We had a great 92nd Coffee with the Commissioner event in Perdido Key this morning. We talked about a lot of issues, including the roundabout. And I made a major announcement on the roundabout and the rumble strips within the first three minutes. Check the video below, for those who could not make it live.
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Thanks for hosting the CWTC here on Perdido Key. I’ve written to you privately and you have graciously taken the time to respond (thank you so much) regarding some of the issues addressed at today’s meeting, but I wanted to revisit here. I’m specifically talking about the county’s purchase of a new parcel for parking on the key. Based on the context of what you said today, a constituent can read between the lines and infer that the lot you are negotiating to purchase is adjacent to Beach Access 2. While expanding a recently refurbished access point makes sense on paper, the nuances of that area mean that, during high season, expanded parking at Access 2 will not truly be useful for anyone other than those who own or rent in Lost Key Golf and Beach Resort.
Beach Access 2 sits next to Lost Key Beach Club, whose 1 acre of sand services 660 units, mostly rentals with occupancy capacity as high as 12 people per unit. This makes their small, privately-owned beach lot the highest per-capita density of beachfront anywhere on the Gulf Coast, and insanely, insanely crowded in-season. Lost Key Beach Club has no on-site parking and shuttles its residents/renters to and from their beach club in a 14-person shuttle. As of right now, most of those who park at Beach Access 2 are renters from Lost Key who bypass the crowded shuttle system for personal convenience. One of the speakers at today's meeting (Mrs. Lynch) punctuated this point when she mentioned that the vacant lot across the street from Beach Access 2 was used illegally for parking for several years, mostly by Lost Key owners and renters who were very upset when the lot was roped off. So it stands to reason that creating more spaces in that same area, literally adjacent to their amenity, just creates more parking for Lost Key, because a resident who drives to the beach from West Pensacola can’t compete for parking space in that lot with someone who is driving a few blocks to secure parking first thing in the morning in order to reserve chairs and avoid waiting for a shuttle.
The concomitant component of this is the “opening up the beaches” trope, which, don’t get me wrong, is a great thing. But placing additional parking directly next to such a densely populated beach really doesn’t “open up” anything. It means that the bandwidth of beach users is not spread out over the key, with all properties absorbing more capacity. It dumps everyone in the same area because people don’t set up their beach camps far from their cars (should they even be able to secure a parking space) or bathroom access. It just makes more sense to find additional access somewhere midway between accesses 1 and 2, or 2 and 3, so as to spread out the “win” of opening the beaches. Otherwise, opening the beaches is only punitive to those who own directly next to the current access points.
My reason for bringing this up is that I don’t want our district to use 3 million dollars to build a parking lot that ends up being useful for only one investor-driven neighborhood. It would be a hallow victory for the county residents.
You are probably kneecapped by what is out there and available for purchase, but if you truly want sustainable, usable, free beach access for all--rich or poor-- you won’t spend money to put new parking next to an area where it will easily be exploited and appropriated. Please consider the input of those whose daily lives ebb and flow with the institutional knowledge one gets from actually living in the area. I know that sounds smug, but we each know our own backyard better than anyone else.
Thank you again for coming out today, truly. Come back again soon.
Please no traffic light - Johnson Beach Road and Sandy Key Drive will be blocked where condos owners and house owners can’t get out. A new development on Johnson Beach Road will add 60-70 cars at an any given time with all the traffic going to the National Seashore. Vista Del Mar is blocked as well as Heron’s Walk when the park traffic backs up and then the light on the other end will make this even worse. Build the right size roundabout - the one we all saw and approved - it was centered and the right size.
Just when I was ready to write off this blog and it’s mostly ridiculous, rambling commenters - This comment is well thought out and 100% spot on.
@Alt, brilliantly stated!!
The rumble strips are still there as of May 1.
I agree whole heartedly! I walked the beach from roughly Shrimp Basket & the West state park parking area. The first public entry was very full, as well a distance down the beach from that entry….after that it was literally empty for approx a mile until I got to the newly restored park area. I took pictures showing the huge stretch of empty beach! With one additional entry point between the two existing on that stretch, a huge swath of wide beach would be open to anyone wanting a prime beach spot for the day. Don’t crowd the busy spots, spread public access out on the empty state park beach!
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