Big Night Last Night in Beulah for the NW District 1 Advisory Committee

The NW Section of District 1--indicated above-- is the fastest growing area of Escambia County

Last night a very significant meeting was held in Beulah related to the growth of the NW portion of District 1.

The NW District 1 Advisory Committee has been meeting since last September-- and last night this committee took the next steps toward formulating a plan to address the rapid growth out here.

The PNJ attended last night's meeting and did a good write-up that will probably appear in tomorrow's print edition.

With Navy Federal Credit Union experiencing rapid growth of employment--the surrounding area has also exploded with growth in residential housing development.

The committee developed a list of questions over the last several months in order to ask residents directly what they want to see out here with respect to a plan for managing growth intelligently.

The Board of County Commissioners approved a $4,700.00 expenditure from D1 discretionary funds this past Thursday to engage UWF's Haas Center to take the list of questions and disseminate these to the community over the next several months.  UWF will conduct the survey and evaluate the data, reporting back to the NW District 1 Advisory Committee in late September or early October.

Members of the NW District 1 Advisory Committee discuss growth in Beulah at an April, 2019 meeting.  (r to l, Dr. Laura Bryant,chair., Joey Poitevin, David Liechty, and Paul Flores)

On September 9th--the NW District 1 Advisory Committee will meet to begin the building of an RFP for the planning, and the committee will also vote in a new chairman and vice-chairman for the committee. (The committee will take the months of July and August off to allow UWF to conduct the survey).

This data from the UWF survey will inform the construction of an RFP which will be utilized to engage a professional firm to create a plan for this area of Escambia County--either a traditional master plan or an overlay district--whichever makes more sense according to the survey and as determined by the advisory committee in conjunction with county staff.

I will hold a town hall in Beulah, at Beulah Middle School, on Monday, July 15th to hear from the residents and to encourage their participation in this entire process.