TRC delays Holiday Inn Express hotel review to Nov. 5 after staff requests time to review resubmittal

Walton County's Technical Review Committee on Oct. 15 continued consideration of a proposed 104‑room Holiday Inn Express hotel to the Nov. 5 meeting after staff told the committee it had received the applicant's response to review comments only the day before and needed more time for review.

County planner Ayanna (first name used in the record) told the committee she had received the applicant’s response late and “it would be premature of me to make a recommendation, at least from the planning perspective, when I haven't had time to review this response to comment letter.” She recommended conditional handling if the committee wished to keep the application moving but asked for more review time before a recommendation.

Curtis Smith, the applicant's civil engineer with Northwell Civil Engineers, said he had resubmitted responses to comments and was concerned about a recently enacted state law (cited in the meeting as 2025‑177) that imposed review timelines the applicant said could make a typical multi‑step review (TRC, DRB, planning commission, BCC) difficult to complete within statutory deadlines. Smith described having provided the requested materials and urged the committee not to delay scheduling DRB and other subsequent hearings. He said the team had addressed parking, landscape and other technical comments and noted potential FDOT permitting for a turn lane would follow the county approvals.

Staff reported technical issues remaining from regional utilities and transportation; the hotel resubmittal noted an estimated 52 PM peak‑hour trips, about 0.18 acres of wetland impacts and compliance with site intensity limits. Ayanna said flood zone and wetland impacts were within county standards but that she had not completed her review of the late response letter.

Given the new state review timeline concerns and the applicant's request to proceed, a committee member moved to continue the item to Nov. 5 to allow staff review. The motion passed by voice vote. The committee directed staff to review the resubmittal prior to the Nov. 5 TRC meeting and requested that, if the resubmittal is clean, staff schedule the project for DRB promptly.