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Design Firm To Present New OLF-8 Hybrid Concept At Tuesday Town Hall
February 28, 2021
The design firm that is working to create an master plan for the OLF-8 site in Beulah will hold a virtual town hall on Tuesday to present their latest mixed use concept.
On February 18, DPZ CoDesign presented the new plan to the Escambia County Commission with a combination of commerce, residential and amenities (click or tap image to enlarge). The “Adjusted Hybrid Plan” allocates 271 acres to commerce and industrial; 61 acres to residential including duplexes, townhomes and multifamily; 47 acres to a mixed-use center such as residential over retail and office over retail; and 45 acres to trails and public amenities such as a post office, school, day care and community garden.
DPZ will present the plan and allow residents a chance to ask questions or provide feedback due the virtual town call on Tuesday, March 2 at 6 p.m. Interested participants are invited to register online.
The Escambia County Commission and DPZ have been at odds over project design and behind the scenes emails. DPZ previously presented four concepts that included high density residential use, along with commerce, amenities and green space. Commissioner Jeff Bergosh, who represents the Beulah area, has pushed for much more commerce on the property.
“We are optimistic this new compromise plan will have the political support to move forward into the next phase of the project,” said Marina Khoury, of DPZ CoDesign. “We value continued public engagement and community input.”
Bergosh said he is still skeptical about DPZ after more emails have come to light between DPZ and others including Navy Federal and the “Beulah Coalition,” some of which were disparaging toward the commission. Commissioners have received dumps of external emails from DPZ, but he company wants to charge the county, their client, $189 per hour to fulfill a commission request for internal emails.
The county commission will discuss OLF-8 again at their next meeting on March 11.
Comments
15 Responses to “Design Firm To Present New OLF-8 Hybrid Concept At Tuesday Town Hall”
The Second part of my Two Cents Worth,
Please don’t forget the Chicken Houses, chicken packing plant, greenhouses for Medical Marijuana, Mercall Pharmaceutical or tattoo parmour and Bong Rooms.
BIGGEST MISTAKE THE COUNTY HAS EVER DONE, STEALING FROM THE 4H CHILDREN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THAT’S ALL I GOT TO SAY ABOUT THAT, eSCAMbia!!!!!!
Best Use is a Feed Lot, Stockyard/Auction, Dairy Barn, Swine Parlour and The 4H (Future Farmers of America, for you city slickers ) test farm.
City Slickers that want to walk (not ride a horse ) to the YMCA, Watch a hockey game, catch a baseball in the stands, eat at the Tin Cow, go to the Arts at the Saenger Theater, Watch the dueling pianos at Rosie O’Grady or Adult entertainment at Sammy’s , why not buy in STUDERVILLE? Your life will be perfect without traffic and Flooding Eleven Mile Creek.
We don’t need stupid people from DC, New York, or West Coast to destroy our lives, they can be miserable anywhere, but not here!
@interestedcitizen–I have lived in Beulah a long time and I, along with the VAST majority of citizens I serve in Beulah, know we have too much residential out here already and our infrastructure cannot keep up with what the private sector has already built. Most folks with whom I speak have told me loudly and clearly they want NO HOUSING on OLF-8, Period. I know there will be a compromise and I may have to accept some–but I prefer to add amenities for the residents, a park, a trail, a post office, retail, and some restaurants along the frontage of 9-Mile road so the county can recoup some of the 18 Million spent to acquire this property. I’ll support that, along with good jobs, high tech, clean tech, better than average paying in nicely designed facilities. Remember—this property was acquired with money from the entire county with the vision of creating jobs—-for the whole county. Although we have compromised and have said we will do some mixed use development on the site along with some amenities for nearby residents like me–I will not accept residential housing density that is 4-stories high with 60 dwellings per acre. This is the ridiculous recommendation I found in emails from DPZ to our county planning group. 60 dwellings per acre?!? They must think this is Boston, not Beulah! NO, I won’t support that because we don’t need that, nobody I have talked to in Beulah want it, it would blow up our traffic issues even worse than they are already, and oh, by the way, did I mention the fact that NOBODY out here wants 60 units per acre on OLF-8. NOBODY—-(except DPZ, one large employer that does not get to call the shots, and a few dozen residents and some developers that want to make fast cash. I won’t vote for it.
