crestview city attorney

CRESTVIEW — Northwest Florida Regional Transportation Planning Organization members generally agree a regional transportation authority is probably a good idea.

But not right now.

Commissioners responded to a Wednesday afternoon presentation by Clarence Eng of transportation consultants Kimley-Horn, who noted that all three Northwest Florida counties have public transport systems, “but there are gaps.”

“This is a group that thinks regionally in terms of transportation, but in this study, we were not able to define that vision,” Eng said. “Once identifying those needs, how can we, whether through a series of interlocal agreements or an RTA in the future, put this into perspective?”

Individual commissioners, however, said there is currently little interest in a regional transportation authority.

“It's an interesting idea that’s 20 or 25 years ahead of its time,” Okaloosa County Board of Commissioners Chairman Nathan Boyles said. “I think we need to demonstrate we can operate small-scale operations for our citizens before we look at a large scale system.”

Boyles said tourists are not generally interested in regional transportation.

“We’re a drive-to market,” he said. “They're interested in getting in their large-size SUVs and getting here. They're not interested in getting on a bus. They want to load up their Tahoe and Escalade and head to the beach.”

His sentiments were paralleled by other members.

“We’re a 97-percent drive-to market,” Destin City Councilman and former TPO chairman Jim Wood said. “Once they get to me, can I get them to park their cars and take the bus? That’s an uphill fight.”

Most of the commissioners, however, said in the future, as their county populations grow, unified regional cooperation would make more sense.

“It could potentially in the long term alleviate some of the problems we have on (State Road) 98,” TPO chairman Lane Lunchard said.

“We need to improve our own system before we think regionally, but I think we should move toward this in the future,” Pensacola City Councilman Charles Bare said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: NW Florida officials say area isn't ready for a regional transportation authority

CRESTVIEW — The years-old controversy surrounding the Confederate battle flag fluttering above Confederate Park was resolved by a unanimous decision to transfer both the flag and the Confederate veterans memorial below it to a local family.

Crestview City Councilman JB Whitten moved to transfer the equipment to trustees of the Lundy family “who can do with it whatever they choose to do with it.”

William “Uncle Bill” Lundy, a purported Confederate States Army veteran who died in Crestview in 1957, is mentioned by name on the memorial.

The quick action in the opening minutes of Monday evening’s council meeting — which was moved to Warriors Hall to accommodate the large turnout — defused tensions that have surrounded the flag since the 1990s.

The council also voted 4-0 to have Mayor David Cadle meet with representatives of the Lundy family to arrange for the memorial and flag’s removal within 60 days.

“Immediately after the meeting, Greg Lundy and I got together and worked out a framework for discussions on the matter in the next few days,” Cadle said.

THE MEMORIAL

Lundy is great-grandson of Uncle Bill, who purportedly was the last Confederate veteran in Florida. Citing census records which indicate Lundy was 5 years old when he said he served, historians question the claim.

The Crestview Lion’s Club erected the memorial near the intersection of State Road 85 and U.S. Highway 90 soon after his death.

Later it was moved to its present site on a triangular city-owned right-of-way at First Avenue and S.R. 85.

Until the council’s vote, Greg Lundy was planning to request the family be allowed to purchase Confederate Park, however Public Works Director Wayne Steele explained right-of-ways can’t be sold.

“If it's never serving any public good that way in the future, it goes back to the original owners,” Steele said. “It's not sold.”

Members of the public represented both sides of the issue.

Kenneth Daniels, a Pensacola representative of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, decried the movement to remove the Confederate battle flag from public land as part of a “Marxist-socialist plot” to “create a socialist dictatorship.”

However, Crestview resident Sharon Brown Halmon praised the council’s decision.

“This has been a topic that has really been a thorn in our sides and it's just time to move on,” she said. “What’s right is right and we need to move on as a city.”

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview to give Confederate flag, memorial to Lundys