photos - Alys, Seagrove, Seaside - 11/21/05

[kurt]

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http://www.sowal.com/photos-112105.html

http://www.sowal.com/051117-007.jpg
Prominence is underway on the south side of Scenic 30A, surrounded by WaterSound. Clear cutting in SoWal is not a process most developers find necessary, or buyers find desirable.

[Miss Kitty]

Thanks Kurt...you gave a good overview of the good, bad and the ugly on 30-A. Luckily, most of it is good.

[jdarg]

Interesting AND pretty pictures Kurt!

I love the name of the development "Prominence".. .do you have to be prominent to live there? Wonder what the criteria would be? :scratch:

[Miss Kitty]

Interesting AND pretty pictures Kurt!

I love the name of the development "Prominence".. .do you have to be prominent to live there? Wonder what the criteria would be? :scratch:

Sorry folks...that would be where Miss Kitty will be living large...all by herself!!

[Smiling JOe]

Interesting AND pretty pictures Kurt!

I love the name of the development "Prominence".. .do you have to be prominent to live there? Wonder what the criteria would be? :scratch:The Prominence folks told a room filled with people that the development would be made up of very diverse people. They would have a wide range of prices to encourage anyone "from school teachers to lawyers and doctors." Give me a break.

[jdarg]

Sorry folks...that would be where Miss Kitty will be living large...all by herself!!


Ah I get it! Something about you must be prominent to be allowed in. I guess it's the purple hair for Miss Kitty! :roll:

I will need to think of something prominent for me so I can come visit you. If I keep eating the pumpkin pie (just had some for breakfast-yum!), my butt will be so prominent that they will give me a house!

[seagrovelover]

Thanks so much Kurt, the Seagrove pics are right in front of where we always stay..........The beach is looking better and better :biggrin:

[ktschris]

Thanks Kurt.

SGL...I was going to ask you if that was the boardwalk in front of your place last summer.

[Miss Kitty]

Ah I get it! Something about you must be prominent to be allowed in. I guess it's the purple hair for Miss Kitty! :roll:

I will need to think of something prominent for me so I can come visit you. If I keep eating the pumpkin pie (just had some for breakfast-yum!), my butt will be so prominent that they will give me a house!

All Prominent Rear Ends are allowed in!! It's all about self esteem, it is!

[kathydwells]

Kurt, Thank you so much for the pictures!!! Especially the one's of the Seagrove Villa's and Motel. I know there is a sea wall under all that sand, but it sure does look better. Maybe we will be able to stay there again this summer. As alway's, you do good work. :clap_1:

[peapod1980]

Clear cutting in SoWal is not a process most developers find necessary, or buyers find desirable.
Ugh!
Kurt, I love the Seaside post office photo!

[peapod1980]

I love the name of the development "Prominence".. .do you have to be prominent to live there? Wonder what the criteria would be? :scratch:
I think they must mean that the houses are going to be prominent since they've cleared everything else away!!! :pissed:

[Mermaid]

Great photos, Kurt!

I didn't care for the Prominence subdivision. When you drive in, there's a great big long fence on one side, separating Prominence land from St. Joe's land. I don't like being fenced in! Especially on a beach where you expect everything to be open and free and spacious. It has the wrong feel to it.

We saw them putting up the Christmas decorations everywhere. Seaside's post office looks adorable! In Rosemary Beach, all the palm trees downtown are wrapped with red lights and it's spectacular looking in the evening. Grand Isle condos, with the shops below (Cowgirl Kitchen and more) have white lights wrapped around their palms. It's so festive. :clap_1:

Those huge entry posts at either end of Alys Beach are going to be very attractive when they're done but they're a little over the top! Merman commented that it's kind of disjointing to be driving on 30-A, which is a public road, then going through the entry point posts. He said it feels like all of a sudden it seems like you've stumbled onto a bit of private property and you're trespassing on their turf.

