The commission dissolves after passing its final report with 5 proposals

Members of the Charter Review Committee after passing their final report and voting to dissolve. They acknowledged that two of the proposals they submitted are likely to be kicked out after review by the county commission for violating state preemption.

By WILLIAM SNOWDEN
Editor

The Wakulla County Charter Review Committee finished its work last week and passed out a final report with five proposed amendments to the county charter.
Two of those may run afoul of state preemption laws and will likely not appear on the ballot in November: one proposal was to limit RV parks to a maximum of five units per acre; another proposal, which drew the most support from citizens, was to protect certain native trees that are 12 inches or larger.


Even after hearing from the CRC’s attorney Mark Logan of the law firm Sniffen & Spellman that the two proposals wouldn’t pass muster, the committee members decided to leave the items in the report to make county commissioners aware of the issues.
Logan noted that state law prohibits holding a referendum on land development orders. That would not preclude the county commission from passing ordinances amending its regulations.
The amendment to preserve native trees was especially popular with the public – more than a dozen citizens showed up at public hearings and the final meeting of the CRC to speak on it. (While a dozen isn’t a lot, the prior year’s meetings were notably low on citizens attending to speak on anything.)
It is expected that County Attorney Heather Encinosa will advise county commissioners to determine the tree and RV proposals are null after subjecting them to legal review.
The other three proposals to come out of the committee:

  • Shall the Charter of Wakulla County be amended to require, beginning January of 2025 and at least every five years thereafter, that the Board of County Commissioners commission an independent review by a professional consulting firm skilled in the area of impact fee studies. The purpose of the study is to determine if impact fees are warranted within Wakulla County and where impact fee funds should be allotted if impact fees are initiated through ordinance.
  • Shall the Charter of Wakulla County be amended to require the Board of County Commissioners to adopt a public safety ordinance, with approved exemptions and designated penalties for violating such ordinance which specifically addresses interactions between citizens and motorists at medians, public right of ways, crosswalks, sidewalks, arterial roads and other applicable public space.
  • Shall the Charter of Wakulla County be amended to require the Charter Review Commission mto be appointed every six years with the next Charter Review Commission to be appointed not later than July 1, 2029 and every six years thereafter.
    After voting to accept the final report, the CRC voted to dissolve itself.
    The final report is to be transmitted to the county commission before Dec. 13 for review.