Commissioner Howard Kessler Holds Town Hall Meeting in Bethel Community
Road paving, impact fees, and the designation of a county road in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were the hottest topics at the Bethel Town Hall Meeting on October 30. More than 50 people filled the activity room at the Mount Olive Primitive Baptist Church for the seventh such meeting of 2007. Wakulla County Commissioner Kessler presided over the lively and good-natured discussion.
To pave or not to pave Old Bethel Road was not the question. The question was when would it be paved. Dr. Kessler said the road is on the county’s short list, and the only thing holding it up is difficulty in acquiring right-of-way. The county has authorized purchase of right-of-way along Old Shell Point Road and Cajer Posey Road, but not for Old Bethel Road. “We’re doing more damage by buying some or saying we’ll buy it here and not there,” Kessler said.
Making roads safer and preventing speeding were mentioned frequently. Kessler said that Old Bethel Road could be engineered for a certain speed limit to prevent the road from becoming a racetrack. Citizens asked that improvements be made to several dangerous intersections, including Wakulla-Arran Road and Cajer Posey, Highways 267 and 61, and 267 and 319.
Rezoning and new construction worried several people. “I’m not looking at any particular place, but it looks like we’ve been doing a whole lot of it,” said one man. Dr. Kessler suggested that citizens express their objections and the reasons behind them to the Planning and Zoning Board. Although the P&Z Board’s role is primarily to advise the County Commission, the state’s Department of Community Affairs is supposed to look at citizens’ comments on projects subject to state approval.
Relocating Highway 98 inland “would make north Florida like south and central Florida,” said a citizen. Another said, “It’s a done deal.”
To improve public notice of government meetings, the county could use e-mail or outdoor programmable signs. One person said the county needs to improve notification of property owners adjacent to land proposed for rezoning.
Answering a question about impact fees, Dr. Kessler said the trend now is for local governments to charge the actual cost of new growth, which is what citizens want, rather than forcing taxpayers to pay for infrastructure needed for new homes and businesses. The 2007 study of the cost of new growth to Wakulla County is “conservative,” Kessler said. There’s a correlation between impact fees, infrastructure, and the desirability of a place, he said, and then he asked, “Do we want to sell the farm or do we want to preserve our community?”
Another question concerned the property tax cut proposed by the Florida Legislature that will be voted on statewide in January. “Who will be more persuasive: county elected officials who explain it’s a start toward taking away local control, or state representatives who want you to vote for it?” asked Kessler. “If it passes, money will drift to the state, and they’ll hand it out to counties. It’s a head-on, frontal attack on home rule.”
Between the proposed property tax cut and the likely defeat of an increase in impact fees, what will it mean for county millage rates? The library and the parks and recreation program will be the first to go, Kessler said.
A citizen asked if the county could have an audit done before Election Day.
One man said if more businesses were to come to Wakulla, the county government would have more tax income from gas taxes and sales tax. Another said impact fees don’t take into account the hidden costs of growth, such as deteriorating air quality, trash in the woods, disappearing wildlife, and the health effects of tension. “When we permit more growth, we’re only hurting ourselves,” he said.
A citizen suggested that the county could help promote unity by sponsoring a Day of Dialogue like the one that’s been so successful in Tallahassee. Another said that the cause of unity would be advanced by changing the name of Lower Bridge Road to Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Road. Dr. Kessler said the County Commission’s reasons for voting against it included the length of the road, the trouble for residents to change addresses, and the historic nature of the road’s present name. One person suggested that Old Bethel Road’s name be changed instead of Lower Bridge Road, and another replied that people passing through Crawfordville wouldn’t see it. Another suggested “Martin Luther King Lower Bridge Road” as a name. Several people said they hoped the November 19 workshop on the issue would help find a solution.
- Submitted by Karla Brandt
This article originally published on November 14, 2007.
Local News 
Road paving, impact fees, and the designation of a county road in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were the hottest topics at the Bethel Town Hall Meeting on October 30. More than 50 people filled the activity room at the Mount Olive Primitive Baptist Church for the seventh such meeting of 2007. Wakulla County Commissioner Kessler presided over the lively and good-natured discussion.
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