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Behind The Scenes Emails Lead To Strife In Plan Selection For Beulah’s OLF-8 Development
February 12, 2021
A possible plan selection for the OLF-8 project in Beulah was on the agenda Thursday for the Escambia County Commission. The discussion quickly changed due to a series of emails between stakeholders that came to light this week with an apparent behind the scenes push previously unknown to commissioners.
In January 2019, Escambia County acquired OLF-8 in a land swap with the U.S. Navy for property in Santa Rosa County. The county hired DPZ CoDesign to develop the best plan for OLF-8, and the firm presented four plans ranging from a commerce park based concept to designs with a mix of commerce, residential and green space on the 500 plus acre site along Nine Mile Road in Beulah.
Commissioner Jeff Bergosh, who represents the Beulah area, has long been a proponent of using the land for a commerce park without any residential development.
“My district does not want any more housing,” Bergosh said. “There’s a small vocal minority that does, but what we see from these emails, they are being coached. The majority of District 1 wants no more residential to be built period, and especially on that field we spent $18 million to acquire for jobs.”
DPZ presented four plans to the public in late 2020 and solicited public input. There were only 271 votes received, with the “Village Plan” receiving the most votes with its mix of village center with shops, offices and housing (pictured above).
“I will stand with the people of Beulah,” Commissioner Doug Underhill said. “The Village Plan had the most support from the people of Beulah, and I will not be casting a vote for any plan that does not have the overwhelming support of the people of Beulah.”
Navy Federal had already purchase about 100 acres of the original parcel and is set reimburse the county for the work done by DPZ.
This week, inWeekly’s Rick Outzen obtained a number of emails between DPZ, Navy Federal employees and a citizens group called “The Beulah Coalition.” The emails paint a clear picture of a push against a commerce park only design for OLF-8.
“I am going to go through each and every one of these emails,” Bergosh said at Thursday’s commission meeting. “I’m not even sure I want to keep DPZ, that’s how upset I am. I encourage everyone to read these emails.”
Bergosh said he is considering a move to seek reimbursement for the funds spent with DPZ and the termination of their contract.
Commissioners were also upset to learn that county’s OLF-8 project manager was asked by DPZ to not attend at least two meetings.
“I don’t know that anybody from the county staff would have such a menacing presence that their pure attendance would preclude people from being candid, based on the comments that we get in publicly taped meetings,” Commissioner Steven Barry said.
DPZ partner and designer Marina Khoury said that’s not unusual so stakeholders will speak openly about their ideas without feeling pressure from a client like the county.
“We respect the fact that it is entirely your decision — our job is to offer you our best recommendations for the land. That is what we were hired to do,” she said. “We have not gone behind your back to Navy Federal. Some groups want to be engaged; others simply will not engage with us. Navy Federal has maintained impartiality and they worked very hard to try not to influence this process.”
“We never wanted to undermine the process. It’s to our benefit to give you what we believe has been a very transparent and fair set of plans. We’ve given you a lot of options that we think are rooted in some good data,” Khoury said. “We are not trying to predispose the outcome. Look, we have the community furious with us that we are not promoting the Village Plan. We’ve unfortunately just managed to just piss everybody off.”
Escambia County is making a request for all of the emails regarding OLF-8 from DPZ, and the discussion will continue at the commission’s next meeting on February 18.
Comments
27 Responses to “Behind The Scenes Emails Lead To Strife In Plan Selection For Beulah’s OLF-8 Development”
Ref: OLF8 First make sure Navy Federal has all of the land it wants.
Then make room for a fire station and training ground for all fireman. Beulah needs a Ladder truck for all the new houses and apartments in Beulah. Make the fire house large enough for more trucks.
It would be good for a sub. station for EMS.
Room for Middle School and a High school.
Room for a park. A green Belt.
For all the trees wee have lost from the building in Beulah plant the rest in big trees with walk ways in the woods.
The county dose not have any big paying jobs now or later. Just pie in the sky. Give the land to the Beulah community to enjoy.
Then we all win.
Just remember the more land you cover up brings flood water. The holding ponds will not work!
Charlie
Three things:
1. Our commissioners historically lack vision. People driving through Beulah either live there, work at NF, or are forced to pass through. An alternate route/detour takes 30 minutes, which is still worse than 25 minutes of stop and go down Nine Mile to drive two miles – that’s without other commerce or business adding to the congestion and exactly what OLF-8 is going to do. The more businesses you put there, the worse it will get. Just wait until the pandemic is over and we’re all reminded about how horrible traffic is on Nine Mile when people return to the NF campus.
