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Perdido Presidents
Forum members include, from left, David L. Landry, Arthur
Miltenberger, Susan Carleton, Bobby McCarley, Danny Head and Eddie
McMillan.
PNJ.com / March 29, 2009
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Perdido Key Gambling Issues
Source: PNJ.com / March 29, 2009
Residents
unravel 'done deal'
Forged after Ivan,
key group grows
Carlton Proctor
PNJ.com / March 29, 2009
By the time Jean Foster and her husband heard about the bingo-casino
planned for Perdido Key, it was too late.
"We were told it was a done deal," she said, recalling that day in
February when she learned of the project.
Like many other property owners on Perdido Key, Foster began making
phone calls, searching for answers, hoping to find others who felt
the way she did.
It wasn't long before the Perdido Presidents Forum rode to the
rescue, dug in its heels and let Dallas developer Cy Keefer know he
had a fight on his hands. The forum mostly comprises condo
association presidents.
What really sent the group into overdrive was "the speed at which
this issue of bingo-casinos came upon us," Perdido Cove resident
Bobby McCarley said.
The forum members began spreading the word about the bingo casino,
contacting members of the media, county commissioners, other condo
associations and attorneys.
Also weighing in was the Perdido Key Association whose attorney,
Kerry Anne Schultz, wrote Escambia County Attorney Allison Rogers to
strongly question the legality of bingo gambling on the key.
Political force
Like many grassroots groups, the Presidents Forum originally formed
around a single issue: soaring property assessments and taxes after
Hurricane Ivan.
"The idea behind the forum was to give a voice to the residents of
the key as well as the nonresident owners who come down here every
year and inject a lot of money into the economy," La Playa condo
resident Arthur Miltenberger said.
The forum had little success fighting property taxes. But the group
was ready when Keefer proposed an 18,000-square-foot bingo hall and
adjacent retail shops on 7.3 acres owned by developer Julian
MacQueen.
The group also is taking on Escambia Commissioner Gene Valentino,
who pushed the bingo-casino project as a job-producing economic
boost.
The forum members don't see it Valentino's way; they believe a
bingo-casino would overload the roads, stress its infrastructure and
generally harm the key's quality of life.
To show they mean business, the forum has hired Pensacola attorney
Gregory Smith.
Smith would not comment on what legal strategy the group plans
against Keefer's project, but other key residents believe there are
several flaws in the development order approved recently by the
county's Development Review committee.
Legal ruling
State Attorney William "Bill" Eddins said last week that Florida law
prohibits electronic bingo machines unless they are operated by a
federally recognized Indian tribe through a compact with the state.
And Beach Colony president Chuck Hickok said a host of other
questions remain:
• How much net revenue will the county receive from the bingo hall?
• How many jobs will the project create?
• What type of future developments will be built on or around the
bingo site?
• What commitments does the developer have for other retail stores?
• Where do the five commissioners stand?
Hickok also wants to know if commissioners can stop the project,
given that the property's current commercial zoning permits bingo
halls.
To that end, forum member David Landry, a retired attorney, said the
group will meet with county officials this week to go over zoning
regulations.
"The county's ordinances are so vague that any thing is permitted,"
key resident Bobby McCarley said.
Key issues
The forum also is expanding its membership and its vision of what it
wants the island to become.
It's hoping to attract more members from the key and other parts of
southwest Escambia County.
In the process of expanding the forum, McCarley said the group
"needs to be careful that we don't get painted with that 'We have
ours, and we don't want anybody else to come out here' label.''
"I think as a group that we are prodevelopment, and that it's in all
our interests for this key to become a pro-development community,"
he said.
To that end, the forum hopes to hire a land development expert,
devise a comprehensive plan for the key and present it to the
county.
He said that would improve property values, produce jobs, raise more
tax money and provide the county with new revenue.
"There are parts of the county that don't believe what happens on
the key has any impact on the rest of the county," McCarley said.
"We have not done a very good job at our level, and at the county
level, of educating the citizens about what an economic engine
Perdido Key is for the rest of the county."
Realtor Danny Head, who chairs the forum, said one of its biggest
tasks is getting the various groups on the key, including the
Perdido Key Association and the Perdido Key Chamber of Commerce, to
present a unified front.
"The commissioners are hearing mixed messages from us," Head said.
But La Playa resident Eddie McMillan is skeptical commissioners will
help the key forge a new plan for growth and development.
"I think we'll have better luck at the state and federal levels," he
said.
But McMillan said it's important not to lose sight of the immediate
goal: stopping the bingo hall.
"We have an issue in front of us that's galvanized us," McMillan
said. "It's brought us together as a group, and it has just been
overwhelming to see what these people can do. And we're certainly
not going to let go of our goal."
Source: PNJ.com / March 29, 2009
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