By DOTTY NIST
Beachview Heights resident Norman Froeschner’s statement, “This is a bad, bad, idea,” was the overwhelming sentiment at a July 30 public workshop at which most of the discussion involved a potential public beach access across Topsail Hill Preserve State Park.
Held at the South Walton Annex, the workshop included a presentation on six possible new public beach accesses on the west end of CR-30A, an area where there has been severe congestion at existing public beach accesses.
Filling the meeting room to overflowing, most members of the public were present to give their opinion on a pedestrian-only beach access under discussion that would start at Tanglewood Drive in Beachview Heights and lead to the beach at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park. The project would involve the construction of an eight-foot-wide, 1,650-foot-long elevated boardwalk, through natural scrub habitat area in the preserve. The access has been envisioned with an “honor box” for payment of the park fee.
Located in the Santa Rosa Beach community and over 1,643 acres in size, Topsail Hill Preserve State Park is named for its dunes, some 25 feet tall, which have the appearance of sails, along the park’s three miles of beachfront. The park’s extensive dune system is considered a rare remaining example of the Panhandle’s original coastal ecosystems. This is the property where the endangered Choctawhatchee beach mouse was first identified, and mice of this species continue to inhabit the dunes at Topsail.
Also encompassing undeveloped coastal dune lakes, wetlands, pine flatwoods and other natural communities, Topsail Hill Preserve State Park supports not only beach mice but migratory birds, sea turtles and rare plants.
The park entrance, ranger station, RV sites and bungalows, parking, and other amenities are located at the state-owned Gregory Moore RV Resort on the west end of CR-30A and adjacent to the preserve. A tram road extending from a parking lot in that area, and running to the beach through part of the preserve, enables park patrons and campers to ride a tram, bike, or walk to the beach.
The July 30 workshop was attended by all five Walton County Commissioners, but the commissioners were present to listen and not comment. Jim Bagby, Walton County Tourist Development Council (TDC) executive director, led the meeting, which began with a presentation by Brian Kellenberger, TDC director of beach operations.
Kellenberger gave details on the potential beach accesses, all of which are envisioned as neighborhood accesses. This means that automobile parking would not be provided and people using the accesses would be encouraged to walk or ride a bike. Dune walkovers and bike racks would be provided, along with outdoor showers, trash cans and signage.
The six locations included the Tanglewood Street (Topsail) access, along with accesses at Highland Avenue in Beach Highlands, at 4850 CR-30A in Dune Allen, at Headland Avenue in Seagrove Beach, at Montigo Avenue in Seagrove, and at Beachfront Trail in Lakewood. All accesses would be on county-owned property or property where the county has an easement. Kellenberger explained.
Discussing the accesses individually and detailing prices, Kellenberger said the Highland Avenue access would be located where Bullard Road meets Highland Avenue where there is now a sandy path – cost $82,000. The Dune Allen access would be adjacent to the Palms at Dune Allen – cost $81,000. The Headland Avenue access would be adjacent to the old Seagrove Motel – cost $62,000. The Montigo Access would take the route of an existing sandy path – cost$73,000. The Beachfront Trail access would be in the location of a current drive-on access used by TDC beach trucks – cost $52,000.
The cost of the Tanglewood/Topsail access was given as $430,000. At previous county meetings there had been discussion about cost-sharing for the access with neighborhoods in the vicinity, but this was not mentioned at the July 30 workshop.
Following Kellenberger’s short presentation, most of the remainder of the almost 2 1/2 hour meeting was devoted to public comment, with each speaker limited to three minutes. Of almost 60 people commenting on the Tanglewood/Topsail access, more than twice as many expressed opposition as compared with those speaking in support.
“Let’s be sure to keep it as unspoiled as it is,” one 50-year area resident said of the preserve.
Some neighbors of the proposed Tanglewood/Topsail access spoke in favor of the possibility. Cypress Dunes resident Janice Gaultney explained that she had been one of just a few residents who had started exploring the possibility of new public beach access through the park with the state park service. They were advised to seek county assistance, which they did, she continued.
Initially they had not publicly revealed information on the effort because they did not think they had anything significant to share, she said.
Gaultney said a state biologist had recently determined a path for the access that would cause the least impact to the preserve.
The path would follow one used by people in the past prior to the state fencing it off from adjoining residential areas. Later other residents indicated that some use of the path was continuing in spite of the fence.
Gaultney said there had been an April 2 meeting between the state officials and residents on the access possibility, followed by an April 17 neighborhood meeting.
Jeff Muller commented that he had been on the committee of residents described by Gaultney. He was of the opinion that the access could be done in an environmentally-friendly way, constructed along “a path of least resistance.”
Cypress Dunes resident Erin Depp also maintained that the access would cause no negative impacts. “It is two thousandths of 1 percent of the park…” she argued, “it is negligible.”
