By DOTTY NIST
A strategic vision for Walton County known as “Walton County down the Road” has been completed, and county commissioners are to consider adopting the draft document on Aug. 10.
Creation of the vision plan took place in a series of public meetings and workshops during a 12-month period during 2009 and 2010, in an effort spearheaded by Walton County District 4 Commissioner Sara Comander.
Comander provided her fellow commissioners with copies of the plan at the July 27 Walton County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) meeting in DeFuniak Springs and also introduced Tom Tomerlin of Northwest Florida State College, who served as a facilitator for the vision plan.
Tomerlin explained that creating the plan involved putting a finger “on the community pulse.” All public comments received were found to fall under the category of three high-value priorities, he explained, vitality, environment, and community character. He likened the three priorities as three legs of a stool supporting quality of life. A set of objectives was then identified for each priority, Tomerlin commented.
An executive summary provided on the vision plan states the primary purpose of the initiative as “identification of what makes Walton County a special place for residents, businesses and visitors.”
”Recognizing attributes valued by Walton County stakeholders, with an eye toward its future, led to the creation of this strategic vision,” the summary reads.
Rather than “a detailed blueprint,” the plan is a statement of objectives aimed at keeping the county in line with “what stakeholders would like for their community.”
Objectives identified under the vitality category involve: incorporation of environmental resources with development; the pursuit of economic development, with an emphasis on diversity and expansion of primary industry jobs; use of best development practices on major travel routes; aligning the Walton County Comprehensive Plan with the vision plan’s high-value priorities; and exploration of transportation alternatives.
Objectives under the category of the environment priority include: promoting Walton County’s natural beauty and “interrelationship between economic development and environmental assets;” providing additional recreation and open space areas and paths; improving service to the military and military service industries; and protecting/increasing awareness of the county’s “environmental gems.”
Under the community character priority, proposed objectives involve: developing/strengthening public-private partnerships for delivery of community services; preservation and identification of historic sites; fostering/promotion of “unique character and design” both along the coast and in the interior of the county; and support of local agriculture, both as an important part of the economy and as and element of community heritage.
Comander expressed appreciation to Tomerlin and his colleagues at NWFSC for their assistance in developing the plan, which, she explained, had not cost the county a dime except for a few reams of paper.
She requested that the commissioners review the document and consider adopting the vision plan at the Aug. 10 BCC meeting.
