After long dispute, Okaloosa agrees to pay $1.4M for property needed for Crestview bypass

Collin Bestor, Northwest Florida Daily News
·2 min read

SHALIMAR — After originally offering $23,500 more than four years ago, the Okaloosa County Commission agreed this week to pay $1.4 million for 4.496 acres that will be used for the southwest Crestview bypass project.

Here is what we know.

Background

Known as Parcel 100 in county documents and located near Antioch Road and Arena Road, the parcel is intended to be used for the bypass' east-west connector road.

The county originally made an offer of $23,050 to the land owners, Timothy and Nelda Fleming, which was later rejected. This ultimately led the county to move forward with an eminent domain proceeding in April 2020. In September 2020, a hearing was held in court, and it was deemed that the best use for the property would be commercial/mixed use.

With this assessment, the appraisal amount was raised to $562,000.

In county documents, Public Works Director Jason Autrey explained that both parties failed to reach a mediated settlement agreement, and thus, the issue was set to proceed to trial on June 10. But at the beginning of the proceedings, the property owner approached the county with a proposed settlement.

The settlement is for $1,445,171.31 and includes the property value, timber value, statutory fees and costs, landowner appraisal, engineering, planning and other expert fees and costs.

The Vote

Before the vote could commence, Commissioner Paul Mixon recused himself from it because he had a " pre-existing relationship with the property owner." Also absent from the vote was Commissioner Trey Goodwin.

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Commissioners Nathan Boyles, Carolyn Ketchel and Mel Ponder voted to finalize the settlement agreement.

After the vote, Boyles said that even with the settlement agreement, the county comes "significantly below" the original right-of-way acquisition budget of nearly $40 million for the bypass project.

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Okaloosa County settles land dispute, agrees to pay $1.4M