Under-the-table deals. Businesses turned away. A “good ol’ boy” network. Here’s what city officials have to say about the rampant rumors.
CRESTVIEW — Everyone “knows” there’s a conspiracy at city hall to keep select businesses out of town, protect a particular big chain store, and issue permits only to developers who grease the right palms. Right?
Those are the rumors, but that’s not the case, city officials say.
“Crestview city fathers know only to approve fast food places and yet they have kept Chik-Fil(-A) out,” one reader said on the News Bulletin’s Facebook page. “(The) franchise owner has been attempting to get into Crestview for 5 years, yet Zaxby's got in …. What gives?”
Growth Management Director Teresa Gaillard said that isn’t the case.
“They (Chik-Fil-A) never submitted anything,” she said. “They never approached the city.”
FACILITATING BUSINESS
It’s not city government’s responsibility to choose which businesses they’d like to see come to town, Mayor David Cadle said.
“The city doesn’t open particular restaurants or stores,” Cadle said. “That’s up to the business.”
What the city does do, Gaillard said, is make it as easy as possible to open a business in town once a company has done its own market and site research.
“We try to guide them through our codes as quickly and as easily as we can and just make sure we’re there to meet with them,” Gaillard said.
City officials have also acted as intermediaries with other government entities to facilitate opening a business in Crestview.
“Sometimes we need to coordinate meetings with state agencies and we’re glad to do it,” Gaillard said.
An example was the need to reconfigure the intersection at State Road 85 when the Krystal hamburger restaurant opened near Redstone Avenue.
Additionally, the city provides data businesses seek when determining where to locate.
“There are numerous pieces of information they have to have,” Gaillard said. “We do a lot of in-depth research for them through our statistics and development plans.”
WAIVERS
This year, a number of businesses received permits, from a 4,800-square-foot seafood restaurant in north Crestview to Hampton Inn’s return to town on John King Road and many locations in between.
City officials say Crestview’s business-friendly atmosphere and growing population are two lures that attract businesses to town.
In the spring of 2013, the city worked with an Orlando-based developer on the Crestview Power Center, a proposed shopping mall near Lowe’s that identified a Red Lobster on its site plan. The chain restaurant is one residents frequently want to see open in the area.
Working to facilitate making the Power Center’s plan into a reality, city officials waived some impact fees and negotiated a complex plan to increase water and sewer capacity for the project area.
Though the developer abruptly withdrew from the project, its collapse was not due to any action by the city.
CLARIFYING FEES
As the city works toward a more efficient permitting process, the City Council is poised to vote on a revised set of permitting fees.
The city’s permitting and inspection fee schedule is competitive with and, in some cases, lower than surrounding communities, Gaillard said.
“Most of our planning and review fees have just been reworded so people understand what they are,” she said. “In permitting and zoning, there are numerous fees that were reduced and some were eliminated.”
Next, Gaillard and her department plan to examine city codes, forms and templates, modernizing them to accommodate developers and business owners.
“The city is working very hard to make it affordable to build in Crestview,” Gaillard said. “We have some of the lower utility rates, some of the lower permitting rates and some of the lowest inspection fees. In most parts, we’re a tad bit lower than surrounding communities.”
BUSINESS CLIMATE
“Crestview needs more sit down places to eat and more real shopping, such as a mall and Costco,” one reader commented on the April 29 restaurants story. “Something other than Walmart … and less fast food, liquor and auto parts stores.”
While what types of businesses come to town are driven by what local consumers want to buy, the city stands ready to help all new businesses that want to become established in Crestview, Gaillard said.
“Local businesses and the city are just integrally locked together,” Gaillard said. “To help promote the business environment, we have to encourage large and small businesses. We seek to accommodate that development. We’re very pro-business.”
INFRASTRUCTURE
“The main thing that we can do is provide the infrastructure that a business would need,” Mayor Cadle said. “We’re constantly updating the water and sewer lines and facilities so when a business comes here, the infrastructure is in place for their business.”
Innovative ideas to facilitate business growth and the jobs that come with it are also constantly being brainstormed at city hall, Cadle said.
“We’ve actually looked at tax incentives to lure business here,” he said. “That’s where Alabama beats us, because their tax incentives are better than Florida’s.”
“The city is working very hard to make it affordable to build in Crestview. Most business owners work so well with us,” Gaillard said. “They come into our office full of questions and we give them solutions and they leave very happy.”
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Despite rumors, Crestview's business climate is sunny, city officials say