This Board was established by the Board of County Commissioners through adoption of Escambia County Ordinance No. 88-16, enacted on December 1, 1988. Ordinance 2004-9 amended the Escambia County Code of Ordinances to change the membership from five to seven members, all of who must reside within Escambia County. Each of the five commissioners shall appoint one BOA member, preferably from among constituents residing in their respective district and the BCC as a whole shall nominate and vote for two “at large” members. Each commissioner-appointed member of the BOA shall be appointed to serve a four-year term to run concurrent with the term of office of appointing commissioner. The “at large” members shall serve two-year staggered terms.
Ordinance 2004-9 specifies the BCC endows the BOA with the power to conduct any required quasi-judicial public hearings to grant, grant with conditions, or deny applications for variances, conditional uses, requests for final extension of development orders for site plan approval, requests for the temporary use of a mobile home as a guest residence due to medical hardship, and appeals of administrative decisions filed by those persons aggrieved by interpretations or administration of these regulations. Ordinance 2001-35 provides a right of appeal to the Board of County Commissioners for review of the orders of the BOA affirming, reversing or modifying the decision of an administrative official.
Members:Michael C. Godwin (District 1)
05/25/17 – 11/2024
Ross Padden (District 2)
11/2022 – 11/2026
Willie Kirkland, Jr. (District 3)
03/07/19 – 11/2024
Auby D. Smith (District 4)
04/19/07 – 11/2026
Jennifer J. Bass (District 5)
02/18/10 – 11/2024
Randy Ponson (At-Large)
01/06/2022 – 01/05/2024
Martin W. Schack (At-Large)
06/04/2022 – 06/03/2024
Applications and Fees
Before submitting an application, please call 850-595-3475 to schedule an appointment with a planner to review the application.
Application forms can be found below. The applicable fees for applications are as follows:
The mission of Escambia County government is to provide efficient, responsive services that enhance our quality of life, meet common needs and promote a safe and healthy community.
Under Florida law, IP addresses and both the content of emails and email addresses are public records. If you do not want your IP address and the content of your email or your email address released in response to a public records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone or in person.