By Rob Williamson,
During the day I have been in contact with SRC Emergency Operations Center and Public Works Director and spent time touring some areas impacted by today’s rain event. There was an estimated 10-12 inches of rain in Navarre area by 1pm today.
I took the opportunity to take quite a few pictures in HBTS at 1pm and again at 4pm. Those pictures will be passed on to the consultants currently finishing up the HBTS storm water drainage study. The county staff and consultant have stated the study will be completed in November. Once complete we will all have a better understanding as to the cost and project priorities they recommend. I will keep pushing for those answers so we can stop WAITING and start DOING.
Our County Road and Bridge Crew has been in the area and responding to requests throughout the day. This rain event, much like the one last April, exposed areas in south Santa Rosa County that continue to require infrastructure improvements. Infrastructure improvements that, as I just discussed with residents of Turkey Oak tonight, will likely take years and hundreds of millions of dollars to fix. As many of us have known for some time and are witnessing first hand again today, if you do not provide for the necessary infrastructure to support new development at the time of that development, you will pay for it later.
