Emerald Coast blueprint envisions Panhandle ecology, community to 2030

Emerald Coast blueprint envisions Panhandle ecology, community to 2030

by Deborah Nelson
December 18, 2007

Now’s the time to think about how Panhandle growth is affecting future environment and community quality, says a group tasked with developing a blueprint for the next 25 years.

Emerald Coast communities offer a diverse mix of culture

The Committee for a Sustainable Emerald Coast (CSEC) wrapped up a yearlong series of meetings on regional growth goals, this month. The group, appointed by Governor Jeb Bush in 2006, issued a draft final report last week.

Sustainability refers to activities that use resources in a manner and rate that prevents them from being depleted to extinction.

“We have a chance of maintaining a quality of life and a quality of place only if we plan, prioritize and invest in ways that reflect a commitment to sustainability,” CSEC’s final report notes.

The Panhandle’s growing population places increasing pressure on resources like water, clean air and beaches; as well as roadways and schools.

“The sustainable growth and development infrastructure in the Emerald Coast region exists to sustain the population today, but our public and private decisions about its use in the coming years will determine the options and legacy we leave for the enjoyment of future generations of Emerald Coast citizens,” CSEC’s report points out.

Recommendations encompass sustainable growth and development, environmental stewardship, economy, education, health care and culture in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties.

Taking a regional approach to growth planning will open new funding sources; pool resources to achieve greater capacity and results; maximize cost-sharing and minimize service duplication; and balance local, state and regional concerns; proponents predict.

“These growth issues transcend local governments,” notes Charles Gauthier, Florida Department of Community Affairs Director of Community Planning. “This is really more of a regional activity.”

The Pensacola-based West Florida Regional Planning Council (WFRPC) has been charged with carrying out CSEC’s final recommendations, and tracking progress in coming years.

WFRPC planners will spend the coming year working the recommendations into a larger Strategic Regional Policy Plan.

That Plan encompasses seven Panhandle counties, from Escambia to Bay, Holmes and Washington; and will influence future local comprehensive plan change and review processes. Comprehensive plans reflect land use decisions like zoning.

CSEC recommends encouraging future growth in already-built up areas, to help preserve farm areas, wetlands and other natural resources.

“This will help ensure that development is focused in regional centers to minimize sprawl and to lessen the need to build additional new roads, as well as avoid coastal high hazard areas and military installations,” the report notes.

The military is a major economic contributor to the Emerald Coast region

On the community front, the group suggests regional officials and community groups work to encourage technical job growth; new roadway corridors and alternative transportation networks; and health, education and cultural programs.

Today’s decisions will impact the region’s environment and quality of life for years to come, officials note.

“It’s like radar on the Titanic,” WFRPC Housing, Homeland Security and Emergency Management Director John Gallagher remarks.

“If they’d had radar, they could have seen the iceberg 20 miles out and made a one or two-degree course correction. If you plan 20 years out, you can make minor corrections [along the way] that will have a major impact 20 years from now.”

Finding a way to pay for it all, Committee members acknowledge, may be a central sticking point.

“Funding as a topic in visioning discussions is much like a trump card in a game of cards,” CSEC’s report notes. “It simply wins nearly every play.

“What the CSEC members understand, and what they hope elected officials will as well, is that if we do not find the way to fund and implement these recommendations, there will be no sustainable Emerald Coast. And that would be a terrible legacy to leave.”

“The real hard work’s ahead,” Gauthier observes, “in sorting principles from specifics. It’s a good step.”

The four-county population, currently at 670,000, is expected to increase to over a million residents in the next 20 years, according to CSEC.

That growth will impact roads, water and other infrastructure.

“As development continues along the coastal areas of Northwest Florida, water supply planning for growth has become a priority. Concurrent with a doubling of the population over the last 30 years in Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties, the Northwest Florida Water Management District documented declining ground water levels,” according to a September WFRPC economic report.

In 2006, environmental advocates The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) added Florida’s coastal Panhandle to its endangered ‘Biogems’ program.

Each year, the group names 12 areas across the Americas, from Alaska to Chile, that face significant danger from human encroachment.

Florida’s Panhandle is one of the most biologically diverse areas in the state. It’s also one of the fastest-growing.

The Biogems project encompasses the whole of the Panhandle.

“The area, which stretches from Pensacola to Tallahassee, is under tremendous pressure from real estate development that could destroy its natural character forever, NRDC noted in a March 2, 2006 press release.

The NRDC is particularly concerned about a proposed new Bay County airport, which was not part of CSEC’s focus area.

CSEC’s final recommendations include the following:

Sustainable Growth and Development

In 2030 the Emerald coast is widely recognized as a leading national model of smart and sustainable growth and planning policies and livable communities. Innovative cutting edge programs stimulate resilient urban development and redevelopment, renewal as well as appropriate planned development which protects the rural character and culture of the northern parts of the region.

All of this has been supported and driven by a well educated citizenry in the region. The region has established sustainable, attainable, balanced housing in close proximity to jobs and in planned unit developments and mixed use neighborhoods where all can buy, rent and maintain attractive homes with balanced predictable valuations and tax assessments. A regional transportation network has been built to solve the congestion problems so evident at the beginning of the century which feature rail (e.g. mass transit along SR 98), transit, high speed rail connection with the rest of Florida and the Southeast, vital seaports and a recent ribbon cutting for new Emerald Coast international airport with service to Europe.