[skippertoo]

Great Pics... Thanks Kurt. Sure looks like the beach is getting better !

[Sunny Daze]

I was totally amazed at the construction going on! And the clear cutting was so sad. One minute I was telling my husband how people just keep walking on the dunes, and the next minute we drive by construction and there are NO dunes. I just don't understand with all of the places for sell, why people keep wanting bigger/better than what is offered.

Although I enjoyed our condo and the area we stayed in, in retrospect, it seems sad to think about what WAS there before the buildings were built.

When we went to Grayton State Park, hubby said, "Now this is how the entire area should look!"

And he was right... :; sigh :: :idontno:

[Johnrudy]

I was totally amazed at the construction going on! And the clear cutting was so sad. One minute I was telling my husband how people just keep walking on the dunes, and the next minute we drive by construction and there are NO dunes. I just don't understand with all of the places for sell, why people keep wanting bigger/better than what is offered.

Although I enjoyed our condo and the area we stayed in, in retrospect, it seems sad to think about what WAS there before the buildings were built.

When we went to Grayton State Park, hubby said, "Now this is how the entire area should look!"

And he was right... :; sigh :: :idontno:
And that IS how it used to look 35 years ago when I was a kid.

[florida girl]

When I moved from Grayton Beach to Santa Rosa Beach in the 60's, there were about 300 people here. What I fail to understand is if you don't like the vegetation removed, how do you think they put your house in? If you feel that strongly, then why don't you sell, and free up your house to allow someone else to live there, so they won't have to cut anything else to build for all the people who want to live here! The state owns about 22,000 acres in Walton County. This does not include Eglin AFB or the Northwest Florida Water management District holdings. Go to FNAI.org and click on the conservation lands map.

[Mermaid]

When I moved from Grayton Beach to Santa Rosa Beach in the 60's, there were about 300 people here. What I fail to understand is if you don't like the vegetation removed, how do you think they put your house in? If you feel that strongly, then why don't you sell, and free up your house to allow someone else to live there, so they won't have to cut anything else to build for all the people who want to live here! The state owns about 22,000 acres in Walton County. This does not include Eglin AFB or the Northwest Florida Water management District holdings. Go to FNAI.org and click on the conservation lands map.

Florida girl, there's no need to clear cut. Houses can be built without raping the landscape. I know vegetation grows quickly here, but that's absolutely no excuse to remove it when it's not necessary. Some of us like trees. And we want them around our homes both for the aesthetic value--you have to admit they do beautify--and the ecological reasons--the roots hold down excess rainwater and prevent wash off, etc. Trees are important to the earth. You know what they say: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Like, if the tree is there and you don't need to bulldoze it, don't.

Plus, if I wanted to own property that looked like it belongs in the Great Plains, I'd have bought there, not in SoWal.

[Miss Kitty]

Whoa florida girl! What's wrong today? :blink: Hope it passes soon!

[florida girl]

Did you notice the green area in the map? The area that belongs to the state? Very little in South Walton that doesn't! They still have to clear a spot for a house, no matter how small. Especially if they put 10 houses on an acre. When I was a kid, word of mouth was how people knew about it here, it's still that way, just a larger scale. How can people complain, when they keep telling their friends and neighbors back home about South Walton? Did it occur to anyone that they should have kept quiet a long time ago? If it's okay for you to be here, then how are you different from the other people who want to be here? There isn't a lottery for one lucky individual to be able to have a house, the prices keep going up, demand out weighs supply. Fruitless to complain. Eventually, they will use up the available vacant land, and it will end.

[jdarg]

Sometimes new developments aren't so pretty when the developers "leave" the trees. Yes, everything is beautiful when people buy the homes, then in about 4 years or so (sooner if there are drought conditions), the trees start to die. Why? Because developers don't want to go to the extra expense of protecting the trees from damage during the building process. They take away topsoil, drive equipment over root systems, which compacts the soil and damages the root system, and sometimes just repeatedly run into the trees with their heavy equipment, leaving big gauges in the trunks. What a surprise when the trees die!

