South Walton Government and Education Center (GEC)
 

Coastal Branch Library

Courthouse Annex

South Walton High School

Chamber Of Commerce

In 1996 Walton County began developing plans for the construction of a New Town Center that would include the Coastal Branch Library, South Walton High School, an arts center, the Walton County Chamber of Commerce, a sheriff's substation, the health department and several government buildings.

Walton County approached the state of Florida in an attempt to acquire 420 acres of preservation land for development. The land was originally bought by the state with Preservation 2000 funds in order to prevent it from being developed. Litigation kept the project tied up in court and the county had to broker a settlement with various environmental groups and SoWal residents who opposed the use of preservation land for the new development.

Finally, in 1999 the state allowed the county to buy 114 acres of preservation land near the west right-of-way of U.S. Highway 331 and ½ mile north of U.S. Highway 98. It was agreed that the remaining 306 acres would remain in the state's hands. As part of the deal, the county had to ensure that there would be no impact on the wetlands' portion of the site except for road crossings with bridges placed in the less pristine wetlands areas.

The agreement placed development limitations on portions of the projected site, including a 45-acre strip of land that the School Board later purchased to build a 143,000-square-foot high school building. The existing site has approximately 105 acres of undeveloped land containing 2.3 acres of Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) jurisdictional wetlands and 13.9 acres of Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) jurisdictional wetlands. The existing wetlands are within the limits of Zone A, which is defined as areas within the 100-year flood plain with undermined base flood elevations and flood hazard factors. The remainder of the site is designated as Zone C, defined as areas of minimal flooding.

Development of the site was limited to a minimum of 25 feet outside of the wetlands. The site development consists of a mile and a half of roads, six bridges over the wetlands, complete water distribution and sewer systems with a lift station and a storm water system. The six wetland crossings range from twenty-three-foot single-span structures to boulevard structures with up to five spans on each side of the boulevard. A loop roadway accesses Highway 331 at the north and south sides of the complex, crossing the wetlands and existing ditches. Retention ponds will be scattered along the roadway, adjacent to the wetlands.

Because all commercial and residential uses of the land were deleted from the original plans, the project was renamed the Government and Education Center.