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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 :








Thursday, November 15, 2018

What is the Realistic Timeline for us to #OpenOurBeach ?

This is a rough depiction of what our timeline looks like going forward in our effort to get Perdido Key Beach access #4 open for the general public that paid for it.


Yesterday was a profound day in the quest for Escambia County to #OpenOurBeach that we have owned for nearly 5 years but that we have chained-off from public access.

The Board of Adjustment unanimously voted to grant the county a Conditional Use Permit for the public park and beach access at Perdido Key.

The four hour meeting--complete with lawyers and nearby condo owners fighting hard against the opening of this beach--can be watched here.

Kudos to the citizens that showed up and fought for this public beach access.

But now that we have the Conditional Use Permit--what's next?

According to staff that are extremely knowledgeable on how this process will play out going forward, we could realistically be celebrating Independence Day at this brand new public access park in Perdido Key!

Of course, there is a chance that the nearby condo owners could have their attorneys file suit to try to stop this...I hope they don't.  (they REALLY do not want the general public having access to this beach that they consider their private beach;  they love the comfortable status quo they have enjoyed over the last several years where only THEY get to enjoy this beach...)

But barring anything unusual, and if the BCC identifies the funding source and votes to authorize the spending necessary to complete this project----- this beach should be open for use by ALL ESCAMBIA CITIZENS by the Summer of 2019!

It is going to be awesome when we #OpenOurBeach !!  I will be one of the first ones out there enjoying it when we get it done.  I might even drag a cooler with me :)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Watch the BOA!!!!! LOVED IT!!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the Time line.
When you brought this up at the March 8 Committee of the Whole I emailed my commissioner but he didn't do anything at the time.
I told him it was gated off and I thought it shouldn't be that way.
If you all had moved on it then and not waited, Underhill couldn't claim it was political. He would have come up with some other smoke screen like Lewis the Bear was out to get him or something.
I wish you were presenting a classy plaque to him and saying good bye.
I think he planned to keep it for himself. Hard to believe the condo would sell it to the county for millions and then build a private walkover then the people in D2 still vote in the con man. Keep a good eye on him and anyone associated with him. Notice the pin in his picture for the county, Don't Tread on Me? I think it was a message. He's a snake.

Anonymous said...

Black J'Aime, you know J'Aime "Blackheart" Rogers, is mad at you on her weak little blog. She complains and complains. Of course, when you look at her blog, she exposes her black heart. She admits you were a big advocate for bullied kids, but says she she would give you very little credit because she was in a good mood. Blackheart. More recently, she said everyone should be respectful after the election, but then says it's hard to be nice. Blackheart. So when she watches outlander, she'll know her character is the antagonist Black J'Aime, not the hero Red Jamie.

Anonymous said...

If you would, instead of necessitating ordering an entire operational audit of the BOCC for voting to the allow D2 commissioner 20K discretionary funds toward the INLET MANAGEMENT PLAN, keep a close eye on, and have staff look into this project.

The plan is to put sand on the shore from dredges and other practices. How does that bypass the rule of making it belong to the PUBLIC?

Please advise and research this also.

On another note, notice one preached about doing away with discretionary funds for commissioners online, trying to make them look bad, then takes it for himself.

Why was the STATE renourishment/restoration plan stopped on Perdido Key in the past? Was that not yet another board action, to have it accomplished, that was cancelled? Perdido Key was a critically eroded beach after Ivan and these projects were halted.

After completion of this project the shoreline would belong to the State of Florida, the public. I believe the condo owners wanted their own private Beach front.

The Beach restoration projects protect the fragile roads and buildings from storm surge, to a point, so some of these practices of cancelling projects have left the shore vulnerable at the peril of the taxpayers of the county, and then they also can not benefit and use these areas. To put Perdido Key Drive onto the county follows these same illogical, underhanded, selfish practice.

The Inlet Management Plan was NOT put into a legislative ask this year, why not? Why did they suddenly discontinue this? I think it is because people were noticing the possible additional wrongdoing in these areas. (then labeled crazy or political -- if you catch my drift)

Is the Inlet Protection Plan costing MORE money locally than the normal State of Florida plan that was thwarted and does the sand that has already been dredged and placed upon Perdido Key deem it "Public"

Please have the new administrator look into these practices and "OPEN OUR BEACH"

There are a lot of unanswered questions still surrounding these projects. Heads Up!!

#askHurrianeMichael

http://agenda.myescambia.com/docs/2017/REGBCC/20170817_3913/12642_PNS%20PassInletMgmtStudy-FL%20BeachMgmtFundingAsstProgram-LGFR%2018_19%2001Aug17-2017%20Aug%2017.pdf