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

CRESTVIEW — Mayor David Cadle reported that two public transportation opportunities under discussion could benefit residents.

Okaloosa County Transit is exploring possibly restoring an additional bus route in town. Cadle said the bus might be “personalized to Crestview.”

In addition, the Southern Rail Commission recently “packed the House” at the Florida Legislature, which passed a bill to study the feasibility of returning passenger rail to the Panhandle.

The multi-state service would operate between Orlando and New Orleans, replacing the segment of Amtrak’s Sunset Limited that ceased operation after Hurricane Katrina.

The bill still has to pass the state senate.

Commissioners insisted that one critical component that would encourage ridership is having stops timed more conveniently than the Sunset Limited’s early-morning stops.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Officials weigh Crestview public transportation possibilities

CRESTVIEW — Some folks who want a prime parking spot in front of the downtown business or restaurant they want to frequent say spaces are hard to come by around midday.

But those who don’t mind parking a block away say there’s plenty of parking and don’t understand what all the fuss is about.

A unanimous vote by the Community Redevelopment Agency board Monday evening paved the way for a downtown parking assessment this spring. City officials hope it will pinpoint exactly what Crestview’s historic district parking situation is and whether more parking is needed.

The board approved spending $300 to feed and provide water for 20 volunteers who will spend a 12-hour day tabulating parking data in each volunteer’s designated zone.

“Once every 30 minutes they will walk their route, walk the parking areas and record tag numbers of the vehicles that are there to accumulate data of all-day parking, incremental parking, and their duration,” Administrative Services Director Teresa Gaillard said.

“This… will give us a good count of where people are parking, how many people are parking, whether they're parking somewhere and eating, going to the beauty parlor or shopping, and then moving their car to another section of downtown,” she said.

Gaillard said the city will not announce when the study will occur “because we need a random figure.” If downtown patrons make alternate arrangements to avoid having their vehicle counted, “we’d get bogus data and the hopes of getting additional parking, if it’s needed, is gone.”

The CRA board directed Gaillard’s department to conduct the study as part of an ongoing assessment of district improvements.

“The goal is to put definite data with our general assumption that we’re short of downtown parking,” Gaillard said. “Could it be utilized better? Should we go so far as to say we need a parking garage? We won’t know until we get data.”

Residents interested in volunteering may contact Gaillard at 689-1619,  extension 225.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Volunteers sought to assess downtown Crestview's parking

CRESTVIEW — The “Crestview Connector Roads Plan" map hangs in city engineer Fred Cook's office. It hasn't received city council approval, and is not part of the city’s comprehensive plan.

But it represents hope for traffic relief.

“It was a kind of a visionary, or a dream map, that went into the Comprehensive Plan document,” Cook said. As a tool to be incorporated into the city’s transportation plan and — ultimately — the state-mandated comprehensive plan, it is a discussion starting point, he and city planner Eric Davis said.

TWO ROUTES

The map suggests two routes to draw traffic off State Road 85.

Once, a southwest Rattlesnake Bluff Road-Garret Pit Road route seemed realistic, Davis said. “Then the 7th Special Forces came and they basically shut down that option,” because the proposed route came too close to the 7th Group’s training grounds.

A southeast route following Dry Ridge and connecting with Okaloosa Lane also seemed possible. “People have talked about this route for years,” Cook said. But both ideas would require routing traffic through the Eglin Air Force Base reservation. “The problem is, it’s very difficult to get right-of-way granted from the Air Force,” Davis said.

The Okaloosa Lane route particularly is unlikely to get Air Force approval, because it would introduce traffic on a road that aligns with Duke Field's approach route, adversely affecting nighttime flight missions.

CONNECTIONS

The dream map includes several other connectors:

• An Arena Road north-south connector to Lloyd Street, across U.S. Highway 90 and connecting via Normandy Road with Old Bethel Road.

• A north-south Northview Drive connector off the P.J. Adams Parkway-Antioch Road corridor to Highway 90 at the south tip of Old Bethel.

• An east-west Rasberry Road Extension connector linking Arena Road and the P.J. Adams-Antioch Road corridor.

Of the dream map's seven connectors, only one, the Brookmeade Extension, has been partially completed. Its north end does not connect with Highway 90, as suggested on the map.

WORKING WITHIN BUDGET

City planners realize the map's likelihood of ever seeing fruition is slight given the cost of road construction, Davis said.

The Rattlesnake Bluff-Garret Pit connector would be more than twice the $160 million P.J. Adams-Antioch corridor’s cost, as it would require bridging the Shoal River and Interstate 10, he said.

Crestview’s resources are best used within city limits for connectors that might feasibly be done with limited city road funds, Davis said.

“We need to work on the Rasberry Road connections to Antioch, and in-town connections to make traffic move north and south better,” he said. “We need to do the $400,000 projects because the million-dollar projects and upper are beyond our budget.”

 “The map is really just a tool,” Davis said. “It’s way beyond the city’s capability. We’d have to partner with the county and state.”

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

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview planners' 'dream map' aids traffic relief discussion