The DPZ product was and is very clear. Folks who continue to say – “No more housing” – don’t understand how town centers work. Housing is required to make a town center work – and certainly required to support the Market Plan. Before muddying the water with silly statements, work to understand the analysis – you can’t have the things you want without housing.
Someone noted “…residential is not needed.” Clearly it is – please review the real estate market status, price increases – again, making this sort of unfounded and illogical statement means you missed an opportunity to weigh in on the real issues.
The real issue continues to be the destruction of our part of the county with a commerce park – something Jeff Bergosh so clearly supports – for some unnecessary and unknown reason – perhaps just the usual political support based reasons
Bergosh’s legacy? Someone responded to an article in the Pensacola News Journal calling the mess that will be built from OLF 8 as “Jeff’s Folly.” Escambia’s citizens will live with this gross failure of government forever.
The email nonsense brought up by Bergosh is just a smoke screen – I’m sure everyone sees this. He should feel embarrassed – and, folks should b working directly against him in every legal way.
At the end of the day we probably all agree on the need to rid the county of Bergosh at the next election.
I work right next to this and know two things. residential is not needed. Amenities are needed. Many a time I will be leaving work and want to do a little shopping or see the sights of the area. I love this area but there is NOTHING there. Just houses and farmland. Both are great but lets get something different. 2 years ago when I bought a house I could have bought out there and chose not to because I would still have to come to other parts to shop……NO. The area is limited and will be if wise decisions do not happen.
Vote
You keep sending them back, you are to blame.
I voted for fresh blood, perhaps you should consider similar action.
Your choice, your vote. Never let infatuations govern your decision making processes.
NO MORE HOUSING. Plenty of current and future sub-divisions outside of OLF-8 that people can move into.
A huge two part chicken farm and processing plant is what i would like to see! Lots of new jobs for the area.
I would say something, but
it want do any good……They
are going to do what they want
a put a dog and pony show for us……….
NO MORE HOUSING OR FAST FOOD!
The “Red Herring”… outrage over e-mails…is laughable! Yes, my name is on their “secret correspondence” stash of e-mails. We were all invited to send in what we wanted for the OLF 8 site. Yes, we were outraged with our commissioners for rejecting the top rated plans and felt that we could join forces, attend the Planning Board meeting and speak out at Public Forums. NO, we were not all begging for MORE residential, as claimed. (All of the top 3 plans had some form of unique housing). My husband and I just want to finally have the same amenities that other communities enjoy. We would like some land preserved for a hint of return to our rural roots. We are not happy to think of a square mile of ware houses and eighteen wheelers traveling down our two lane dead end road. I don’t know why I was naive enough to be thrilled in communicating my desires to DPZ. I guess I should have remembered the “good ole boy” regime of my childhood. Did the commissioners just play us? Did they never intend to follow the research of this amazing Master Planning firm? Are their loyalties to each other and THEIR “stakeholders”??
Why all the “commercial” usage with the access directly through residential areas? Not a good plan. Access routes should be outside and around areas set aside for residences. Just say’n.
No more residential in Beulah. Got plenty.
Why is it so hard to figure this out. We want a town center with all the amenities a town has. We don’t want or need more housing. The commerce portion will bring in jobs and the retail portion will relieve us from going to downtown Pensacola. P.S. no one goes downtown because there is NOWHERE to park, so figure that out too.
Thank God for capitalism and overpopulation and the great minds that govern the fine state of Florida. Finally, we can reclaim this land from nature and build beautiful condos and Walmarts and Targets and a Publix or two and maybe even a Piggly Wiggly.