CSEC Draft Final Report, December 2007

Ensure that development is focused in regional centers to minimize sprawl and to lessen the need to build additional new roads, as well as avoid coastal high hazard areas and military installations
Promote compact, low impact development – focused around already-built-up areas with workforce housing near job zones, to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and traffic congestion
Expedite permitting process for economic development projects
Encourage development that promotes walking and bicycling
Develop regional, multi-modal transportation; including alternative transit -- like a regional light rail system to provide an efficient, clean way for people to commute to central transportation hubs
Encourage energy efficient construction techniques
Promote nature and heritage-based tourism
Ensure school capacity is ‘concurrent’ with growth
Acquire environmentally sensitive land for conservation
Promote affordable housing
Protect military bases from encroachment

Environmental Stewardship

Environmental education helps encourage awareness and participation

By 2030, the Emerald Coast will be envied as a model of how growth can be balanced with preservation of natural resources and natural beauty. Among the most important steps will be the preservation of special spaces related to the region’s heritage and coastal location, including public access to the region’s beaches.

CSEC Draft Final Report, December 2007

Minimize growth in high-risk coastal areas, to preserve natural spaces and address evacuation and mitigation issues
Protect military bases by land preservation and minimizing encroachment
Enhance incentives and support for conservation land acquisition
Promote ‘green’ construction techniques, using reduced fees as an incentive
Establish regional stormwater and wastewater plans that focus on watershed, rather than political boundaries
Adopt wetlands protection and management plans
Establish regional recycling plans and initiatives
Foster low impact building, shore buffering, and expansion of marine sanctuaries
Plant more trees and vegetation, and redesign transportation corridors to improve air quality
Develop climate change strategies dealing with more intense storms and sea level rise,
salt water intrusion, carbon reduction. Implement regional climate change strategies related to energy efficiency and coastal hazards
Develop incentives and support environmentally sustainable alternative energy projects at the regional and local levels

Economic Diversity and Prosperity

Sustainable growth encourages the preservation of agricultural land and business operations

By 2030, the economic basis for the Emerald Coast will have sustained growth in the knowledge-based, information technology, and alternative energy arenas in addition to the traditional industry clusters that include the military, aerospace, health care, tourism, and the like.

CSEC Draft Final Report, December 2007

Expand regional research and development capacity, through cooperation between universities and research centers
Provide incentives to entrepreneurs seeking to relocate
Involve K-12, community college, university and business sectors in workforce development
Create a fully integrated, cooperative network of regional economic development organizations to work together on regional economic issues
Target industry sectors such as the existing aviation, aerospace and defense industries, and the emerging and reemerging industries that include: financial services, information technology, life sciences, medical devices, medical technology, distribution and logistics
Develop a skilled workforce in the region to support growth in knowledge-based industries to further the diversification and success of the regional economy through workforce development and CHOICE programs
Local governments in the region join with the state and the military to support and implement military base protection and growth management recommendations
Explore opportunities that would link agriculture with alternative fuels. Recruit companies interested in large areas of land for production of alternative fuel production.

Supporting Educated and Healthy Citizens

By 2030, the Emerald Coast will be a place where there is full integration and cooperation among the K-12, community college, and university sectors. All have implemented educational programs to address the regional needs related to sustainable growth with transparent accountability systems so that the public can monitor progress. All of the educational sectors enjoy strong and close relationships with regional businesses, which in turn provide feedback about specific academic program needs.

By 2030 the Emerald Coast will provide citizens with greater access to a cooperative network of health and human services that supports the enjoyment of long, healthy and productive lives.

CSEC Draft Final Report, December 2007

Recruit and retain certified, in-field teachers in every subject
Coordinate K-12, technical and college curricula
Find sufficient funding for education programs, operations and facilities
Education system partnerships supported by business and community partnerships
Quality early childhood education
Meet class size amendment requirements
Build a regional health care leadership alliance and health care regional goals and indicators
Address chronic ailments and improve outcomes
Promote healthy communities and lifestyles
Improve access to health care and reduce disparities in services
Enhance the number and quality of health care professionals in the region
Create a regional arts and humanities council
Coordinate arts and culture education for K-12
Facilitate the use of technology in arts education

According to the WFRPC September economic report:

Roadwork’s a common sight throughout the region, as population, and traffic levels, expand

“[T]he fastest growing industries in the next ten years are estimated to be the sectors involving Information (28%), Services (26%), Real Estate and rental and leasing (25%), Utilities (23%) and Health Care and Social Assistance (22%) while the only negative change is in Mining and Manufacturing.

As the percentage of total jobs, Government is estimated to remain the top employer for the region, hovering around 19 percent of the total jobs.

“Retail trade and Accommodation and Food Services will also remain as the number two and four employers for the next decade.

“Health Care will see a 2 percent rise to almost 11 percent in ten years and stay strong as the third highest employment category for the region.

“Construction will remain a stable employment factor for the region in the next decade at around 8-9 percent of the total percentage of jobs.”