2. DPZ was hired to analyze the area and provide you with multiple use cases that would be the best fit for the property. The commissioners are continually dismissing the professional opinion of a design firm and imposing their own agenda until the firm gives them exactly what commissioners want instead of what the area/county needs.
3. Bergosh does not represent his constituents; he represents his own vision/agenda and this is evident by the contrast of opinions among the panel. Underhill is the best County commissioner and the Beulah community and Escambia county would be in much better hands if he represented district 1.
To recap: Nine mile road is going to need six lanes before construction is complete on four. The Beulah interchange needs to be fast tracked to give people an alternate route. Until this community/county solves the problems it currently has with infrastructure/traffic, how can we trust commissioners to make a decision that is going to exacerbate the problem? We need to let DPZ do their job and the commissioners need to learn from Underhill and do more listening than talking. They need to represent the majority of constituents and not the select few.
Having worked for the county for years, I can guarantee thathe county is the least interested in what is BEST for you. The will do what they have made deals behind closed doors to do. The ” dog & pony show” going on now is a blind, put forth to make you think your inputs make a difference. FOLLOW THE MONEY if you want to get to the truth. The county has squandered MILLIONS of your tax dollars and will continue to do so.
The first thing that should have been put in the design is a County complex that should include a Fire Station, Sheriff Substation, EMS post, Tax Collector office, Property Appraiser Office and a Library, Ball Park space and some type of music venue.
You know the saying “Built it and they will come”.
BERGOSH IS NOT GOOD FOR BEULAH.or surrounding area.
It’s been a s-show for a very long time.
One more kid, one more year at Tate and we are gone. Too bad, this was our home.
How about a High School, a Elementary School, A Daycare facility, Ball park/ park, Amphitheatre, After school program facility, Some food options; Anything which will make the lives of parents easier.. We travel to and from Beulah, stuck in traffic going and coming, What could be more helpful and be utilized everyday than having everything a family needs IN YOUR LINE OF TRAVEL.
Since not all of us can stay on top of all the discussions and meetings, why not send a ballot to all Beulah residents with all options to choose.
Let the market speak! Enough of these democraps on the BCC dictating what goes. WE are a land of law and order and a land of free markets!
My opinion only, The use for the land has already been reached, the rest is a dog and pony show.
My 2 cents:
*The county cannot just build a school because a developer drew one in their plans.
* Beulah has grown so fast that even when the road construction is all finished, there will still be so much congestion.
*I would like to see a ballpark for kids on part of that property. Currently, a family has to battle all the traffic to get home, gather their kids and equipment and battle the traffic again to drive all the way to Ensley, Bellview or Molino (I’m not sure if Cantonment currently has an open park). With all these new houses built and being built, we need a ball park for kids.
*Just because you might build a commerce area, doesn’t guarantee jobs. (there is a commerce park a little north of Cantonment, that has only a few businesses in it.
I agree with many who ask why does the County Commission appear to push for Commerce Park when the Market Plan is ranked # 1. The Market Plan hits all the high marks in all stated goals. I voted for the Market Plan way back when knowing what that could become. I live in the Beulah area West of this site. I have lived in Carme,lIndiana and Austin, Texas where developments such as Olf 8 exist. I often frequented the shops, restaurants, movie theaters and shopping in general long before Covid without having to relocate the car. In closing, I could see me often utilizing business and retail provided in the Market Plan layout. Not sure why I need to visit business within the Commerce Park development.
Commercial only, No residential, we were told that this property would be used for commercial purposes to bring jobs to the county. We need jobs, not more housing!!!
Bergosh got 38% of the vote – he clearly doesn’t speak for many of us in Beulah.
NO ONE has asked or surveyed Beulah residents. The DMZ proposals were difficult and time consuming to go through – little wonder such a poor response. And the county defined best use for them – not the residents. Honestly, I preferred the helicopters.
Jobs and taxes – all you hear about this land use – why? – what is that going to do for Beulah except fund more drama, congestion, money for the rest of Escambia to squander and line someone’s pocket.
There is clearly some monkey business going on here.
