By DOTTY NIST
Richard Fowlkes, president of the Blue Mountain Beach Community Association, recently contacted community members, officials, and the Herald/Breeze with concerns about a lack of enforcement of no-parking zones in Blue Mountain Beach, particularly in the area of the CR-83/CR-30A intersection.
Fowlkes said it was his understanding from speaking with a deputy that it was not possible to enforce the no-parking areas because of the quick turnover of vehicles and not all deputies being able to write tickets. He said the deputy had suggested that the community hire an off-duty officer to enforce the no-parking areas.
“What we have now are just lots of ugly signs that just don’t do anything,” Fowlkes complained.
Contacted on July 8, Walton County Sheriff Mike Adkinson commented that his deputies enforce no-parking zones, as long as no-parking signs are properly posted per county ordinance. He said deputies are able to ticket or require removal of vehicles that are illegally parked in properly-posted no-parking zones such as one that Fowlkes had mentioned across from the Blue Mountain Beach Creamery on CR-83. Adkinson explained that the misunderstanding may have been that the signs that had previously stood in the area had not been in accordance with county ordinance—and that deputies had therefore not been able to enforce those no-parking zones. He estimated that the new signs, posted per county ordinance, had been in place for approximately one and one-half weeks.
Also contacted on July 8, Fowlkes commented that the no-parking signs around the CR-83/CR-30A intersection were new ones, placed where previously no-parking signs had not been present. He said that new no-parking signs had recently replaced older ones farther south on Blue Mountain Beach Road. Fowlkes said he continues to see vehicles illegally parked in the area of the CR-30A/CR-83 intersection, resulting in “crazy traffic jams” in the early evening.
“If the county or the sheriff decided to stop it and dedicated resources they could stop it,” he said of the illegal parking.