By DOTTY NIST
Official consideration of a letter to the state regarding a potential public beach access through Topsail Hill Preserve State Park has been put off for a Sept. 29 special meeting of the Walton County Board of County Commissioners (BCC).
The draft letter, which had been placed on the agenda for the Sept. 9 BCC meeting, is a request to the Florida Division of Recreation and Parks (DRP) expressing the BCC’s interest in exploring the possibility of a partnership for an additional beach access through the park and interest in entering into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) outlining the partnership.
The access location that has been discussed with the public and with state officials in recent months would start at Tanglewood Drive in Beachview Heights and lead to the beach at Topsail Preserve State Park, utilizing a 1,650-foot-long elevated boardwalk running through part of the preserve. The BCC had held a July 30 workshop for discussion and public input on this potential beach access and five others that do not involve state park property.
Due to the length of the BCC agenda on Sept. 9 and the public’s considerable interest in commenting on the potential access through Topsail, the commissioners made a decision early in the meeting to put off consideration of the letter and reschedule it for the special meeting, at which the public would have the opportunity to speak. It was also discussed that alternate access plans would be presented as well.
As the rescheduling was discussed, Walton County District 5 Commissioner Cindy Meadows stated that she would have “new information” to present on the matter. Two citizens, Jacquee Markel and Anita Page later came forward to ask for details on that new information and on the alternate access plans that had been referenced.
Markel and Page requested for the information to be presented to the public as soon as possible so that citizens would have the opportunity to evaluate in advance of the special meeting.
Jim Bagby, Walton County Tourist Development Council (TDC) director, briefly commented on alternate ideas that had been presented to him in recent weeks in connection with the access.
He said two commissioners and two citizens had presented ideas that he had conveyed to the management of Topsail Hill Preserve State Park on Sept. 4 to try to get the DRP’s opinion on their feasibility.
The access alignment being looked at would take the route of a previously-used path. According to Bagby, the DRP’s biologists had identified the route as one that could be considered for a potential access. Bagby said he had asked the park management whether the county would be “locked in” to that particular route or if other alternatives could be considered.
Bagby said all the alternatives discussed had involved moving the access further east. One, he explained, would utilize a fire break running down the park’s eastern boundary and putting a bridge across Stallworth Lake to lead directly to the Stallworth property owned by the county on the beach. Other ideas, he said, were for the county to obtain a parcel in the vicinity owned by the Walton County School District, which could be accessed via the fire break or along the same or a similar route as per the current proposal.
Bagby said he had not received any response from the state on the additional options but would make that information public as soon as he did hear from the park officials.
The Sept. 29 special meeting is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. and take place at the South Walton Annex.
