Pros and Cons: The Walmart debate continues

Stop whining! Walmart deserves our welcome

I would like to welcome Walmart and any other big box store to South Walton.

I don't know why the 30A whiners are worried about the big box stores. They do not compete with our chef-prepared restaurants, bars, wine bars, art galleries, boutiques, ice cream parlors, Realtor offices, taco stands, pizza parlors, bell-ringing sunsets, beaches, bike paths, and hiking trails.

Did I miss anything?

The whiners have no one to blame but themselves, real estate moguls and their lacky politicians who wanted to divide this little bit of paradise into little pieces (density regulations).

The prices out here for square footage are absurd. Most businesses take longer to open than they stay open. Is that because of all the regulations and overhead and high prices?

I love living here, and I am not offended by being able to buy at the lowest price. Competition in business is what makes it all work. Local discounts of 10, 15, 20, 50 percent off prove that the prices are too high to begin with. 

I would like to know where I could shop on 30A for everyday supplies. Tom Thumb just doesn't cut it.

Remember locals live here. Tourists come and go as they blow their dough.

Robert Rhinehart

Seagrove Beach

Walmart: “Turning beautiful South Walton into Fort Walton”

“Pride Preservation Conservation” so sayeth the seal of Walton County.

The Tourist Development Commission (TDC), touting “the Beaches of South Walton” with its iconic red and white beach umbrellas, will now have to change the campaign to include the recently approved “Scenic” 8-foot yellow Wal-Mart “star.”

Generally bordered by Hogtown Bayou on the north (where rainwater naturally flows through to the bay), Topsail Preserve on the south (home to a handful of listed species), Sandestin to the west (a world class resort apparently in need of discounted shopping?), and Point Washington State Forest land all around it, the new Walmart in the middle of paradise will quite dramatically change the ambiance of the key lime pie at the Donut Hole II. 

Not to mention the trails within Topsail itself.

Can we stop a Wal-Mart? Yes. Resistance has been used successfully around the country against big boxes 86 times coast to coast.

What is needed is your voice, telling your local politicians and planning people that you will actively fight this to the end and that that you are not going away.

With public attention and support focused on this we can harness the political power needed to turn this around.  Emotion won’t mean anything to local board members — but facts will. Facts like Walmart buys and fills in wetlands then paves them over. Wetlands like those easily visible from the air across from Topsail.

I challenge South Walton radio and Internet voices to speak up as well.

We must make local decision makers aware that their actions on this will have lasting consequences for the way of life here.

Suddenly planning and zoning is in the spotlight.  Our lack of such has allowed this big box to come shopping for our land. We must attend these meetings and be heard loud and long. Planning, Zoning, Design Review, Technical Review and the Board of County Commissioners all need to see us as familiar faces in front of them.

The 2010 election cycle is fast upon us, and who wishes to be known as turning upscale South Walton into discounted Fort Walton?

A little community self-determination would come in handy right now.

The file on this is located at the South Walton Courthouse Annex on 331 South, in the Planning and Development Services Division.  Gerry Demers assures me we are welcome to head in, read it and to make public records requests. 

Knowledge is power and this would be an excellent place to start.

South Walton is facing a Tampa-sized, stream-choking international airport coming in at Westbay, and a new paved route from there southwest aimed at Seaside along which Atlanta or Birmingham folks may speed on their way to Topsail Preserve’s dune lakes to be chauffeured by tram along blacktop to the heart of the Jewel of the Emerald Coast.  There they can take a picture and leave without ever getting their new sneakers dirty or seeing any of the nature they came to see in the first place. 

But we need not inflict a Wal-Mart on this area as well. 

Battles against Wal-Mart locations have been waged around Florida and the nation, and there is no reason why we cannot do the same successfully here. Northport/Panacea, Holiday, Sarasota, & St Pete have all battled Wal-Mart. Gig Harbor, Wash., was a big battle as well.  We are not alone.

How can this development in this place possibly make sense?

Folks who come here to get away from home will see less reason to come here when it looks JUST LIKE the place they left. 

I can’t decide which is worse, the Topsail Preserve being “Yellowstoned” to increase business — its access road being closed off due to puddles, blacktop running from 30A to Campbell Lake — or now Walton County allowing a 24-hour box right across the road.

My little slice of heaven looks doomed. 

Will the otherworldly call of the large pileated woodpeckers continue or will the 8-foot neon yellow star of Wallyworld silence them?

Point Washington State Forest contains the world’s largest population of threatened Curtiss Sandgrass. If you spot any around West Hewett road, yell like hell and take pictures — especially if it’s being eaten by a threatened gopher tortoise.

Walton County is “Proud to Preserve and Conserve” its beaches, springs, and dune lakes.  How does allowing a wetland destroyer like Wal-Mart fit into that heritage? Much development has occurred in South Walton, but with this, the desecration would be complete. 

We can do better.

Timothy Mahar is an environmental “Defender” and Destin resident.