December 8, 2025 BOCC Meeting: Five Decisions (of many) That Will Quietly Shape Wakulla for Years

Monday, December 8, 2025 – one regular BOCC meeting, five agenda items that quietly add up to a whole lot more houses, a whole lot less control, and a whole lot less of your money staying where it belongs.

REMINDER: The Property Tax Workshop is IMMEDIATELY after the BOCC Meeting at 7:00 PM

• $25,000 septic surprises (and that’s just the newest one)

• Sober-living homes by-right in every commercial strip in Crawfordville

• Three locked-together lots about to become three new buildable ones in Wakulla Gardens

• A brand-new rule letting the county sell or lease public land behind closed doors if they whisper “economic development”

• 8.9 acres of coastal conservation zoning about to vanish in Panacea

This isn’t the full agenda.
This is the handful of items that will change Wakulla County long after the gavel drops Monday night.Grab your coffee, pull up a chair, and come with me through the five things every taxpayer needs to know before the votes are taken.
Stay Sharp, Wakulla. The meeting starts at 6:00 p.m.

Item 9: SHIP septic system change order ($25k cost)Wakulla County SHIP: The $25K Septic Change Order Is Just the Latest in a Very Clear Pattern

Take a hard look at the county’s own 2023–2025 SHIP tracking sheet:

That’s $51,700 in change orders already approved on just three houses — and now they want another $25,025 for Sanders Cemetery Road.

Four out of the five current major SHIP projects are over budget by an average of more than $17,000 each, most at only 50% completion.

The Sanders Cemetery agenda item admits the original bid assumed a standard septic system (alternates maxed out around $18,000). No pre-bid soil borings. No tank inspection. No water-table test. House demolished → high water table discovered (we are guessing) → $25,000 surprise.

The Questions the BOCC Must Ask December 8

1. Did demolition itself damage a usable drainfield, or would a $600 pre-bid inspection have caught this before the contract was ever signed?

2. When Woodland Road needed $26,700 extra and Mt. Zion needed $20,500 extra, why was the process not changed before Sanders Cemetery hit the exact same wall?

3. How many more change orders are coming for the unfinished 50% of these houses?

4. In 2014 this county demolished an entire mobile home without the co-owner even knowing. Eleven years later we’re still demolishing first and paying five-figure surprises later. What has actually changed?

This is not one unlucky house. This is a repeatable, expensive process failure — happening right now, on the county’s own spreadsheet.

Item 10: Wakulla County’s Coming Change: Certified Recovery Residences

The Board is being asked to start the legal process required by Senate Bill 954 (2025). If the ordinance passes (and state law gives the county no real choice), here’s what will change in Wakulla County:

• Certified Recovery Residences (state-certified sober-living homes, typically 6–16+ residents) will become a by-right principal use in every C-2, C-4, TC, and HIC zone.
  That’s virtually the entire commercial corridor along Crawfordville Highway, Shadeville Highway, Bloxham Cutoff, the new Town Center district, and the old motels/strip centers around the county.

• Operators will have a written “reasonable accommodation” process to ask for waivers from almost any land-use rule (occupancy caps, parking requirements, buffering, spacing from other homes, etc.) if they claim the rule prevents them from opening.

In plain English: Once this passes, a certified 10- or 12-person recovery home could legally open in the vacant strip mall next to your business, the old motel behind the dollar store, or the empty office suite off Crawfordville Highway - with little power to stop it if the operator follows state certification and uses the accommodation process.

This is not about being against recovery — it’s about where, how many, and under what rules these facilities can set up shop in the heart of Crawfordville and our rural communities.

Mark your calendar:

• January 12, 2026 – Planning Commission

• January 19 & February 2, 2026 – County Commission hearings

Show up. Ask the hard questions.
Because after February 2, the rules will be set.

