By DOTTY NIST
At the request of staff, the Walton County Tourist Development Council (TDC) has voted to begin the process for approval of boardwalks and other additions at three unimproved beach accesses and for consideration of changes to regulations for vending on the beaches.
There will be a public meeting and input process for both initiatives.
Votes on these items were taken at the council’s Dec. 2 bimonthly meeting at the South Walton Annex.
The locations of the three unimproved beach accesses to be considered for additions include Bullard Road/Highland Avenue, Montigo Avenue, and Beachfront Trail/Walton Dunes. Sandy paths used by beachgoers already exist at the first two locations, according to Brian Kellenberger, TDC director of beach operations. Kellenberger said there is a drive-on access used by TDC beach trucks at the Beachfront Trail/Walton Dunes location.
The three locations had previously been discussed along with others at a July 30 county workshop.
Plans for the three locations that were included with the Dec. 2 meeting agenda showed, in addition to dune walkovers, proposed picnic areas, pavilions, restrooms, bicycle parking and also some car parking at some of the locations, along with other improvements.
According to discussion at the meeting, recommendations by AVCON, the consultants who had conducted a study of public parking along CR-30A and Scenic Gulf Drive, had not yet been incorporated into plans for the three accesses. The study had been finalized at the end of October.
Cindy Meadows, TDC vice chair and Walton County District 5 commissioner, discussed the challenge of residents raising objections when the TDC proposes neighborhood beach accesses.
Jim Bagby, TDC executive director, told the council members that what was being proposed was to go before the Walton County Board of County Commissioners (BCC ) to request to “start the process” for consideration of improvements to the three accesses. The proposals would be brought before the TDC Destination Improvement Committee, informational mail-outs to neighbors of the three locations would be done, public workshops would be held, and the proposals would also come back before the TDC for further consideration, he said.
Kellenberger agreed that workshops and public input, along with incorporation of the AVCON recommendations, would precede the final design proposal for the accesses.
TDC member Jim Richard commented that he believed that there had been a failure to put together a long-term plan for the future and that the AVCON recommendations had fallen short of that.
Meadows responded that the AVCON study had been limited in scope. It had included, she pointed out, recommendations for transit and off-site parking areas. She maintained that the county and TDC were looking into the future but “taking it segment by segment.”
Meadows discussed the difficulty of purchasing property for beach accesses. When suitable property goes on the market and the owner learns that the TDC/county are looking to purchase property, the price automatically goes up, she said, and the property often gets picked up by someone in the neighborhood who does not want a public beach access going in.
Richard was sympathetic to the challenges described but predicted that soon acquiring property for beach accesses in the county would “not be an option.” With future growth, he foresaw current beach parking becoming “drop off zones.” Richard emphasized the importance of acquiring such property without delay.
Meadows urged input and support for transit options and said she would be bringing a related proposal before the BCC on Dec. 9.
Coming forward to comment, south Walton County resident Jacquee Markel emphasized the importance of the Bullard Road access due to the “huge chunk of…actual public beach in that area.” Bagby confirmed that such an area was located to the east of Bullard Road.
Moving the process forward on the beach access locations proposed by staff was approved by the council members on a motion by Richard.
Kellenberger next presented a number of options for change to the regulations for vending on the public beaches. He noted that a number of issues with vending operations had surfaced during the past season and that there had been concerns about vendors’ “overtaking of public beaches,” which had been driven by vendors’ desire to get their equipment out in advance of the general beach visitors.
Rules for beach vending are contained in the Walton County Waterways and Beach Activities Ordinance.
Among options presented for public property beaches were, continuing to allow vending on all public property beaches, prohibiting vending on all public property beaches, and allowing vending on Walton County beaches by means of a request for proposals (RFP). Additional operations standards for vending operations on all beaches were presented as well.
Bagby told the council members that staff was looking for input from them on the topic of vending and that he would plan on scheduling a series of workshops on the issue for discussion and public input.
On a motion by Meadows, there was a vote to proceed with workshops and public hearings on the vending options.
In other action, the council members approved the issuance of a request for qualifications (RFQ) for a consultant to facilitate planning sessions for a TDC three-year strategic plan “that addresses both sustainability of TDC efforts and opportunities for engagement in new initiatives consistent with the TDC mission and identified community needs and goals,” per the RFQ language.
Bagby noted that the goal would be to have the strategic plan ready for presentation to the BCC in April.
The members also approved a recommendation to the BCC for use of $75,000 from Emerging Market Air Carrier Recruitment Funds. The recommendation was to put this amount toward promotion of a United Airlines direct flight from Houston/Bush Airport to the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport. The flight is to begin in March, Bagby stated.
He explained that the half-cent bed tax that had previously funded this account had been discontinued but that funds remained in the account. He also said that Panama City Beach had agreed to provide $75,000 to promote the United direct flight.
TDC action items are subject to final consideration by the BCC in public session.
