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New subdivision will mirror Rocky Bayou
Northwest Florida Daily News
May 12, 1998
by NEAL BUCCINO Daily News Staff Writer
NICEVILLE -- This summer Niceville will give rise to Swift Creek, a subdivision that will rival Rocky Bayou, according to developers.
The city has annexed 30 acres of Ruckel Properties-owned land near Boggy Bayou Christian School, marking the beginning of what Vice President Jim Ruckel said will become a 200-acre subdivision with winding roads, parks, paths, and a lake. The subdivision will be named for the creek that will form its western border.
The city will annex the rest of the land in stages, said Niceville City Manager Lannie Corbin, and development will follow annexation.
Rocky Bayou residents Jacqueline Halcomb and Donita Christian said their subdivision is a great place to live. They said they would expect Swift Creek, which should fill the undeveloped gap between Rocky Bayou and Creekview, to be just as attractive.
"(Swift Creek) sounds like it will be like Rocky Bayou," said Halcomb, who has lived in the subdivision for 14 years.
Christian said the only local problem in her "fabulous" neighborhood is traffic. "It's bad on John Sims. But we have a beautiful area."
Gloria Herbez, a Niceville resident who lives south of Creekview, said she expects to gain little more than extra traffic and costlier city facilities from the new construction.
"When they start moving in, there go my taxes up sky high, there goes my water," she said.
She doesn't expect to take advantage of Swift Creek's nature trails.
Ruckel said the average lot price will likely range from $30,000 to $40,000, but exact prices will be influenced by the local market. Road construction and other infrastructure work on the 30 acres that have been annexed will begin in mid- to late June.
His father, company president Walt Ruckel, expects lot sales to be brisk. "Niceville is the place to live now, more so than Fort Walton or Destin," he said. "We don't have the car problem (those places) have."
"Much of Niceville and Valparaiso, including Rocky Bayou and Valparaiso's Indian Shores subdivision, was built on Ruckel Properties-held land. The land that will be Swift Creek has been in the family for at least 50 years," Walt Ruckel said.
His grandfather, Plew Ruckel, began buying land in the still-unsettled area in 1922.
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