In His Own Words: Why the Raker’s Crossing Neighbor Isn’t Done

First, I want to personally say thank you to all the people who have been following the Raker’s Crossing saga and have offered kind words of support, and especially to those who showed up to the hearing in the middle of the day to support me.

I think it’s important for me to personally explain why I am doing what I am doing. First off, my property is surrounded on three sides by this new development, and I think we have all seen the impact irresponsible development has had on adjoining homeowners, much less on those completely surrounded by it. I have a responsibility to do everything I can to ensure this one is done correctly so that it doesn’t negatively impact me, whether that’s from runoff, flooding, stinky water or other issues. This all started with me simply investigating what was going on around my home. However, once I started looking into the permitting process, it took me down a rabbit hole that exposed issues that were simply unbelievable to me, including two-decade-old water, sewer and traffic studies that were used as part of the new permit process. And there are many more issues as well.

Many times, citizens and residents bring very valid concerns to the county and commissioners, and they are told over and over, “the law ties our hands,” or that “SB180” prevents them from doing this or that. However, in this case there are MANY laws and codes already on the books, in both the Wakulla Land Development Code and Florida Statutes, to protect homeowners, myself included, and they are flat out being ignored at best or purposely being circumvented at worst.

My goal is not to stop development. A complete moratorium is probably not a good thing; we all need jobs, and we all know that will never happen. My goal is to make sure development is done smartly and in accordance with the laws and codes already on the books.

I want to do a series that outlines these codes and laws one at a time, explaining what SHOULD have happened in this case and the absolute absurdity of the position the county has taken. The first issue I would like to address is a bit technical, but it’s the one the county has chosen to hang its hat on: timeliness.

At 8:06 a.m. this morning, I received the official denial letter rejecting my appeal. The SOLE reason given by the county was “untimely filed and therefore invalid,” and I will walk everyone through how patently absurd that is.

Under the Wakulla Land Development Code, you have 30 days from the date a decision is rendered to appeal an administrative decision. § 3-23(2): “Such appeal shall be taken within 30 days after the order, requirement or decision is rendered.” “Rendered” is the key term here, because it is actually defined by Florida law. You don’t get to interpret it and decide the meaning yourself; the meaning is defined in the law. Florida Statute § 163.3215(4)(h): “is not considered rendered or final until officially date-stamped by the city or county clerk.” So it has to be officially filed (rendered) before the 30-day clock starts.

The image below is from a public records request I made. It’s not something I found on the internet. It is the product of a public records request to Wakulla County.

The document clearly shows the application was made on 8/6/2026, was Approved on 9/18/2026 and was Issued on 9/18/2026. You could consider either the Approved or the Issued date to be the date it was rendered or filed. It was also paid for on 9/18/2026, and I have the receipt for that as well. I made my appeal on 9/18/2026, the VERY SAME DAY the permit was approved and issued. You can see this in my receipt below. Yet the county has somehow determined my appeal was untimely, even though I appealed on day one of a 30-day clock.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I consider filing on the first day of a 30-day appeal window to be the opposite of untimely. I cannot figure out how anyone could come to that conclusion, much less put it in writing that my appeal was untimely. I would also assume this letter was reviewed by the county attorney, and somehow she concluded that filing an appeal on 9/18 of a permit issued on 9/18 is untimely.

There is a little more to the story. In the original letter they sent me, and during the hearing, they stated that the appeal period had expired for the original 2006 preliminary plat and the 2023 permit. But both the preliminary plat and the 2023 permit had EXPIRED. I have no reason to appeal either of those, and I very clearly outlined in my appeal that I was appealing the 2026 permit, which is the only unexpired, valid permit on the books.

That’s a long read, but it outlines just one of the many issues with this new development permit. I will post additional updates until I have gone through all the issues and the related laws and codes. Given how clear the code is, and that no interpretation is necessary (or, in most cases, even allowed), I was under the delusion that this was a slam dunk at the hearing. However, we now know that is NOT the case, and I want to make it very clear that this is NOT over. I am taking the initial steps to bring this to the next level, where hopefully the law will prevail and the necessary steps will be taken to ensure the development is done smartly and safely.

Again, thank you all for your support.

“The Neighbor”
Richard Blake

A note from Wakulla Reports: The memo below was written by Richard Blake, the homeowner whose property borders Raker’s Crossing on three sides. It is addressed to the public and appears in his own words, edited only for grammar. We have agreed to publish his series so residents can follow the issue and so there is a record of the series of events. All Raker’s Crossing coverage can be found in the link at the top of this page.

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