By DOTTY NIST
Among items of particular interest to south Walton County residents at the May 26 Walton County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) meeting were two concerning hotel rooms and beach driving permits.
The meeting was held at the Walton County Courthouse.
It included the adoption hearing for the Limited Lodging Ordinance, a measure amending the Walton County Land Development Code (LDC) to limit the allowable number of hotel rooms in Limited Lodging proposals to 50 rooms for projects proposed for the Route 30A Scenic Corridor. There was an exception for parcels also included in the U.S. 98 Scenic Corridor, for which the currently-applicable 125-room maximum would continue to apply.
The Route 30A Scenic Corridor includes CR-30A, CR-395, and portions of CR-83 and CR-283 that are south of U.S. 98.
The Limited Lodging Ordinance was approved unanimously at the May 26 meeting.
In other action, the commissioners gave staff direction make 50 additional beach driving permits available to county residents and property owners who lost vesting for their permits when the county established new rules for beach driving in 2009.
Beach driving permits provide for driving under certain conditions within designated areas along Grayton Beach and Inlet Beach.
Under the current program, vested permits continue to remain valid if renewed annually, and an additional 150 beach driving permits are made available to residents and property owners upon application and upon applicants being selected in a lottery. These 150 permits are valid for one year only.
Per BCC direction, the 50 permits to be added to the program would be the vested type and would allow residents and property owners to “recapture their grandfathered status,” in the words of Walton County District 2 Commissioner Cecilia Jones.
The decision was the outcome of discussions that had begun as part of the commissioners’ consideration of the Grayton Beach Neighborhood Plan Overlay, which was approved in February. At that time, some Grayton Beach residents had objected that they had lost vesting for their beach driving permits in 2009. Proposed as part of that plan was the addition of 50 permits to the beach driving program, with those permits to be made available to property owners within the Grayton Beach Neighborhood Plan area.
However the BCC direction on May 26 was for residents and property owners countywide who lost vesting in 2009 to be eligible for the 50 new permits on a first-come-first-serve basis.
Language setting up the procedure for the new permits will be considered by the county in future public session.
In related discussion, the commissioners heard from an Inlet Beach resident who was concerned about the beach driving area in Inlet Beach, which is accessed via South Walton Lakeshore Drive. Mary Jane Gleeson reported that a truck driving on the beach had come close to hitting her son. She told the commissioners that beach driving was putting people at risk in Inlet Beach.
The commissioners discussed that the access area on South Walton Lakeshore Drive is a boat launching area. However, Gleeson said she never sees boats being launched there with the exception of some kayaks.
She complained that the beach driving area is being used for parking of vehicles—and that people sit in the vehicles for long periods drinking alcoholic beverages.
Walton County Tourist Development Council Executive Director Jim Bagby was asked to research the situation and present options to the BCC to address Gleeson’s concerns.
