Wakulla County Commissioners are pushing back a rezoning hearing after hundreds of residents showed up to it, but were left waiting to be heard. The decision to postpone came during a meeting on Monday to decide the fate of a controversial gas station project near Wakulla Springs.
Gill Damon is a local resident who stood in line for nearly an hour to express his disapproval before being turned away due to overcapacity.
“We need folks to be heard and what we saw tonight was, folks were having a hard time being heard," said Damon. "It isn’t right to move ahead with this. What we need the county to do in the meantime is explore some serious options.
Talks over switching the 7-acre lot from agriculture to commercial use came up during last month’s commission meeting. While the rezoning proposal was not yet on the table, residents argue the commission is ignoring community input on its potential harmful effects.
"I believe there are commissioners who want to do this, but we need to make sure it doesn’t happen,” said Damon.
The county has not yet announced when the next meeting will be held to vote on the proposal but did say it will take place at Wakulla’s Community Center.