That happened where we live now and there are very few big old trees left around the houses. We have no topsoil- it all has to be brought in, so rain runs right off the clay before it can really soak in. It is criminal. I wish they had just cut the trees all at their expense instead of us having to watch them die a slow death AND pay for their removal. Last fall, a huge dead limb fell from my neighbor's dead tree into our yard, and when it hit the ground, a big chunk broke off and crashed through my son's window - he was standing right inside this window at the time and the blinds kept the flying glass from slicng up his right-out-of-the-shower nakey body. Funny story now, and I'll save the rest of the story of his world record "streak" for another day. A month before this incident, an entire tree from the same neighbor's yard fell into our yard on a sunny windless day. Dead as a doornail. New neighbors have cut down all the remaining dead trees thank God.

I know now there are developments that are requiring the builders to restrict heavy equipment access around the trees and some other measures that I can't recall - but all designed to save the trees from the scenario described above. Cheap developers will just clear cut instead of go to the trouble (and it is trouble) to preserve vegetation in a way that allows it to live beyond the clsoing date on the property. Maybe some of y'all have more info on this- would like to hear it!

[whitesands]

Thanks Kurt...you gave a good overview of the good, bad and the ugly on 30-A. Luckily, most of it is good.

After our return from the emerald coast this year, and upon reflection, I can see the concern people have for the construction. I guess you'd say most of it is good...it is a gorgeous place and most anyone would want to live there (ok, 'cept for the hurricanes), but we were taken by surprise by the amount of construction over the year since we'd last been (1 year ago). I guess, "the good, bad and ugly" 'bout sums it up. We're not owners, so we don't have the vested interest, but we still love the place.

[gotothebeachmom]

Ah I get it! Something about you must be prominent to be allowed in. I guess it's the purple hair for Miss Kitty! :roll:

I will need to think of something prominent for me so I can come visit you. If I keep eating the pumpkin pie (just had some for breakfast-yum!), my butt will be so prominent that they will give me a house!

It's the circus thing for you gull friend! ;-)

[SGB]

I know now there are developments that are requiring the builders to restrict heavy equipment access around the trees and some other measures that I can't recall - but all designed to save the trees from the scenario described above. Cheap developers will just clear cut instead of go to the trouble (and it is trouble) to preserve vegetation in a way that allows it to live beyond the clsoing date on the property. Maybe some of y'all have more info on this- would like to hear it!

It breaks my heart when I see the clear cutting going on everywhere I turn. I know next to nothing about what trees need to live, but it is possible to build houses, keep trees and have them continue to live. There is evidence in many places in the area. Old Seagrove has 50x100 foot lots, yet there are plenty of beautiful trees. Fishers Landing off Mack Bayou has a tree lined street and native vegetation in all the yards. The overall affect is much different than the Adams homes development across the street where all the trees were torn down. Preserving trees and vegetation and development can happen in harmony if people care.

[iwishiwasthere]

I was totally amazed at the construction going on! And the clear cutting was so sad. One minute I was telling my husband how people just keep walking on the dunes, and the next minute we drive by construction and there are NO dunes. I just don't understand with all of the places for sell, why people keep wanting bigger/better than what is offered.

Although I enjoyed our condo and the area we stayed in, in retrospect, it seems sad to think about what WAS there before the buildings were built.

When we went to Grayton State Park, hubby said, "Now this is how the entire area should look!"

And he was right... :; sigh :: :idontno:


We stayed there last weekend, and it was wonderful. The beach was in really simple, but a feeling of old Florida. I had the best of both worlds since it was close to Seaside/Watercolor and Grayton Beach. Loved the walks on the lesser develped areas. I may survivie till the next trip. :D The only issue was no one in my group would go canoeing...too afraid of being in chilly water.