Engineers begin prep for Navarre Town Center

The Navarre Town Center Plan is inching toward implementation. At their regular meeting Feb. 22, Santa Rosa County Commissioners recommended PBS&J, an international engineering firm, begin work on preliminary plans at a cost of approximately $110,700.

"It's time to put the experts out into the field," said County Commissioner Gordon Goodin, whose district represents Navarre.

The firm's scope of services includes evaluating infrastructure improvements, reducing implementation costs, designing a schematic landscape design plan, preparing a conceptual drainage report and determining the placement of underground utilities within the proposed district.

The Navarre Town Center Plan consists of two special districts on the north side of US Highway 98 in Navarre called the Navarre Town Center and the Heart of Navarre District. Both of these plans were initiated in spring of 2004 at a public workshop where residents expressed a specific need to instill a sense of pride in the aesthetic beauty of their community. The resulting plan and districts are an accumulation of new building codes, architectural guidelines and infrastructure improvements. Infrastructure improvements are said to include local transportation upgrades, sewer and water enhancements, underground utilities and additional streetlights.

At the commission's committee meeting Feb. 19, Commissioner John Broxson urged the board proceed with caution, as Governor Charlie Crist and the Florida Legislature look to give residents a tax break. Property taxes, also known as ad valorem taxes, are a major source of income for county governments and the state legislature is considering a bill that may eliminate them all together. The bill would replace ad valorem tax with the highest sales tax in the nation at 8.5 percent.

"There's something going on in Tallahassee that we don't know about," Broxson said. "I want to be sure we're able to get this done."

Goodin took note of Broxson's warning and said that the legislature should have convened by the time the commissioners were ready to make a decision.

"This is a necessary step and I hope to make an informed decision before summer's end," Goodin said.

In a separate interview via telephone, Goodin commented that county officials are being very cautious to avoid any mistakes. Specific architectural styles have been accepted and future land use plans were recently submitted to the state for approval, nearly three years after the plan was originally conceived.

"This is our first big redevelopment project and we're trying to make sure we don't have any missteps," Goodin said. "We're going slower than we would for future projects."

The architectural guidelines restrict building plans and require specific design styles and colors, more stringent sign regulations and increased requirements for landscaping. There will be no metal, vinyl, aluminum siding or exposed cinder block allowed as construction materials inside the town center. Architects will also be limited to a few styles including Neoclassical, Caribbean Vernacular, Cracker, Georgian, French Colonial, Bungalow, Queen Anne and Masonry Vernacular building styles. No bright neon colors will be permitted on any building.