Once again we have a great newspaper chock-full of great information and news that will help you make better every day decisions as an informed citizen. For instance, we have a story about a 480-acre parcel that is proposed to be developed for a neighborhood called “Balley’s Landing.” However, of the 480 acres, 220 acres are designated as wetlands. Regardless of this fact, our Santa Rosa County Zoning Board voted 6-2 to allow the development to have much smaller lot sizes after discussing the matter for less than18 minutes at the end of a 3.5 hour meeting. Really? We need smaller lot sizes for more homes with all of our flooding issues that still have not been addressed. On top of that, the environmental study for the project found Gopher Tortoise burrows, white-top pitcher plants and prime habitat for the reticulated flatwoods salamander. This is the same salamander that stopped an alternative 98 from happening 8 years ago. We sure could have used an alternative 98 Monday evening when it took our residents 2.5 hours to get home from Hurlburt Field – 20 miles away.
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