Walton County TRC continues Tucker Bayou PUD after residents raise traffic and accessibility concerns

The Walton County Technical Review Committee on Oct. 15 continued final action on the Tucker Bayou planned unit development, a proposed subdivision of 47 single‑family lots on about 21.32 acres north of Dog Hobble Lane, to the committee's Nov. 5 meeting to allow the applicant time to address outstanding technical comments and clarify public‑access and sidewalk plans.

County planning staff entered a staff report and told the committee the application remains incomplete on several engineering items, covenants and restrictions, and a landscape plan. A staff member identified as Rosanna said the planning comments “other than that are pretty minor,” but noted questions about a requested deviation for sidewalk surfacing and whether civic and recreational areas proposed as part of the project would be public.

David Smith, representing the applicant, told the committee the project is at the technical phase of an earlier conceptual PUD approval and that engineers are close to resolving outstanding comments. On the sidewalk deviation, Smith said the PUD request covers surfacing rather than a narrower width: “that is a deviation that was requested as part of the PUD for the surfacing. So, that will be either mulch or some type of other paving surface that was also approved as well.” He and other applicant representatives said they are still discussing how to provide parking and ADA access to any civic spaces.

Several nearby residents raised safety and traffic concerns at the meeting. Jonathan Douglas, who said he lives at 86 Fig Court and serves as board president of Eden Gardens State Park and is on the historic Pointe Washington board, said, “we're not supportive of this project because of the traffic impacts along Eden Drive,” citing a blind curve where pedestrians are hard to see. Resident Clay Lowry said he and neighbors did not receive notice of the development and argued the “infrastructure does not support 47 lots and the traffic that it will bring, period,” citing local schools, churches and a boat launch that already generate pedestrian and vehicle activity.

An applicant representative told the committee the development would be 2.2 units per acre and said that figure is “an 89% reduction of what could be allowed on this property based on the vision and the plan of the neighborhood.” The applicant also said it has coordinated with Public Works on planned County Road 395 improvements that would add a multiuse path and additional stop signs at some intersections; the applicant proposed a stop sign where Dog Hobble connects to Eden Drive and rumble strips “just for safety and notification for the drivers.”

Planning staff recommended a minimum continuance to allow the applicant to submit required materials and align the TRC record with the upcoming ordinance hearing tied to the conceptual PUD. A motion to continue the Tucker Bayou detailed PUD to the Nov. 5 Technical Review Committee meeting passed by voice vote.

The committee's continuance preserves the applicant's opportunity to resubmit engineering responses, clarify sidewalk surfacing and ADA access for civic uses, and provide required covenants and landscape plans before the TRC makes a final recommendation to move the project forward to the development‑order stage.