County Wants State Park Land at Topsail for Beach Access

Reason prevailed!

Let's move forward and try to solve the problems we know exist (and weren't going to be solved by that Topsail access)- find access land with room for parking and restroom facilities. If the problem put forth to be solved was so many people on that end of the beach without easy access, that Topsail option didn't have a chance in hell of solving it.

Reason prevailed! Let's move forward and try to solve the problems we know exist (and weren't going to be solved by that Topsail access)- find access land with room for parking and restroom facilities. If the problem put forth to be solved was so many people on that end of the beach without easy access, that Topsail option didn't have a chance in hell of solving it.

You are right, the Topsail situation is behind us. Any suggestions regarding available land for access that also has room for parking and bathrooms? Not that Topsail was a great idea, but I think a bad idea was borne out of desperation, not just greed.

There is an email and Commissioner Meadows is a part?

Bob, there is an email kicking this whole thing off from Tim Pauls to Meadows. Give me a hot minute and I'll post it.

Commissioner Meadows



TopSail Village at this time May, 2014.


Built out per development order
Residential
64 Condominiums
56 2Br 2Ba 1,000 sq.ft. each = 56,000 sq.ft. + entrys, porches etc. Occupancy 6 persons = 336
8 3BR 2 Ba 1,400sq.ft. each = 11,200 sq.ft. + entrys, porches etc. Occupancy 8 persons = 64
64 = 67,200 sq.ft. =400


Approved development order, partially built out
Commercial
75 Room Inn 600sq.ft. each suite = 45,000sq.ft. Occupancy 4 per room =300
(Currently built is 15 suites of the 75 approved, 30ASuites)

Office space, currently built is 2,600sq.ft.
Restaurant and Meeting Space 8-12,000sq.ft. approved
(Currently built is Celebration Hall, 3,800 sq.ft.)



In addition to TopSail Village which is built on lots that were a part of the unrecorded plat of BeachView Heights, north side. There are approximately 8 additional lots that have been classified to VMU. There are also lots on 30-A in BeachView Hts South that are classified commercial, like next to ELMO's grill.
A great benefit of this potential access will be the undeveloped lots along 30-A in Beach Highlands 1st Addition. There are approximately 4-5 acres of land within these lots, some of which are directly across the street from my residence on 30-A. These lots are designated "Neighborhood Commercial" but have a highest and best use as max density townhouses or such. The build out of these properties will put great additional strain on the existing Beach Highland Neighborhood Access at Stallworth Lake. Additionally, most lots in Beach Highlands on the West side of the lake that are not lake front have no access to the Gulf, and would benefit from the proposed access.
There is substantial undeveloped land, one of the few places along 30-A, on the west end of 30-A. The benefit to the County and the public will include:
The former site of the Boys and Girls Club
Cypress Dunes, 1, and 2, and the subdivision in between
BeachView Heights, South of 30-A
TopSail Village, and lots in BeachView Heights North of 30-A
Flamingo Village
Beach Highlands 1st Addition, especially all lots West of Stallworth Lake
Beach Highland lots West of Stallworth Lake
Let me know if I can provide any additional assistance.
Tim Pauls
Developer, TopSail Village
tim.pauls@gmail.com

30ASuites.com
TheCelebrationHall.com
TopSailVillage.com


On Thu, May 1, 2014 at 12:15 PM, Cindy Meadows <meacindy@co.walton.fl.us> wrote:
Please send me a summary of the number of units and other square footage for the Village.
We are putting together a summary of the number of lots,units, etc. in the west /C.R. 30A
area to get an idea about the number of people that would potentially use a beach access in that area.


Cindy Meadows, AICP
Commissioner
District 5
Walton County, Florida

Under Fla. Law, FS 119.011, Chapter 2006-32, email addresses are public records. If you do not want your email address released in response to a public records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone or in writing.

I know it's long, but if you read the email this information was solicited by Commissioner Meadows on May 1, 2014.

Glad that the decision went this way!

I know it's long, but if you read the email this information was solicited by Commissioner Meadows on May 1, 2014.

