Guidelines

I am one member of a five person board. The opinions I express on this forum are mine only, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Escambia County Staff, Administrators, Employees, or anyone else associated with Escambia County Florida. I am interested in establishing this blog as a means of additional transparency to the public, outreach to the community, and information dissemination to all who choose to look. Feedback is welcome, but because public participation is equally encouraged, appropriate language and decorum is mandatory. Although this is not my campaign site for re-election--sometimes campaign related information will be discussed, therefore in an abundance of caution I add the following :








Friday, March 17, 2023

Judge Rules in Favor of County as it Denies Petition for Writ of Certirari regarding Beach Access #4....

As many of us expected, the courts have now ruled in favor of the County and the County's Board of Adjustment when it denied a petition by nearby residents opposed to the BOA's granting of a conditional use permit for the development of a public beach access point (Beach Access #4) in District 1 at Perdido Key.

The order was handed down yesterday.

Many neighbors were opposed to any public access at this location from the get go once the county began to move in the direction of opening this access.

Why wouldn't they?  These residents enjoyed a comfortable status quo whereby "they" got to enjoy this pristine, 300' of Gulf Front beach in Perdido Key while the county's citizens (the OWNERS of this property) were kept out via menacing "NO TRESPASSING" signs and locked gates and locked pedestrian walk overs.  You (taxpers) owned it, but You (taxpayers) could not use it for nearly 10 years--while nearby property owners did get to use it.

Even though the rationale for the county's acquisition of this property was always for habitat conservation AND Public Beach Access---some nearby owners attempted, via litigation, to blow that up--- questioning the legality of the BOA's process in issuing a conditional use permit.

That argument fell apart as the judge gutted it piece by piece in her below order.

The matter is now settled and the PEOPLE won.  More access, less restriction, a win for every non-beachfront property owner in the county and in District 1.  Read the succinct 7- page order, below.









5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your leadership on this matter Commissioner Bergosh. It was absurd for the past corrupt D2 commissioner to try to keep it for himself and a few friends.

Melissa Pino said...

And that's a wrap.

Two down; one to go.

Melissa Pino said...

Pretty good judicial clean-up day on the bad actors. Jacqueline Rogers just lost another opt out this afternoon.

I suppose she'll drag it out in the usual manner, waiting til the last minute to respond, asking for a time extension, asking for an increase in pages so she can pen her 98 ill-founded exceptions.

Once she loses all her exceptions yet again, DOAH needs to kick her out for being a vexatious litigant, and the County needs to get back all the taxpayer money she wasted harassing the land owners and staff and misleading the judge on how many times she has done this before. I'm sure he wasn't too happy once he sat down to review her previous history to see how she attempted to snow him.

Enough was enough a loooong time ago.

Kevin Wade said...

Coming soon from a T-Shirt Vender near you.

Part-III in the series of Beach Access IV shirts the next collectors edition

Beach Access IV - That's a wrap" available in a rainbow of sunny colors.

Link to Image : Public Beach Access 4 OPEN!

Michael McCormack said...

Well, I'm glad that's over with....... Thanks Commissioner for all the hard work by you and staff in protecting our access to the beach.