By DOTTY NIST
Imperiled golden aster and Gulf coast lupine will continue to bloom at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park, but a concept for a new entrance and public beach access boardwalk through the park has been nipped in the bud.
This was the result of a decision by the Walton County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) at a Sept. 29 two-plus hour special meeting at the South Walton Annex. Commissioners present were Bill Chapman, Sara Comander, Bill Imfeld, and Cindy Meadows.
Scheduled on the topic of the potential beach access through the 1,643-acre state preserve in south Walton County, the meeting was standing room only, as had been a workshop a little over four weeks earlier that had dealt with the same issue. Specifically under consideration was a draft letter to the Florida Division of Recreation and Parks that would convey the BCC’s interest in working with staff of that division to assess alternatives for the new park entrance and public beach access.
At the time that the Sept. 29 special meeting was scheduled it had been stated that new information on alternatives to the original alignment discussed for the beach access would be presented at the special meeting, including the suggested options of moving the access to the east along a fire break and/or extending it via bridge over Stallworth Lake which would then lead to the county-owned Stallworth property on the beach. The eastern access alignment along the fire break was in fact mentioned in the draft letter as provided to the public in advance of the meeting.
However, in response to questions from the public, Walton County Commission Chairman Bill Chapman stated that his understanding was that it was the original access option only that would be discussed at the meeting. This was the plan that would incorporate an eight-foot-wide, 1,650-foot-long boardwalk through a natural scrub area in the preserve, originating at Tanglewood Drive in Beachview Heights and running to the park’s beach.
District 5 Commissioner Cindy Meadows and Walton County Tourist Development Council (TDC) Director Jim Bagby briefly commented on recent discussions with individual citizens, and in Bagby’s case, also with commissioners on alternate access alignment options as referred to above. Meadows said one of her goals had been to arrange for access parking on CR-30A. Bagby said that after being presented with suggestions he had contacted the state park planning office and had been told that staff resources were not available to evaluate multiple options but only “one or two” potential access alignments.
Chapman assured attendees that another public hearing or hearings would be held in the event that the BCC decided to address alignments for the access other than the original one.
He indicated that the BCC had received hundreds of emails and also some “snail mail” on the proposal. Later, in response to a question, Chapman revealed that 158 of the people contacting him had been in favor of the access and 211 had expressed opposition.
According to Bagby, the idea for a beach access through the park had been discussed in the community for approximately three years. However, the concept had come to the forefront after details were presented at the April TDC Destination Improvements Committee meeting and then at several BCC meetings.
The access has been envisioned as serving the public but principally several neighborhoods near the preserve on the west end of CR-30A. According to discussion, a park entrance fee would be required to be deposited by users in an honor system arrangement. However there had been no indication that any park personnel would be charged with monitoring the new access.
More than five dozen speakers addressed the commissioners at the Sept. 29 meeting to give their opinion on the potential access and/or on sending the letter of interest to the state. Well over three times as many spoke in opposition than in favor.
Most speakers were residents. Speakers also included representatives of the Audubon Society , the Defenders of Wildlife, and the South Walton Community Council, all of which indicated opposition. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientist also warned of problems with the potential access.
Among the speakers was a representative of D.R. Horton Homes, who told the commissioners that his company was closing on the property bordering the preserve owned by the Boys & Girls Club. A club facility had previously been proposed at the location a number of years ago but was instead developed at the South Walton Governmental and Educational Center off U.S. 331 South.
The Horton Homes representative said the company would consider a parking area for the access on their property.
There was no response to this offer from the BCC, although one proponent of the access did refer to the parking possibility as a plus for the concept, and two commissioners also mentioned it at the end of the meeting.
The access had been discussed as a neighborhood beach access, meaning that it would mainly serve nearby neighborhood residents who would walk or bike to the access.
Many residents of the Cypress Dunes subdivision and other neighborhoods on the west end of CR-30A spoke in favor of the new park entrance and beach access. Arguments in favor of the access included that more beach access was needed in the area, that other accesses available to residents of that area were overcrowded, and that having an access that the residents could walk to would reduce traffic. Many spoke of the potential boardwalk as “eco-friendly.”
One of the first speakers was a young resident who said she saw people jumping the fence separating her neighborhood from the park in order to get to the beach. “This is not right,” she said. She told the commissioners that she would like to see the boardwalk constructed so that she would be able to get to the beach from her home on the west end of CR-30A without having to cross the road.
While the current entrance to Topsail Hill Preserve State Park is close to a number of the neighborhoods on the west end of CR-30A and is reported to be “underutilized,” a number of speakers said they did not prefer to use it. Access to the beach at the preserve is possible only via a tram road that beachgoers can trek along on the tram, by walking or on bicycle. Discussion indicated that the tram runs once an hour.
Some speakers said they did not like having to wait for the tram and load and unload the items they were carrying for the trip to the beach. Some said they were afraid of having to wait for the tram to depart from the beach in the event of thunderstorms.
“Families are not going to utilize it,” Cypress Dunes resident Bill Muldowney said of the current entrance.
Proponents of the boardwalk stressed that they in no way wanted to negatively impact the preserve and that they believed it could be a positive for the preserve.