That it does. It appears that she was soliciting information from a constituent who would be able to provide her numbers which makes perfect sense. Although I opposed the boardwalk I think she was doing what she was asked to do to by either Mr Pauls or other constituents who wanted to see the boardwalk built. Seems, at least in my opinion, it was all above board.
Thanks

EDIT: This was for seaducer. Not sure why the quote didn't show up.

You certainly do think the worst of most people. I'm glad it lost, but agree with the sentiments of many that there needs to be more access on the east end. I live in BMB and the beach access is packed all the time. And it's not just with cars with FL plates.

If the county wants more Public Access, then they need to buck up and buy some land on the coast.

There was a time when it was being offered at a reasonable rate, but that time is gone.

I agree, the question is every time they approve new developments they need to be sure the prospective buyers know they have almost little if any beach access or parking. The BCC's in the past as well as this one have allowed building on every square foot of land with no plan for all of these people to access the beach or for drainage. Now we have a flooding problem with no plan on how to solve and we also have tourist fighting at Grayton for beach space to sit on and it will only get worse. There will be guards on the beach front owners beach property soon. GIVE US A PLAN, BCC before it is impossible to fix this mess . Knee jerk reactions will not solve these problems.

You certainly do think the worst of most people. I'm glad it lost, but agree with the sentiments of many that there needs to be more access on the east end. I live in BMB and the beach access is packed all the time. And it's not just with cars with FL plates.

Not sure if that was directed at me, but ok.

That it does. It appears that she was soliciting information from a constituent who would be able to provide her numbers which makes perfect sense. Although I opposed the boardwalk I think she was doing what she was asked to do to by either Mr Pauls or other constituents who wanted to see the boardwalk built. Seems, at least in my opinion, it was all above board.
Thanks

I agree with Bob. A commissioner is not doing the whole job unless all the information pertaining to an issue is gathered. Regardless of her vote, asking for and getting the information about the potential development and population growth on the west end of 30A and that area north to the bay highlights the importance that we do have an access issue at this end and it will get worse. The Topsail solution was not the right solution as the negative consequences on the environment would not be reversible.

Yes, corporations have bought accesses in the past (Watersound West and the access by Deer Lake), but do we need to make the mistakes of the past? Should we look at what other coastal communities do when faced with these access issues?

Instead of bashing the one county commissioner who goes to bat for South Walton most of the time, maybe we should try to be part of the solution and be constructive in our thought and words. It's time to put on our collective thinking caps.

Not sure if that was directed at me, but ok.

It was not Bob. Sorry. I must have screwed up the quote part.

To really address the problem the county is going to need to acquire land, both for access and for parking. Building walkovers and accesses with no parking attached is asking for problems. People want to go to the beach, see a nice place to gain access and next thing you know they are parking on someone's yard or on the roadway. One possible solution would be inland parking with shuttles to the accesses. Another would be to use some advertising money to promote our state parks and encourage their use. I am not sure what will work and what won't, but I am sure what has been done in the past doesn't work. As someone said, we need to work together to think of solutions instead of screaming at each other.

We need to stop building more subdivisions with rental property that fail to disclose NO BEACH ACCESS.

Beach Access is all taken up folks. Get up early and get a good spot or go somewhere else.

There is little if any parking, so walk or bike please.

Anyone consider some Bay Front Beach areas? Lots to do there too... If I recall, you have more boat launch options too.

Beach Access is all taken up folks. Get up early and get a good spot or go somewhere else.

There is little if any parking, so walk or bike please.

Anyone consider some Bay Front Beach areas? Lots to do there too... If I recall, you have more boat launch options too.

there's that attitude that 30A is famous for! I knew it was just under the surface.

what I find amazing, though not surprising, is once again the blatant hypocrisy
and chameleon worthy contortions you guys make. Here you all are lauding Cindy
yet she was shouting down the envirobots and advocating for the walkover,
she even voted yes before abruptly bolting out. Yet here you are licking her
high heels and praising her for her abilities....
if it weren't so pathetic it would be quite humorous.

