Commissioners consider RV ordinance

The Board of County Commissioners held its first reading of a new RV ordinance last week.

Judging by comments from the public, the ordinance as written will not be the final word on the subject.

Opinions were generally divided during last week’s regular bi-monthly meeting as county commissioners took up an ordinance, almost six months in the making, regulating RV’s.

Commissioners heard from the public during two regular meetings and a special workshop and considered recommendations from the Planning and Development Review Board and the county attorney.

The final ordinance defines a tourist/coastal corridor along U.S. Highway 98, State Road 30-E and State Road 30-A as well as County 30-A.

Commercial use of RVs within the “coastal” corridors is prohibited. RVs may be stored in “coastal” corridors as long as it is located on the same lot as the primary dwelling of the property owner and is not being occupied.

Recreational vehicles set up with the “coastal” corridors must be used exclusively for residential purposes by owners of lots within the corridors and can not be in place for more than 45 days per calendar year.

Otherwise, RVs would be banned from along or on lots contiguous with the rights-of-way of the tourist corridor.

Outside of those “coastal” corridor areas, RVs are limited to one per parcel; lot coverage must be no more than 30 percent of impervious area; the placement of the RV must allow for two parking spaces per lot; and all RVs must meet standard building setbacks and county building and comprehensive plan guidelines.

All RVs must be registered with the county.

“We’ve been working on this for a couple of months,” said Commissioner Warren Yeager. “Previous to that we had no RV ordinance; there was no protection.”

In enacting the ordinance, Yeager said, the commission was attempting to address issues such as aesthetics, property values, sprawl/blight and public safety, while “striking a balance” between property rights and the public interest.

Yeager, responding to a question from the public, noted that County 30-B and the Indian Pass had been excluded from the tourist/coastal corridor due to input from residents who said the area was “different” and they did not wish to be included in the ordinance.

St. Joe Beach resident Rich Brenner favored the ordinance and provided a list of suggestions for commissioners to tighten language to eliminate ambiguity that would open the county for any court challenge on the ordinance.

Natalie Shoaf of St. Joe Beach urged commissioners to adopt the guidelines of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) which would require all RVs to be at last 1,500 feet from the a major body of water such as St. Joseph’s Bay or the Gulf of Mexico.

She also asked commissioners to declare a moratorium on selling lots within the coastal corridor to be used for RV’s to allow the county to more closely examine the issue.

Commissioner Bill Williams, responding to a questioner, noted that Highland View had also been excluded from the ordinance because of the number of residents living in campers, mobile homes or recreational vehicles.

There were also questions from the public about the registration process and how the county would regulate the ordinance, particularly since the county struggles, one resident noted, with regulating even dog leash and trash laws on the beach and tourists are allowed to erect tents and beach equipment overnight.

“If we are going to worry about the beaches let’s worry about the beaches as a whole,” said part-time resident Cheryl Baco.

Members of the public also wondered about grandfathering in existing RVs in the county and Yeager said he was not opposed to the idea.

One resident said the reality is that some people, in these bad economic times, would lose their homes under the ordinance unless grandfathered in.

And others wondered about the fundamental fairness to the people of the county, noting that many RVs cost as much as some homes, many visitors travel to Gulf County, stay in RVs and pour thousands of dollars into local restaurants and stores and questioned to what extent the presence of RVs really impact property values given the current market.

Pat Hardman of Port St. Joe said commissioners should pass the ordinance and tweak it as needed in the future.

“We are not one-size fits all,” Hardman said. “If you try for one size you will end up doing nothing.”

Tax collector to assume driver’s license duties

As of September, the Gulf County Tax Collector’s Office will take over the duties of the Division of Motor Vehicles in Gulf County.

As of last Thursday, the DMV office in Port St. Joe, the only office in the county where individuals could obtain a Florida driver’s license closed due to state budget cuts.

“That will be a great loss to the citizens of Gulf County,” said Tax Collector Shirley Jenkins.

Jenkins explained to commissioners, her office could assume the duties of the DMV office on a fee basis, with the bottom line between expenses and revenues being a wash – fees were estimated at $29,000 per year with costs of roughly $32,000.

The Tax Collector’s Office would be open five days a week for those seeking driver’s licenses.

Jenkins said state law mandated that county Tax Collectors assume the duties of the DMV by 2015, so the county would save money by acquiring the equipment from the Port St. Joe office immediately.

“If we take it now they can give us the equipment,” Jenkins said, adding that would end up being a savings of roughly $40,000 to the county should the county wait until 2015 to assume driver’s license duties. “It should take care of itself (financially). After 2015 all tax collector’s will have to take this on and (the state) will up the fees.”

She added that she is in discussions with the DMV employee in Port St. Joe about coming to work at the Tax Collector’s Office.

Jenkins said her office would perform all tasks required to provide drivers with licenses save the driving test. The written test could be provided through her office, but her staff would not perform driving tests.

“We would be doing it all from our current office (in the courthouse),” Jenkins said.

Jenkins said her office would not be able to take over the duties until September as her employees would have to undergo required background checks and training in the functions of the driver’s license office.

Commissioners unanimously approved the plan of action.

Health insurance

Given recent reports concerning the county’s ongoing tussles over employee health insurance, Yeager said he had been approached by an official from Marianna and other entities interested in assisting the county.

Commissioners voted to provide “temporary” agent of record letters to three or four entities identified by county administrator Don Butler as interested in soliciting quotes for the county to see if any savings could be realized.

Butler noted that those “temporary” authorization letters does not diminish the agent of record authorization provided Brown and Brown Insurance during the June 28 meeting.

“This is the perfect opportunity for us and we have to time to do it,” Yeager said.

Williams added, “This is what we needed, the competitive nature of it … My intentions all along is to get under the hood and see what we can do.”

The county solicited RFP’s last year and ended up with current carrier Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

Ditch Landing Road

Commissioner Carmen McLemore asked for commissioners to approve going to court to sue to have the road opened.

McLemore cited an agreement with The St. Joe Company that the road would remain an open road. The road ends up at a public boat landing, but there are at least two private hunting leases adjacent to the road.

The county has taken down gates blocking the road only to have them erected again. McLemore said the response from The St. Joe Company is inadequate and the issue resolved.

He urged commissioner to vote to go to court over the issue, noting that St. Joe benefits from selling the hunting leases while paying property taxes on agricultural land, or about 11 cents an acre.

“We need to get this in front of a judge,” McLemore said. “If we sit back and let them close this one they will close any road they want.”

Williams said he had issues that some of the provisions of the Development of Regional Impact (DRI) agreement have not been met. Williams urged and commissioners agreed to have McLemore work with the county attorney and come back with options at a future meeting.