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The current view from Escambia County's soon to be completed and openend Gulf-Front, free Public Beach Access point in District 1 at Perdido Key |
Escambia County, west Escambia County, and District 1's newest public Gulf-Front beach access point (300 FT on the Gulf) is nearing completion. Beach Access #4 has been a long time coming--nearly 8 years--but it is almost completed. Better late than never!. Photos from the site from this week (below) show the parking lot completed, with asphalt and striping, split rail fencing installed, and the driveway complete. Native grasses have been replanted in areas around the parking, and the only remaining items are the unrolling of the Mobi-mat (which will give access to the beach to those who are in wheelchairs) and some signage about the ecology of the area with educational placards about native/protected species. According to the Natural Resources Management staff:
"We expect the access mat to be installed in the next 2-3
weeks. I will have an updated timeline from engineering tomorrow. We can start
to plan a grand opening for mid-late Feb...We will still be waiting on the wash-station, ada components
to the educational signage and a couple other odds and ends."
Hallelujah! Thank you Commissioner and the rest of the board that voted to open this access point up to the public. It certainly has been a long time coming, what, 3 years after the vote to open it up? I would like to thank Mr. Tim Day for his professionalism and persistence in making this happen, along with the other departments responsible. Once given direction, our County staff responded to the task at hand and now we have this wonderful amenity on the most beautiful beach in the world! Thank you to all involved!
ReplyDeleteNice! Native plantings look good!
ReplyDeleteThat is great. Underhill should have never been reelected after it became clear he wanted to keep that for himself. Hope you get the no trespassing signs down around the other accesses. FEMA funds were spent on the emergency sand berms post Ivan and the reason the county qualified for the federal funds is because the accesses there demonstrated there was public use. That investment by the federal government was to be protected by additional restoration of sand. The PKA mob has been lying to the public and the BOCC for their own selfish advantage. Now is the time to set this right.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are the commissioner over the area and now hold that responsibility and will not continue the unlawful practice there and take this seriously.
The documents are readily available on the internet when the county applied for the FEMA emergency funds to begin the restoration process post hurricane Ivan.