I thought this was one of the dumbest ideas ever entertained by any BCC. Thankfully it failed.

For your info I don't live on 30a, but i respect the property rights of those that do. They made the investment, we didn't.

I have used county beach access for years but have seen far too many Okalossa registrations (vehicles) coming to Walton county beaches. That accompanied with this new breed of "rougher" type tourist has made me seek access elsewhere, where I pay for it! (Had enough of tattooed faces, pot smoking, glass bottle beer drinking, dogs off leashes, foul mouth filth on the beach!)

You want it, you can pay for it to. I'm not going to pay for you or anyone else.

(Side note, if we actually Enforced Anything around here, except hitting locals with FHP tickets this past month, we might have some revenue to actually buy some additional land for more tourists to have beach access).

There is no more room on the beach. We have occupancy in unit issues, beach vendor solicitation right issues, enforcement issues, parking issues, Wow do we have issues! But let's keep bringing more people!

Yes, I have an issue! and its the class of tourist that has taken advantage of this area recently! Disrespectful and entitled, yet they are here on deep discounted rates that will drive down owners property value and turn 30a into Destin or PCB.

You may want this but I don't.

Yes, I do subscribe to NIMBY! At least I'm honest!

[deleted: personal attacks are not allowed on SoWal.com]

You are probably a small business owner that has your overflow parking, park where ever they want. You are entitled to a shuttle and every other opportunity you can grab.

From what I can gather you don't live in Walton, but you pay big bucks in taxes and then complain about it. We actually have a lot in common...

I might be wrong about you but I don't care about what you "made me look like", I'm honest and fed up with this batch of touron that's ruined our area. So are others that don't post on this site.

Lots of condo owners will be too when they get their revenue vs. Income reports.

Tide is rolling.

As a hippie I hate to bring down other hippies, but...

I researched the Watersound West Beach walkover years ago and surprisingly it wasn't some magic mystery, large corporation or cash in a stump conspiracy.

JOE owned the land to begin with, the state bought it along with Topsail, but if you read the agreement the walkover provided in that community was allowed back in 1996. Not the insanity that spewed out around 1:15:00 of last nights meeting.

An open leter from the current residents of Beachview Heights to the Commissioners and public.

We would just like to re-cap the history of this whole thing to make sure that you, the Commissioners, have a clear understanding of what you are voting on … and possibly ask some questions along the way. Ms Meadows, Mr. Bagby please correct if we are wrong on any of this as none of us in Beachview have been involved in the development of this in any way, and as such have no first hand knowledge as to exactly what has transpierced between Meadows, Bagby, Cypress Dunes and the parks dep over the past year. Although Beachview Heights is going to be the host community for this new access, the fact is we have not been involved in any of the meetings with the parks people …Unlike the residents of Cypress Dunes (CD) and others.

First lets all understand that BV and CD are not beachfront properties… they are located ½ mile north of the beach as the crow flies and have never had any kind of beach access. Those were the terms that everyone who bought lots in Beachview and CD understood and agreed to when they bought their lots.
Also lets understand that unlike the other beach access in Walton county, the county does not own the land that this walkway will be built on .. hence this idea to use state preserve land to access the beach instead of actual county owned land. The county has never had a beach access in BV. The other beach accesses in Walton county are built on land that the county owns and has owned for a long time.

Now to the history… as we understand

About a year ago Cypress Dunes took a survey of their homeowners and their guest and found that the most requested thing CD vacation renters asked for was a beach access for CD. … so in an effort to satisfy their renters and homeowners CD asked the parks dep if they could get permission to follow a foot path originating at their pool area and walk across the ½ mile of Topsail Hill Preserve dunes system south of CD to access the beach.

The State says they would talk about it with them but it would have to be an elevated board walk and CD would have to take down their gate and open their neighborhood to the public as the parks dep could not grant an access to a gated community that the public could not use. .. …so CD thinks about it and decides to tell the parks dep they can not, or will not take down the gate and open their neighborhood to the public.

This brings us, the residents of BV, to our first question.