Item 12: Pafford Properties Unity of Title release in Wakulla Gardens

• In 2019 the previous owners unified six lots (3, 4, 5, 12, 13, and 14) so they could legally place a pole barn and accessory structures across them under R-1 rules (LDC Sec. 6-1).

• The pole barn and all accessory structures have since been removed and the lots cleared.

• New ownership (Pafford Properties and Construction, LLC now holds Lots 4, 5, and 12) is asking the Board to partially release those three lots from the 2019 Unity of Title, returning them to separate, individually buildable parcels.

• No cost to the county; no public hearing required for this type of administrative release.

Why Residents Are Paying Attention:

Many people in Wakulla are already concerned about the pace of new home construction, traffic, and the strain on schools and roads. Turning three currently “locked-together” lots back into three standalone buildable lots — in an established R-1 neighborhood — has the potential to add more homes (and more density) in a place where neighbors thought the lot configuration was settled.

Item 21 - Making It Easier (and Quieter) to Sell or Lease County-Owned Land

The Board is being asked to schedule a public hearing for an ordinance that would change the rules on how Wakulla County can dispose of (or lease) surplus county-owned property.Current Rule (Section 2.305)When the county wants to sell or lease surplus land, it must:

• Declare it surplus

• Get two independent appraisals

• Advertise for sealed bids or hold a public auction

• Accept the highest responsible bid

What the Proposed Ordinance Does

Adds one new exemption:
If the Board says the deal is for “economic development purposes” (citing F.S. §125.045), they can skip all of the above steps, negotiate directly with any buyer or tenant, and set whatever price and terms they want.

The exact language being inserted:

“…the conveyance or lease of real property for economic development purposes pursuant to Section 125.045, Florida Statutes, shall be exempt from the requirements of this section.”

No further definitions. No minimum price requirement. No mandatory appraisals.

Why This Is a Big Deal

Once this passes, any piece of county-owned land (parks, old road right-of-way, closed facilities, whatever) can be transferred or long-term leased to a private party with almost no public process, as long as the Board labels it “economic development.”

This is one short ordinance and one public hearing away from becoming permanent county policy.

Item 29 - Panacea Plot Twist: Rezoning R25-08

8.9 Acres on Chickasaw Street, Panacea – From P-2/RR-1 to All RR-1

At first glance this looks like a harmless cleanup. The Facts Straight from the Agenda:

• Location: Four undeveloped waterfront parcels on Chickasaw Street, Panacea, directly on Dickerson Bay.

• Current zoning: Part P-2 (Conservation – 1 home per 10 acres) and part RR-1 (1 home per acre).

• Requested zoning: 100% RR-1 (1 home per acre).

• Future Land Use: Urban Fringe – allows up to 2 units per acre if central sewer and water are ever extended (currently none exist).

• Flood zone: Entire site is VE (high-velocity wave zone) – very expensive to build, very expensive to insure.

• Stated reason: “to correct a previous improper division of the property.”

• Planning Commission: Unanimous recommendation for approval (Dec 1, 2025).

• Public comments received so far: Only one written comment

What This Actually Does

Dropping the P-2 Conservation zoning removes the last real density restriction on these coastal parcels.
Once it’s all RR-1:

• Immediate density jumps from roughly 0.9 units total (under P-2) to 8–9 homes (1 per acre).

• If Panacea ever gets central sewer and water, the Comp Plan automatically allows up to 17–18 units (2 per acre) with no further rezoning required.

Question worth asking:

Who divided the property “improperly” in the first place, and why wasn’t that fixed years ago instead of waiting until now?

This isn’t just correcting an old paperwork mistake.
This is quietly unlocking 8–18 new waterfront or water-adjacent homes in one of the most flood-prone, environmentally sensitive parts of the county.

Planning staff calls it compatible.
The map calls it a big change.

If you care about Panacea, Dickerson Bay, or what’s left of the coast, Item #29 is worth watching closely on December 8.

Stay Sharp, Wakulla!