How come this Scott Luth(SP) guy is ALWAYS in on stuff that will cost us MILLIONS OF DOLLARS then when we look around all the HARD TO RECRUIT JOBS, are landed JUST ACROSS THE STATE LINE……..HUMMMMMMMM wonder why that is……
How are we letting these clowns sell us yet ANOTHER commerce park, like the dozen around the 3 county communty that sit empty all while new busineses are opening just across the state line…..We have spent MILLIONS on our commerce park that sits EMPTY….we have over $250,000,000 commited to VT and we are still waiting….SHOW US OUR MONEY!!!!!
Hmmm 1:38 and 1:48 pm,
That was a pretty big bunch of information to “go read more about” in 10 minutes.
Which of the 18 different OLF8 propaganda strings going on ECW did you grab it from?
Better Beulah than Cottage Hill.
Who could have ever imagined that Beulah could come to this, a nightmare
It would seem like the Village idea with shops, restaurants, a school, a park, outdor shopping type (not a strip mall) place would be a better fit for the area and the people who live out there, then they wouldn’t need to travel so far (Downtown) to enjoy a night out at a place other than a chain restaurant. Bring something a bit nicer to the area vs a big box strip mall with a parking lot. That area has really grown!
There a plenty of commerce parks in this County, they are not full, the County does little to attract business, and w/o a promise from a large company, there is no point.
The County will screw this up, by the time anything is done there will be a down turn in the economy, the County will be stuck with a empty piece of land, no new tax revenue, and not fulfilling the jobs of improving much of anything.
Okay, I had to go read more about this… I see where there is a well-known Pensacola developer who has long had his eye on developing a commerce park there, and was the one that purchased the land in Santa Rosa County for Escambia County to use for the swap to even get OLF-8. Apparently it’s been his vision and he has been a major player in the background and pushed for the county to turn it into a commerce park. So hmmm, Bergosh… what’s all in this for you?
I still have a lot of questions about all this. So if the most votes were for the Village Plan, how does Bergosh know that more people want it to be a commerce park? He’s pushed for the commerce park and not entertained any other ideas for years now.
And it’s wrong if there are a group of people who want the Village plan to come together and push for it? There are groups of people for all the different plans. If other people felt strongly about a different plan they should have come out and voted for it.
If DPZ is coming up with the plans, should it be totally off-limits for anyone to contact them for questions or suggestions? They were the ones conducting the polls. If so, Escambia County should have spelled that out in the contract.
Why is Bergosh and some of the people so against the village plan? Surely it isn’t traffic, because there will lots of trucks coming and going. I’m guessing it’s related to money some way. Are people worried more housing will allow more people to find reasonably priced places to live, and thus drop the value of the home that they own? Jobs? Just because they turn it into a commerce park doesn’t mean manufacturing companies will be knocking down the door to locate themselves in a high traffic/high value area.
I don’t care what they do with it, but any time a politician is being dramatic about something, it makes me suspicious.
I’ve lived here long enough to know that Escambia county will ultimately screw this up.
Moving soon and I can’t get out of here fast enough.
WE DON’T NEED MORE HOUSING…………
What is needed is a (NEW) high school !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pine Forest heed some help with the growing population…..
Tate would not mind either……….
@taxpayer YES! Lets bring more pollution to the area! Great idea!
@ SueB
You dont know who voted for what or who read or saw anything
You dont speak for the populist
“People in this area who did not want”???
You do a geographical survey?
You are 1 voice 1 vote, who speaks only for yourself.
It would be obtuse for anyone to believe anything you say.
Your evidently were one of those who used to collect money and the “Soccer Moms” evidently do not agree with you either.
BTW…define “Soccer Moms” you referred to in your rant.
Grow up and stop whining!
This is a travesty… Hold this company accountable. They have wasted years of the taxpayer time and recourses now. We need to start over -FIRE DPZ and HIRE A NEW COMPANY!
Lets build a city of you know..like the beach does. McDonalds Hamburgers high paying jobs…you could call it McDonalds City.
Too simple…throw the bums out the window and send a message to the next company.
Conflict of interest and a little dark horse running in the background.
Pensacola’s own little Century.
Tax money paid for this group that all County Commissioners agreed upon. Commissioners even saw the plans before being presented to public. It does not matter what the majority of people want, it’s what the Commissioners want. Just like Southwest Sport Complex – people who live in the area did not want. Now we are stuck with noise, lights, sewage smell, water run off into our lake, soccer mom’s taking over charging admissions, etc.
MAKE IT TOTALLY COMMERCIAL FOR JOBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WE NEED MORE MANUFACTURING AND LESS TOURISM AS INCOME FOR THE COUNTY