Cypress Dunes resident Lynn Owens argued that the access would help emergency responders in instances of accidents, as in the plane crash that occurred in the gulf in front of her home in March 2010.
Former DeFuniak Springs Mayor Harold Carpenter also went on record in support of the access, saying that his daughter owns two homes at Cypress Dunes.
“I’m very much for it, ” agreed Tracy Sweetland, a local realtor. Sweetland said everyone interesting in buying property wants to know where the nearest beach access is. Everyone living around the preserve respects it, Sweetland added.
However others, including Santa Rosa Beach resident Lori Ceier, warned that the proposed access/boardwalk would “fragment” the preserve and set a “dangerous precedent.”
South Walton County Celeste Cobena has been a supporter and advocate for the county’s parks and public lands for decades and has participated in the creation of unit management plans for the preserve. She predicted that the residents’ push for the new public access would not succeed. While the unit management plan for the park might be changed to provide for the new access, she commented, “you cannot change the purpose for which the land was acquired…preservation of natural communities.” Cobena added that state park officials had indicated that they were not seeking an additional public access through the preserve.
Mary Konovsky of the South Walton Community Council (SWCC) also went on record on behalf of the organization in opposition to the proposed access, although she stated SWCC support for neighborhood beach accesses in general.
South Walton County resident Richard Bryant urged for efforts toward the Topsail access to cease and for the money it would have cost to be put toward a number of less controversial new beach accesses.
However, Tim Pauls, a former Walton County commissioner and developer of Topsail Village on the west end of CR-30A, argued that trails had existed on the Topsail property prior to the state acquiring it in the 1990s and that those paths had not resulted in destruction of the property. He spoke in favor of ways being sought to “put people on the beach without having them right on top of each other.”
“What good is the park if we’re not able to enjoy it?” asked Flamingo Village resident Bill Parks.
Brenda Sarper, a resident of Beachview Heights, commented that she did not want the problems that an unattended beach access would bring to her neighborhood.
Sunrise Circle resident Matt Jones also spoke in opposition, noting that the pilot had died on impact in the plane crash that had been mentioned earlier in the meeting, so earlier emergency response would not have helped. “It is a preserve,” Jones emphasized, speaking of Topsail.
“This thing is ridiculous,” complained Norman Froeschner. He commented that, with the proposed access, the walk to the beach would be 20 to 30 minutes from Cypress Dunes and Beachview Heights and a half hour to 45 minutes from Topsail Village. These neighborhoods are located too far from the beach to have beach accesses associated with them, Froeschner argued.
However, a Cypress Dunes resident Marvin Gus Cuchens countered, “I would love to carry a fishing rod half a mile to fish on that beach,”
Kristi Yanchis, a beach mouse recovery specialist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said that no one had discussed the potential new access to the preserve with her agency. Yanchis said the trail associated with the potential access was “an animal path.” Only 5 percent of the preserve, she continued, is allowed to be developed. Yanchis added that she believed that only one entrance to the preserve had been intended in connection with the park plan, and that she thought that intent should be followed.
Two representatives of environmental organizations were also present to speak out against the access. Jonathan Webber of the Audubon Society was critical of the access and particularly of it being unmanned and open all hours. Kent Wimmer of Defenders of Wildlife commented that an additional access was not warranted—and that the protection of one of the last remaining examples of high-quality habitat for the Choctawhatchee beach mouse should be the first priority for this property as one designated as a preserve.
After the meeting Bagby and District 5 Commissioner Cindy Meadows were asked about a letter for which Bagby had previously sought BCC permission to send to the state Department of Recreation and Parks (DRP). The letter was to ask DRP to work with the county on a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding the potential Tanglewood/Topsail beach access that would outline the responsibilities of the two parties with regard to the potential access. The letter represents the first step in the process for the consideration of the access as a partnership effort.
Meadows had asked for consideration of the letter to be postponed to provide for further review and for the July 30 workshop to be held. Bagby and Meadows indicated that the letter would be on the BCC Sept. 9 regular meeting agenda.
Contacted on Aug. 1 about the potential access through Topsail preserve, Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) spokeswoman Mara Burger commented, “Walton County contacted the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Recreation and Parks about developing an additional public beach access at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park. The access would serve the residential areas along (CR-30A) and east of the Preserve, as well as the general public. In response to this request, the Division conducted a feasibility assessment and cost estimate for the proposed access. The information was provided to Walton County officials.”
Burger emphasized that there had currently been no formal request by the county for the state to consider the potential access.
She continued, ” Any proposed development in this portion of the park will require an amendment to the current management plan for Topsail Hill Preserve State Park. The amendment process requires further research and analysis of the proposal. This includes a thorough assessment of potential impacts to sensitive park resources and direct consultation with residents of the Beachview Heights subdivision.”
“Before any decisions are made,” Burger noted, “the state may hold additional public workshops to consider the proposed amendment and solicit public feedback.”
