By DOTTY NIST
The Friends of Scenic 30-A has taken on the mission of getting CR-30A repaved.
At the community group’s Jan. 5 meeting at the Walton County District 5 office, Friends board member Cliff Knauer spoke to the dire need for resurfacing the county road, a project that will cost at least $6 million.
The bulk of the corridor has not been repaved since the late 1990s. Knauer reported that sections of the roadway are “falling apart.”
“The road has served its useful life, and once that occurs, deterioration happens quickly,” he said. Knauer said that if resurfacing is put off, allowing the condition of the road to worsen, the project would become even more expensive, possibly costing as much as $10 million.
The members of the volunteer group discussed possible funding sources for the repaving.
The Friends of Scenic 30-A is the caretaker group for CR-30A, which is designated as a scenic corridor by both the state and Walton County. Knauer noted that it would be the responsibility of the group to apply for funding through the Florida Scenic Highways Program to repave Scenic 30-A—but he explained that funds for improvements to the scenic highways had “dried up” by the time Walton County obtained the state scenic designation for the roadway. This took place in 2008. Currently the Friends group has only $2,400 in the bank, it was reported.
Knauer also discussed other challenges unique to CR-30A as a scenic roadway. Funds for maintenance of the other roads in the Florida Scenic Highways Program are available due to those roads’ status as state highways, he said. CR-30A is the only roadway in the program that is a county road rather than a state highway, he explained.
Only limited county funds are available to county commissioners for paving county roads in their district, Knauer continued. For paving of county roads throughout Walton County, he continued, Walton County obtains grant funding mainly through the Florida Department of Transportation’s Small County Outreach Program (SCOP). However, he said, CR-30A does not qualify for this grant funding due to the road having been originally built as a U.S. project with federal dollars in the 1960s. CR-30A did not become a county road until the following decade, Knauer told the members.
Jay Stone of the lobbyist firm Van Scoyoc Associates was present to discuss federal highway funding. Upon hearing about CR-30A’s ineligibility for SCOP funding, Stone urged for the group to push for this law to be changed with regard to CR-30A. Stone called this “your best avenue.”
Knauer went on to discuss the fact that south Walton County gets approximately three million visitors a year and that CR-30A is the main road that tourists use to get around in the area. While Walton County Tourist Development Council (TDC) bed tax funding might therefore appear to be a potential funding source, the use of bed tax funds is strictly limited by current state law to purposes associated with tourism promotion. The TDC is currently maintaining, repaving and funding improvements to the bicycle/pedestrian paths in south Walton County, as a result of a state attorney’s opinion that this use of TDC funds would be permissable accompanied by a county commission finding that the activity promotes tourism.
In response to Knauer’s comments, the board members asked him to write a letter on behalf of the group to the Walton County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) asking the commissioners to enlist the help of legislators to make CR-30A eligible for SCOP paving funding and to seek other assistance. He agreed to do so.
Stone outlined possibilities for federal funding for improvements to CR-30A, highlighting funding through the U.S. Economic Development Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s rural development programs as the most promising options that could potentially be pursued by those in Congress representing the area. He was optimistic about these possibilities.
In other discussion, Knauer, who is an engineer providing professional services to the county, reported on some CR-30A projects. He said permits had recently been obtained for the bridge that is to replace two culverts on Big Redfish Lake. The county is to bid out this project, he said in response to a question.
Knauer also reported that as of just before Christmas all permits were in hand for the bicycle-pedestrian bridge across Western Lake. This $2+ million project is jointly funded by the state and the TDC.
In other action, there was a board vote to appoint two new directors, Chris Rowland and Tonia Nation.
A new Friends member, Point Washington Resident Christopher Holbrook, was welcomed at the meeting, as well.
Information on the Friends of Scenic 30-A is available on the group’s web site, www.friendsofscenic30a.com, and the group maintains a Facebook page as well.
