Imagine proposing a road that would cost taxpayers $3-million, bisect a state forest and a state park, sever a biking trail built by local residents and disrupt at least a dozen wetlands. And by the way, the road would provide a shortcut for traffic on busy U.S. 98 in the Panhandle to a county road presicely at the spot where St. Joe Co. is building its new 499-home development WaterSound Beach.
Such a plan takes the kind of nerve that comes with being the state's largest private landowner and having friends in high places, such as Gov. Jeb Bush. Admittedly, the road is a minor project compared with the $210-million airport St. Joe wants taxpayers to build in the middle of the company's 70,000 acres north of Panama City. With no less than the governor leading cheers for the airport, Bay County commissioners recently approved a land-use change that would replace the city's current airport with one larger than Tampa International on St. Joe property.
Not surprisingly, the road project one county over also has local government's support. Walton County commissioners are seeking state permission to do a $113,000 study of the route through the forest and park.
St. Joe spokesman Jerry Ray swears that the road is the county's idea. The county says it's needed for hurricane evacuation and emergency vehicles. Yet when the county administrator and a commissioner met with Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson (who oversees state forests) earlier this year, they brought along St. Joe executive Chris Corr, St. Petersburg Times staff writer Craig Pittman reported.
Does such influence help? It's too early to say for sure. Although the state Department of Environmental Protection - whose motto is "More protection, less process" - has given its permission for the study but has recommended that the county consider other routes that don't cross Deer Lake State Park. The Division of Forestry hasn't made up its mind, saying it tries to discourage road-building through state forests.
The South Walton Fire District, which should know something about road needs for emergencies, wasn't so equivocal. Its board voted against the route, suggesting instead that a private developer donate land for the road.
This should be an easy call for the state. There is not reason to disrupt forest or park land that shelters important plant and animal species, just to help a company build its empire.
And it probably would have been an easy call, if St. Joe hadn't come calling.