Cypress Dunes homeowner Dave Kennedy maintained that the boardwalk would protect the dunes and provide habitat for the beach mouse while making the park more accessible. He also argued that the presence of people would deter predators of the threatened shorebirds.
Objections to the new potential access ranged from lack of need for it, to negative impacts on the preserve and its native habitat, to “savaging” of the neighborhood where the access point would be located, due to increased traffic and parking.
Mary Nielson warned that the access would create a “monster” for Beachview Heights because people would insist on driving and parking near the access point rather than walking or biking.
Beachwood Heights resident Norman Froeschner complained that, although his neighborhood would supposedly host the access, residents have yet to be consulted about the possibility. Froeschner said Cypress Dunes residents had originally approached state officials about the potential access and that the idea had first been for the access to begin in Cypress Dunes—but that those residents had later decided that the access instead should go in his neighborhood.
“We don’t have the parking,” agreed Sid Heath, another Beachview Heights resident.
Other speakers called for no new beach accesses to be added, calling current ones “out of control” with traffic, parking and bad behavior by beachgoers.
“We can’t control what’s there now,” complained CR-30A resident Michael Hagood.
“People will not walk,” warned a Bishop road resident, indicating that cars haphazardly parked near neighborhood beach accesses can make roads impassible.
Julie Wraithmell of Audubon Florida spoke of the statewide significance of Topsail Hill Preserve State Park and warned of issues connected with the unrestricted access that the access would offer at night.
Kent Wimmer of Defenders of Wildlife warned that the boardwalk would make it more likely for cats and dogs to enter the preserve.
“It would fragment the habitat,” Christi Yanchis, a beach mouse recovery specialist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said of the boardwalk.
Mary Konovsky of the South Walton Community Council spoke of the importance of the habitat area to be traversed by the boardwalk to the survival of endangered beach mice. The structure would also serve as a perch for avian predators which could prey upon imperiled shorebirds in the park, she added.
Celeste Cobena, a 22-year county resident who has been involved in the planning process for area parks and forests, stated that no plans for a second access to the Topsail Hill Preserve State Park had been included in the Unit Management Plan (UMP) for the preserve. None is needed, she told the commissioners, and the state’s primary purpose for acquiring the property had been preservation.
Anita Page, who, along with Cobena, was on the advisory committee for the UMP for the preserve, stated that non-habitable structures do have direct and indirect impact on listed species such as those contained in the park. In the future, she predicted, incidental take permits will likely be required for the construction of boardwalks.
Frank Day called the preserve one of Walton County’s “jewels” that the BCC had a “moral obligation” to buffer.
With public comment concluded, Chapman expressed some concerns with the potential new entrance and access, including impact on the neighborhood where the access would be located, due to its somewhat narrow roads. He was also aware of problems with vehicles being parked on the right-of-way near some of the neighborhood beach accesses such as the one on South Bishop Street. He was not sure if the parking offered by D.R. Horton would totally resolve those issues.
Chapman continued that he had not been able to get a definitive answer on who owns the streets in Beachview Heights. This would need to be determined in order for law enforcement to take any necessary enforcement action in connection with violations in the area of the access point, he emphasized.
Security, especially after dark, was a concern for Chapman both in connection with the access point in the neighborhood and in connection with the boardwalk. He questioned how the boardwalk could be secured at night to keep dogs from entering the preserve and preying on native wildlife there.
Meadows stated that she had served on the advisory committee for the park plan as a Walton County commissioner. She said she had fought to keep the second access to the preserve that was available at that time open. This was on Topsail Road off U.S. 98.
Meadows said she had known at that time that closing that access would have a negative impact on county residents’ access to the beach at some point. “That time is here,” she warned.
People who were using the access off U.S. 98 have failed to utilize the new entrance to the preserve because it is too inconvenient for families, Meadows maintained.
She continued that park personnel had indicated that the potential new entrance and access could be constructed so as not to disturb beach mouse habitat. The boardwalk would be constructed through an existing “blow out” to minimize impact, Meadows noted.
She saw the access as an opportunity for the public to get to the beach, with current accesses overcrowded and more “private beach” signs being put up in many beachfront areas.
Meadows spoke of developments and corporations acquiring beach accesses that are not open to the general public. She expressed concern that, with current trends, the beach could be open only to the rich and elite in the near future.
“This is about slow closure of public beaches,” Meadows warned.
District 3 Commissioner Bill Imfeld said his main issue was that TDC funds were envisioned to be used for the access. He noted that only 15 percent of the homes rented out in the neighborhoods that the park would serve collect tourist bed taxes. He explained that he could not properly say that TDC funds should be used.
District 3 Commissioner Sara Comander commented that she was left with more questions than answers about the potential access, despite having done her research on the issue. She shared Chapman’s concerns about law enforcement, littering and the parking issue. She pointed out that no bathrooms were planned in connection with the access. Comander was not sure whether the use of TDC funds to pay for the access would be appropriate.
Comander said she had spoken with the ranger at Topsail and had been told that the tram could run more often if needed.
She said she understood that sending the letter to the park officials would in no way be a final determination on the access but still had concerns about sending it.
A motion by Imfeld to deny approval to send the letter was seconded by Comander, and the motion was approved 3-0, with Meadows exiting shortly before the vote was taken.
Other avenues for new public beach accesses are currently being pursued by the TDC.
