Preserve Navarre

Earlier this week the Board of County Commissioners voted 5-0 in favor of higher taxes for many neighborhoods of Navarre.

Longtime members and followers of our group will recall that frequently the Board pushed back against incorporation for Navarre given that it would cost residents more. However, they showed no such concerns in passing a municipal service taxing unit that raises taxes in numerous neighborhoods in the county including in Navarre.

The message is clear -- the county favors higher taxes as long as they remain in charge.

The County Commissioners do not want you to know that there are over 17,000 businesses and homes in Navarre paying a huge portion of the county taxes already. They do not want you to know that for decades the overwhelming majority of stormwater mitigation projects are completed outside of Navarre. They do not want you to know that tourism from Navarre regularly brings in $5 million a year that the county gets to use, while cities like Gulf Breeze get to decide how theirs is spent.

Hypocritically, many "No-Inc" members are now coming out in favor of this higher taxation. Despite screaming how no one could shoulder higher costs less than a year ago, suddenly they have discovered Navarre can bear higher tax burdens. And they trust a board of commissioners (with not a single one from Navarre) to make these decisions for us.

With so many people in Navarre we pay enough taxes to the county already. Projects all over Santa Rosa are financed by our hard earned dollars. If we are ever to pay more, it should be to change the system for our benefit. Not because the county has already spent our money and wants even more.

More taxation without representation for Navarre.

https://srpressgazette.com/public-hearing-thursday-for-adding-to-property-taxes/?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwK3nOxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHsijLBlkDQHJN3MUpQ80FO04FthVsrIUyb-uIQRBPPib3L53jUj5bl524E8W_aem_olTn9pfUYpYBAV2XUjxy7A

Public Hearing Thursday for adding to property taxes | Santa Rosa Press Gazette An important meeting is being held tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. at the regular commissioners meeting at 6495 Caroline Street in the commissioners' cha ...

What has made Navarre special for so many years is its small town feel, pristine beaches, and small local businesses.

A majority of locals have been misled, however, thinking that our goal of incorporating Navarre was to urbanize it. In fact the goal was the opposite -- to establish Navarre zoning, Navarre building ordinances, and comprehensive Navarre planning that would have slowed development and made developers adapt to our local way of life.

Now, many locals are shocked by how much overdevelopment is happening. We are seeing massive corporate gift shops, tolls bridges, and more neighborhoods forced into already congested areas. A local asked me what incorporation could have done about this (see below).

oo many people think that somehow Navarre can preserve itself without locals taking significant action. They assume that simply reshuffling county politicians or complaining in Milton's public forum will slow development. They don't want to pay for local representation, Navarre zoning laws, or Navarre building ordinances even though they want Navarre to be preserved.

Meanwhile outside interests are showing up in force and they will happily decide Navarre's future and take advantage of the county's generic laws. This will result in locals bearing the costs of low infrastructure and urbanization while monied interests sell Navarre to tourism for their own gain.

I wish there was a scenario in which Navarre's beauty preserved itself magically and without any work, cost, or effort. But preserve is an action verb. It requires work, funding, sacrifice, and dedication.

And if Navarre wants a local code and ordinance system that limits development, there's only one way to get it. The choice is clear -- Navarre can either pay for local control, or Navarre will be destroyed by overdevelopment.

Right now we are unfortunately seeing the latter.