Article
Courtesy of The Northwest Florida Daily News
By Tom
McLaughlin
Published
January 5, 2015
MIRAMAR BEACH — Walton County Code Enforcement has
dropped its white sand hammer on Planning Commissioner Suzanne Harris and
the Edgewater Beach Owners Association.
The county has ordered all work halted in the area around Edgewater
Condominiums until a hearing in January to determine whether the complex
brought “discolored material” into the county’s “white sands protection
zone.”
The order comes on top of the
association paying nearly $3,000 in fines to the state
Department of Environmental Protections for violations
incurred by constructing a sea wall without state
permits.
Bruce Pekarski, a former Edgewater employee, accused
Harris of acting as though the law didn’t apply to her.
“Ms. Harris is a district planning commissioner who
should know and uphold the county regulations and
ordinances,” Pekarski told the Daily News in an email.
“Is it possible that she thinks she is politically
connected and believes she is above the law?” |
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Harris said the seawall was built in an emergency after the late April
floods caused roughly $4 million in damage to the Edgewater complex, which
she manages.
She said county officials gave her the impression when sand was being
brought in to fill in behind the new seawall that the soil color would not
have to meet county white sand standards.
“We’re willing to do whatever it takes to comply with the law,” Harris said.
Harris said the complaints against Edgewater were filed by former Walton
County Commissioner Scott Brannon, who she crossed swords with on several
occasions.
“This is nothing but retaliation,” she said.
Harris and her attorney, Michelle Anchors, said they intend to contest the
Code Enforcement Board’s allegations at a January hearing.
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