US Fish and Wildlife Completes Initial Review of Perdido Key Beach Access #4 Plan

Progress is being made in our ongoing quest to open a 300' Gulf-Front parcel the county owns on Perdido Key so that our citizens can access the beach here.  Currently, only nearby condominium residents are able to access our beach.  This is going to change.....

It has been an ongoing saga, the attempts to do what we said we would do with a large piece of Gulf-front property the county acquired back in 2013 for the express purpose of habitat protection/stabilization and public beach access.

Up until last year, the county had done neither.  And the only folks using the property were nearby condominium owners who had a private beach walkover, which they kept padlocked.  Average citizens could not access the beach as it was gated off with NO TRESPASSING signs all over it.

But we are correcting this.  An initial plan pointed to the fact that we could get as many as 44 parking spaces in this property while still maintaining the habitat.

(For those that want to read up on the long and contentious history of this project, you can read all about it here)

Yesterday, Tim Day from our Environmental department let us know that the new plan which the US Fish and Wildlife Service has now had the opportunity to comment upon, is moving forward.  We have lost a few parking spaces, but it looks as though we will still be getting around 37 parking spots in the new layout.  We will #OpenOurBeach  I requested a new rendering of what this will look like, and I will post it when I receive it.  Meanwhile, this is what we were told yesterday:

"I have received preliminary comments back from US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) regarding a concept design for the beach access on Perdido Key (former Sundown Condominium).  It appears that with minor revisions to the site plan, this project is ready to enter the County Development Review (DRC) process. Highlights of the current design are as follows:

·         Parking spaces = 37

o   Additional beach mouse corridor width has been provided on the west side of the site to offset minimal corridor on the east

o   USFWS continues to express a level of concern with more than “a few parking spots,” but acknowledges “the size and shape of the non-habitat led to that.”

·         Dune walkover has been eliminated in favor of using Mobi-Mat (or similar) product that will provide on-grade ADA access as well as a drivable surface for the fire department to access the Gulf of Mexico for water rescue operations

·         USFWS has concerns regarding a restroom amenity. I expect to work through those concerns as the Site Plan and Management Plan for the project are completed.

·         Please note it is possible that additional modifications may be required as a result of the DRC process and/or final comments from FWS.

The last Board discussion regarding the planning for this project was on October 18, 2018. At that time the Board authorized $50,000 towards “procurement and planning aspect.” I am currently working with the design engineer to update the draft site plan and then intend to initiate the DRC process."