A group of residents in the community of Poquito Bayou are fighting to save 40 acres of natural land from being a high-density development.
“It’s frustrating,” said Shirley Godbold, a retired teacher and longtime resident of Poquito Bayou. Her house is right across the street from the land in question. She has a large sign on her property with a photo of bulldozed land with the words “Coming to your neighborhood soon."
“You put your hard-earned money, life savings, into something, and then somebody does something like that. It’ll affect our property values.”
Poquito Bayou is a neighborhood just north of Shalimar in Okaloosa County. Residents like Godbold appreciate the natural wildlife of the area. From her porch on a recent afternoon, birds chirp in the surrounding trees. In another part of the neighborhood lives Gomer the gopher tortoise. Some residents claim to have spotted a red-cockaded woodpecker, which is a federally threatened species.
“This is the last undeveloped piece in the south,” said Godbold, referring to the south end of Okaloosa County.
Godbold and Dave Hensley, a past president of the Poquito Bayou Community Association, have been working together since 2023 to stop plans for Legendary Cove, a densely populated subdivision proposed by D.R. Horton on the 40.83-acre property. The development order shows plans for 139 single-family homes.
“I actually did this in an Excel spreadsheet, and it’s about .18-.19 acre-lots,” said Godbold, who points out that homes in neighboring communities, including Longwood and other parts of Poquito Bayou, have an average of about .30-acre lots.
“And there’s going to be no trees and postage-stamp-sized lots,” Hensley added. “That’s not compatible. And the rationalization I get from county officials is, ‘Well, there’s a road dividing it.”
There is also concern about the builder, D.R. Horton. The company, which describes itself as “America’s largest home builder,” has faced complaints from some homebuyers nationwide regarding construction quality.
In Crestview, residents complained of flooding issues caused by runoff from a neighboring D.R. Horton development.
Both Hensley and Godbold say they’re not against homes being built, but want to see “responsible development.”
“We need to take a stand against ‘business as usual’ with developers and builders cutting down all of the trees to put as many houses on the property just to maximize profits,” said Hensley. “We never opposed development. We want responsible development. We understand property owners have rights, but how they develop their property is going to affect the adjacent neighborhoods.”
“They need to be a good neighbor.”
An environmental issue
Alongside concerns about infrastructure, there were questions if the site was even safe to build on. Hensley and other residents raised concerns to the Okaloosa County Commissioners about the land, which used to be an asphalt plant from 1961 to 2005, and requested environmental testing.
“We made a big stink about that,” said Hensley.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) did a review and found that there was a cleanup effort in the late 1980s.
“They resumed operation, and when they closed up, there was nothing done on the backend,” said Hensley. “Our big thing was contamination because I don't want some little kid getting cancer, you know, down the road. I mean, no one would want that.”
Hensley and other concerned citizens even raised $3,000 to verify the groundwater wasn’t contaminated.
“I mean, we’re trying to do anything to make a point,” he said. “At least we know the land is free of contamination. That’s big to me.”
As owners were getting ready to sell the land, they hired an environmental contractor to investigate the property starting in 2021, according to an FDEP report. In their final reassessment report released last month, FDEP concluded that no further remedial action was needed.
Preserving the community’s character
Hensley and Godbold have become experts of sorts on land development codes and local government. Godbold has a thick, three-ring binder with documents she’s collected over the years.
“We don’t have the background to do this,” said Hensley, a retired Air Force captain. “To me, this is Whack-a-mole.”
In February, a group of residents, most of them in red “People Protecting Poquito Bayou” shirts, made an appeal to the county commissioners asking them to find a way to purchase the $9 million parcel with state grants and Tourist Development Council funds. An online petition collected 342 signatures in support of the cause.
Commissioner Carolyn Ketchel was sympathetic to their efforts but said the only option they had was to try to raise the money to buy the land themselves.
“I’d like to keep that land kept as much as you, but it is private property,” she said.
In other parts of Okaloosa County, residents have been pushing back against large developments. From the fight to keep the proposed park at Holiday Isle as natural as possible to residents in North Okaloosa County forming Okaloosa United Residents for Saving Our Irreplaceable Land (OUR SOIL) to preserve farmland from being developed.
Though the Poquito Bayou property is under contract, and a development order is under review pending FDEP approval, Hensley isn’t giving up. At least he won’t stop speaking out. Poquito Bayou and the neighboring Longwood community could lose its character, he said.
“Many don't realize the ramifications of total clear-cutting is going to have with increased temperatures (no overhead tree canopy), possible pesticides and fertilizer runoff flowing down into our bayous, and increased traffic,” he added. “Hopefully, our opposition will influence additional changes to the construction plans. We started this process. We need to see it to the end.”
