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Summercamp Plat Approved buy P and Z
The County Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended approval for the first two phases of the St. Joe Summercamp project, but it may be a few weeks before the county commission gets to see the plans. The St. Joe Company Tuesday received preliminary approval for 249 homes near the intersection of Highway 98 and Highway 319 in Eastern Franklin County. That’s roughly half of the 499 homes that will make up the entire development. Summercamp will also include 35,000 square feet of commercial buildings and a 60 room hotel along the Alligator Harbor Aquatic Preserve. The final plat still needs county approval before St. Joe can start building, but that will likely be delayed a few weeks while St. Joe and the county work on the specifics of a bond issue for the project.

P and Z Rejects Waterfront Rezonings
A number of waterfront property owners hoping to have their properties rezoned away from commercial seafood will have to wait a while longer. The county planning and zoning board would not recommend rezoning any of the properties this week, until the county commission has worked out a plan for the waterfront. The county is currently facing a lot of pressure from waterfront landowners who want to use their lands for other things than commercial seafood. A number of landowners, especially in Eastpoint, but also from areas west of Apalachicola, who own property currently zoned for commercial seafood are finding that they own valuable property but can’t do much with it. They are seeking either a new waterfront zoning Category, or changes to the current C-1 zoning category that would allow uses like restaurants, recreational marinas, and possibly even some residential uses. On Tuesday, the planning and zoning was asked to consider 4 separate requests to rezone land on the waterfront, The requests included one parcel on Timber Island and three from the area just west of Apalachicola. The P and Z rejected all of them until they have a better idea of what the county commission sees as the future of the waterfront. They asked that the county begin holding public hearings as soon as possible, to gauge public sentiment on the issue. County planner Alan Pierce said he would recommend the county schedule the first public hearing for February the 3rd.

P and Z Recommends New Dock Rules
The County Planning and Zoning Board is recommending the county commission adopt new rules to regulate private dock construction in the county. Franklin County currently does not have its own rules to regulate dock construction, and rely instead on regulations set by the state. The lack of local regulation, however, has allowed for some questionable docks in the county, and P and Z members feel its time to fix the problem before it gets any worse. The P and Z is now recommending the county adopt a new dock ordinance that would govern dock construction. Some of the requirements in the ordinance are that all news docks only be allowed on property that is large enough to hold a home and only on waterways that are at least 85 feet wide. The rule would also ban dry docks, and fuel pumps on residential property. The proposed rule also sets minimum construction standards for docks including a number of new lighting requirements designed to minimize light pollution. The rule also requires a professional survey of the dock site before the county will issue a building permit. If you would like to see the draft ordinance for yourself you can get a copy at the Planning and Zoning office in the courthouse annex. The county commission will see the proposal on Tuesday, and if they decide to move forward with it, they’ll have to schedule a public hearing for sometime in February.

NOAA Develops Longline Gear to Protect Turt;les
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has announced that it has developed new technology to keep fishermen from accidentally catching endangered sea turtles. NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, in cooperation with fishermen and private industry, has completed three years of fishing-equipment research in the high seas of the Atlantic Ocean to develop turtle-friendly gear and fishing methods for commercial longline vessels. Commercial longliners catch some of America’s most popular seafood: tuna, swordfish and mahi mahi. The fishing technique has long been controversial because of the level of incidental bycatch. The agency and partners have concluded that encounters with leatherback and loggerhead turtles can be reduced by as much as 90 percent by switching the type of hook and bait from the traditional "J"- style hook with squid to a large circle style hook with mackerel. For the turtles that are incidentally captured, government scientists and partners have developed new de-hooking and release techniques to increase survival rates. Dehookers and dipnets allow fishermen to remove hooks from turtles with minimal additional trauma. A device used as a turtle elevator, the "leatherback lift," was crafted to allow fishermen to bring larger turtles on board for de-hooking. There is an economic incentive for fishermen to use sea turtle bycatch reduction techniques. They won’t lose as much gear, they’ll avoid the extra time spent on entangled turtles, and if they catch fewer turtles, they could see some existing regulations disappear. Further, tests showed the use of these techniques can increase directed catch by as much as 30 percent.