Sundays alcohol sales may go to referendum in Milton


  • August 11, 2015
  • /   Louis Cooper
  • /   community-dashboard

The Milton City Council has decided to put Sunday alcohol sales on the March presidential preference ballot, Santa Rosa County Commissioner Bob Cole wants voters to approve more sales tax, the South Santa Rosa Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan is nearing completion, and a new business has located in the Santa Rosa County Industrial Park.

Milton voters could get say in alcohol sales

The City of Milton may let the voters decide if alcohol should be sold on Sundays there.

Tonight the Milton City Council will vote on a measure to put the question on the November 2016 ballot. Currently alcohol sales in Milton – like all of northern Santa Rosa County – are restricted to Monday through Saturday.

The council discussed the matter at its Aug. 3 executive committee meeting. On Tuesday, the matter is included on the county's  consent agenda, which is usally approved without further discussion.

City Manager Brian Watkins said the new rules would apply to the entire city, whereas previous discussions focused on a small commercial district in downtown Milton near the Blackwater River.

Other details will be worked out in the coming months.

“Over the next few months we will be presenting the proposed wording (for the ballot question) to the committees for council final approval.” Watkins said.

Tuesday's meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Milton City Hall, located at 6738 Dixon St., Milton.

Cole supports sales tax vote

Santa Rosa County Commissioner Bob Cole wants voters to approve a sales tax increase on the March 2016 presidential preference ballot.

In a letter in the August Santa Rosa County Commission newsletter, Cole said that while he recently voted with the rest of the commission to advertise a property tax increase to help meet a $3 million shortfall in the proposed 2015-16 fiscal budget, he would prefer taking $3 million out of the county’s $26 million reserves for the immediate need and then asking citizens to approve a local option sales tax  in March.

The date for the presidential preference vote is currently set for March 15, but is subject to change.

“With this plan we could balance the budget and increase our revenue to the county to a much greater extent than simply raising property taxes,” he wrote. “Using the LOST in the same ways as we see in the neighboring county, we can provide the citizens of Santa Rosa County with a plan to move forward which incorporates growth, development and provides a better quality of life without raising your property tax. With a local option sales tax, everyone pays, not just the homeowner.”

Currently, the sales tax in Santa Rosa 6.5 percent. This includes the 6 percent sales tax the state collects and a half percent LOST that is paid to the Santa Rosa County School District. The school tax was first approved by voters in 1997 and again in 2007.

LOST revenues can only be used for capital projects like paving roads, improving drainage systems, public safety, and building public facilities like libraries, parks, and court systems that have a life of five years or more.

South end bicycle/pedestrian plan nears approval

The South Santa Rosa Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan is in the final stages of approval.

The plan will go before the Planning and Zoning Board on Aug. 13 at 6 p.m. at the Tiger Point Community Center, located at 1370 Tiger Park Lane, Gulf Breeze.

Once approved by the zoning board, it will go before the Santa Rosa County Commission during the special rezoning meeting on Aug. 27 at 6 p.m. at the Santa Rosa Administrative Office Complex, 6495 U.S. 90, Milton.

With the goal of making south Santa Rosa more bicycle and pedestrian friendly, county staff worked with local residents from October 2014 and May 2015 to create a plan that identifies two recreational loops divided into 18 segments as well as numerous citizen-generated projects that span the Gulf Breeze peninsula and Navarre Beach, according to a news release from the county.

For more information on the plan, visit www.ssrbpp.org, www.facebook.com/ssrbpp or contact Santa Rosa County Senior Planner Kristen A. Shell at (850) 983-1816.

New biz comes to industrial park

Butler Auto Recycling, which has operated in Pensacola for 38 years, has opened a new location in the Santa Rosa County Industrial Park in East Milton.

The East Milton location offers full service removal of major mechanical parts, while also allowing customers self-removal of other parts on the vehicles.

The 13-acre facility was originally the site of 84 Lumber. Plans for the facility include room for up to 1,000 vehicles on site and employing a staff of 12 to 15.

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