Digital Billboard Rezoning Heads Freeport Items on Walton Commissioners' Nov. 10 Agenda
Walton County commissioners convene Tuesday, November 10 at 1 p.m. in DeFuniak Springs with Freeport’s US 331 corridor driving a stretch of the agenda — starting with a final public hearing on a billboard rezoning just south of the city limits. The packet also carries $5,400,000 for US 331 bridge lighting and a run of Freeport facility lines in the county’s new budget schedules.
The headline Freeport item is a public hearing on a small-scale future land use amendment with rezoning — project FLU26-000007, carried in county files as Southeastern Sign’s request — covering a 0.18-acre undeveloped parcel at 18374 S US Highway 331, on the highway’s west side between LaGrange Road and Sweetwater Lane, immediately outside Freeport’s southern city limits. Jenkins Engineering, Inc. filed the request for owner Graphic Properties, Inc. — successor by merger with Palmetto Properties & Realty, Inc. — proposing to shift the parcel from Rural Residential land and Rural Village zoning to Commercial land use and General Commercial zoning so a permanent outdoor advertising sign can rise on the site. The Walton County Planning Commission approved the request October 8 in Freeport, and the site covered the proposal when it first surfaced on the commission’s agenda, leaving the county board as the final stop.
County reviews in the packet explain why the request centers on a sign rather than a structure: the Florida Department of Transportation’s widening of US 331 consumed a large portion of the parcel, leaving it 29.75 feet deep at the south end and 44.07 feet deep at the north end. Walton County’s standard commercial setbacks — 25 feet at the front, 20 at the rear — leave no buildable area, the traffic review concludes, and the site is unbuildable for commercial construction. The General Commercial designation would raise the parcel’s maximum impervious surface ratio to 85 percent and open the door to a broad range of commercial uses under the county’s land development code, from lodging and professional services to communication towers.
The corridor carries weight beyond the hearing room. The packet’s FY 2027 budget rollforward exhibits include a $5,400,000 line for US 331 bridge lighting and $56,506.56 through a joint project agreement to landscape along Highway 331 South.
Freeport-specific lines thread through the same schedules: $33,649.11 for the Code Office remodel in Freeport, $25,570.58 for the Freeport Teen Library, and a structural analysis of the county’s Freeport radio tower among the radio tower project lines building out Walton’s P25 emergency radio system.
The county session falls on a busy civic day for the city. Freeport’s own council opens its regular meeting that same morning, where members are scheduled to consider a resolution adopting the proposed Comprehensive Safety Action Plan for the city’s sidewalks, paths and crossings. Residents who want to weigh in on the county’s business can attend in person at the DFS BCC Boardroom at 571 US Highway 90 East — public comments are limited to three minutes on agenda items — or page through the full agenda packet on the county’s CivicWeb portal.
Originally reported by the Walton County CivicWeb Portal. Image: Generated meeting graphic based on Walton County CivicWeb agenda data.
