Hickory Hammock Road area residents say proposed subdivision threatens their way of life

For Tim Evans, water is a way of life.

Evans is the proud owner of Cedar Lakes RV Park and Campground, but to him maybe more importantly, also the owner/operator of the Cedar Lakes Public Drinking Water System.

"There can be a lot of headaches. People tell me I ought to give all this up and go enjoy myself," the 66-year-old Evans told a guest as he puttered around his East Milton property in an ancient pickup truck. "The water's probably the main thing that keeps me here."

As license holder and proprietor of a Transient Non-Community Public Water System, Evans serves up artesian spring water exclusively to his campground guests.

Evans' father found springs on the family property that offered clear, clean water and created ponds to contain their flow. Then, 25 years ago Evans himself dug a well to tap into the same artesian spring water. That well resides to this day under lock and key in a shed located at the northeastern corner of his property.

As a public water system holder Evans maintains Florida Department of Environmental Protection certification and complies with strict water monitoring standards. He said he's been told by experts "bottled water doesn't even come close" to the purity of what he serves his campers.

Evans is feeling his livelihood and peace of mind very much threatened these days. A developer has hatched plans to build somewhere between 66 and 120 homes on 66 acres of land adjacent to his park, ponds and well.

Alexander Pryor, who claims local ties but runs an investment business based in Destin, looks to build on land fronting Hickory Hammock Road owned by John and Mary Holton. The southernmost corner of the Holton land is just 30 feet from Evans' well site.

A plan to develop on Hickory Hammock Road

On Feb. 8, agent Becky Cato, with Pryor in tow, took the Holton's case to rezone the parcel in question to the Santa Rosa County Zoning Board. The owners were seeking to change the zoning on 26 of the 66 acres from agricultural to residential to allow for higher density development upon which they could build up to four homes per acre.

Current plans call for construction to be limited to the acreage at the front of the property nearest Hickory Hammock Road, Cato assured board members. Forty acres, much of it wetlands, will be left vacant.

After hearing from the would-be developer and several who had arrived to speak in protest of the zoning change, the zoning board recommended rejection of the request by a 7-2 vote. The Santa Rosa County Commission will get the final say, though, Thursday at a special rezoning meeting.

As with every discussion of zoning in fast growing East Milton, waste removal was introduced as a key topic of conversation.

"Our intent," Cato initially told board members, "is to put (the subdivision's homes) on septic tank. But we're also looking at an on-site sewage treatment facility."

On site sewage treatment through construction and maintenance of what is known as a package plant has become probably the most viable alternative to septic tanks in Santa Rosa County areas north of the Yellow River. The region is realistically still several years away from having a sewage treatment plant with capacity to handle the needs of a growing populace.

Asked to differentiate between septic tanks and the package plant concept, County Planning Director Shawn Ward described the treatment method as "similar to sewage, but also somewhat similar to septic."

The similarity to septic tanks lies in the fact that human waste is deposited into an underground tank as it leaves the home. It resembles sewage treatment in that the waste is pumped from the tank to a treatment facility where contaminants are removed. The cleansed "effluent" remaining is deposited onto the ground at a Rapid Infiltration Basin System, where it evaporates or is absorbed.

At the insistence of board member Alan Isaacson, Pryor agreed that if he received the rezoning requested, he would utilize the package plant concept regardless of how many homes he ultimately decides to build. The commissioner who appointed Isaacson, Kerry Smith, has made known his opposition to building more Santa Rosa County homes that are reliant on septic tanks.

Pryor said he too opposes more septic tanks.

"There's plenty of them around here and there are ways to get around it," he said.

Who's watching the waste water?

There exists something of a gray area concerning who would be responsible of running and maintaining the package plant once it is built. Pryor said the installer is originally responsible, but that responsibility could be passed to the developer and perhaps, at some point, a homeowner's association.

Pryor said he will not know the exact number of homes he will build on the site until he obtains the residential zoning and conducts engineering studies of the property to be developed.

The fact is though, under the agricultural zoning the Holton land presently holds, Pryor could theoretically put in 66 homes and 66 septic tanks without zoning board or county commission approval, though the homes would have to be built on one acre lots and the wetlands on the property's southern end would come into play.

Cato said Pryor wants to develop a neighborhood of "attainable" housing. Something to serve the needs of workers filling the jobs at the several distribution centers scheduled to open within the next couple of years at industrial parks not far from Hickory Hammock Road.

Evans is opposed to the number of homes Pryor wants to build and against any sort of waste treatment being done on the Holton land to his north.

He said his knowledge of geography and hydrology lead him to believe that any leeching of contaminated water from the subdivision will run down hill from the development toward his property. Not only his well, but the ponds his father built, sit near the the southwestern border with the Holton property and the water residing beneath the property it is not far from the surface.

He said he fears any sort of contamination of his well would put him out of the public water business.

"The effluent from the plant is going to seep this way," he said. "It won't take very long to reach the water table. I think this is definitely going to have an impact on the quality of water we serve our customers and definitely have an impact on my way of life."

Though Evans, whose RV Camp lies off of Coachman Road that runs west of the Holton property, was the only bona fide water service owner to appear before the zoning board in opposition to the planned subdivision, he was not the only area resident to protest the development.

Some in attendance said they fear more traffic on already congested local roadways, others said local schools are overcrowded. Nearly all said they don't want to lose their privacy and quiet, rural way of life.

Edward Bailey invited members of the zoning board to sit with him on his front porch at night to hear the wildlife.

"Where are all the coyotes going to go that I hear howling every night? They're homeless as soon as this happens. They'll be coming to our yards," he said. "We'll all be impacted. What do I get out of this except 120 neighbors and more traffic?"

Evans too lamented what development will do to the character of the area. He said his guests often described his RV Park as "like a miniature nature preserve."

"Our customers enjoy the nature, the quiet," he said. "We would like to keep it that way."

Incohesive development plan

The primary reason cited by the zoning board members for rejecting Prior's plans was the lack of cohesiveness of the concept. Member Ed Carson said it felt to him as though the developer was "trying to throw a little Hail Mary" to get the rezoning through by volunteering to utilize a package plant treatment system.

"To me this feels like a significant upzone, and I don't think it's this body's job to essentially upzone to make the bottom line better for the developer," he said.

Smith, who met with Evans Monday morning, said he is conflicted by the zoning request. While he is sympathetic to the worries of the neighbors on and around Hickory Hammock Road, he also understands the need for affordable residential development along the growing commercial corridor of State Road 87. The willingness of Pryor to opt for sewer over septic is also a major factor, he said.

At the same time, Smith said, he wants to see a better plan for development than what has thus far been presented.

"I told him I want to know exactly what you propose to do," he said.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Hickory Hammock Road development draws Santa Rosa resident protest