If CD homeowners feel it is this important to have a beach access, why did they decide not to oblige the parks dep and open their neighborhood to the public in order to obtain the access they wanted? We understand it’s a gated subdivision but why couldn’t the homeowners change that if they all thought it was in their best interest and good for their property values as they have stated.

We can only assume that the residents of CD didn’t want the commotion, traffic and parking issues that plague other public beach access in the area.

But for whatever reason CD passed on removing the gate and petitioned the state for another option,

Again, as we understand, the parks people said the next option would be to put the beach access next door in Beachview Heights. …At this point someone (medows, bagby, CD people?) must have said “that’s a great idea!!” … so a go ahead was given, and the state executed a farley extensive study on cost ,endangered species habitat invasion, construction details. .ect… all taxpayers money spent on evaluating the BV location with absolutely no input from any BV residents…
this leads us to our next question…

why, at that time 4-2-14 weren’t the residents of Beachview Heights brought into the discussion? This is at the crux of our irritation…
Indeed the total input from BV residents on this whole thing has been a grand total of 3 min each at the one and only “workshop” held by the County… By the way the count was 17 people for and 47 against.

One can only surmise that residents of BV were intentionally left out of the discussion because bagby and meadows knew there would be opposition from the BV residents.

So we have a county commissioner and the head of the TDC pushing through an agenda to satisfy the wants of a small group of people, namely the CD homeowners who started this whole thing to begin with.

To walk from Flamingo Village, the largest of the neighborhoods that this thing is supposed to serve, to the beach via this access will be over a mile. It will take at least an hour or more for a tourist carrying a cooler (remember there is no water to drink or bathrooms) and dragging he wife and two kids along with their umbrella and beach chairs to get to the beach via this access.… the fact is that no one is going to make this kind of walk.

That same family could instead just load everything in their car and drive ¼ mile from Flamingo, or CD or BV to the already established entrance at Topsail. They could park in the 120+ car parking lot. From there they could let the kids play on the swings and teeter-totter at the already built playground, they could use bathrooms and get a drink of water… then they could get on the tram and ride to the beach access already built. When they get to the beach walkover they could use the bathrooms, get a drink of water at the fountain, have lunch at a picnic table… and go to the beach.

Cypress Dunes, you had a pipe dream… its over… BV doesn’t want it … naturalist from here to Oklahoma City don’t want it …a clear majority of local residents at the one and only workshop don’t want it… Commissioners, move to drop this whole idea today.

This sounds like the typical BS that goes on. The people who want the beach access don't want to deal with the consequences so they try to push it off on their neighbors. So hypocritical

VoiceOfReason, you are only 3+ months behind the times on an issue that has already been reviewed and dropped.

So...was part of a conversation recently with a Cypress Dunes homeowner and they said that there is a walkover in the works, "approved but it's hush hush". "Want to keep the riff raff" out...

Any truth to this, or is a walkover from Cypress Dunes into Topsail a permanent no-go?

Most of us remember this nonsense the first go around, thankfully it failed.

I too have heard rumblings this may resurface again, but not to the extent of your comment.

Perhaps they just tipped the hat and it will give those opposed (many), more time to fight it.

I wonder how either of the two new BCC Members felt about it the first time and if they've changed their minds. Good question for an interview from a paper.

I'd also like to know the stance of A Better South Walton on this.

Perhaps having the prior park ranger now working at the TDC has opened new doors...

It's my understanding from a Cypress Dunes resident that the beach walkover into Topsail is approved by the state and construction will start within a month. Can anyone corroborate this? Or is it just wishful thinking on the part of the resident?

It's my understanding from a Cypress Dunes resident that the beach walkover into Topsail is approved by the state and construction will start within a month. Can anyone corroborate this? Or is it just wishful thinking on the part of the resident?

I hope its wishful thinking...

No Walkover into Topsail!!!

Do you know the residents name or anyone claiming to have accomplished this? Perhaps they have Emails sent in to the TDC and State that are public record? If so Private Message me, don't post on here. Not cool.