Franklin County commissioners voted Tuesday to remove two more Future land use maps from its comprehensive plan. The land use maps were created in 2005 delineating areas east of Carrabelle where the St. Joe Company hoped to build some substantial developments.
The two land use maps removed Tuesday are called Maritime Village and Carrabelle East; they designate areas where the St. Joe Company could have built up to 2600 homes.
The land use maps were two of four approved for the St. Joe Company when the county updated its comprehensive plan in 2005. The other two were removed from the comprehensive plan last May.
County commissioners say the land use maps were approved at a time when development in Florida was exploding and they expected the sites to be developed relatively quickly. The situation has changed since that time, and commissioners now feel repealing the future land use maps is necessary to protect Franklin County from a glut of buildable lots in the future. State estimates are that Franklin County’s population will be around 13,700 people by 2020 and there are more than enough lots in Franklin County ready for construction already without adding St. Joe land to the mix.
The vote to remove the future land use maps was not unanimous; commission chairman Smokey Parrish voted against the move because of concerns that the action has opened the county to a lawsuit and potentially large liability. Land use attorney David Theriaque who was brought in by the Apalachicola Riverkeeper group said the potential for a major lawsuit is actually quite low.
Theriaque has worked on a number of similar cases around the state and he said the St. Joe Company is using the threat of a lawsuit to intimidate the county. He added that St. Joe does not have any real claim against Franklin County because the company has taken no steps to move forward on the developments since the future land use maps were approved.
Even if the St. Joe Company does file suit, Mister Theriaque pointed out that there is a long process before the case actually goes to court which would give the two parties plenty of time to reach some type of agreement. The four commissioners who did vote to delete the land use maps said they feel it would be in Franklin County’s bets interest to start fresh with St. Joe.
They said by removing the future land use maps they are not denying the St. Joe company the right to develop its property, they are just insuring that when the company begins to develop that the county will be able to control the development every step of the way to make sure its in the best interest of Franklin County.
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