Yzarctoo

kurt

What building is 2109 CR 395?

Yzarctoo

Fire station, I believe.

kurt

Thanks - I have seen the plans from a few years ago. If it is the same, it is for a boardwalk and pavilion behind the Red Bar, in the dunes to the west of the current boardwalk.

ShallowsNole

Important question, especially during soirees: WILL IT HAVE BATHROOMS???

Bring me a bathroom and I might stay longer.

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Miss Kitty

...I am thinking a female sowal soiree attendee is behind this!

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BeachSiO2

Yes, the first meeting is at the WaterColor Fire House in the Publix Parking Lot (hope to see you there).

It's not a pavilion (no roof), and no bathrooms (flood zone VE, Coastal Construction Control Line issues, etc.). It is an ADA accessible, octagonal sitting area at the end of a boardwalk so that you can see Western lake and the Gulf.

As for Kurt's comments, it is very similar to the plans that were shown a few years ago.

ShallowsNole

Aw dam. That bites...

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Amy@Avalon

I am not against an additional amenity for viewing the beach/lake, but what about the extra load this will add to an already terrible parking problem? All blame for the problem aside (another thread), this issue needs to be resolved for the good of all . Cars are a neccessary evil, especially when handicapped folks are concerned.

wrobert

So they can build a house or commercial building but not a public bathroom? Ridiculous. About as ridiculous as the money spent on the Miramar access and only two spray heads for people to rinse off. Talk about great planning. Let us get hundreds of people together and see how long we can get them to stand in line to wait on the showers.

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ShallowsNole

Better than hundreds of people waiting on the bathroom. Most people, if forced to, can wait until they get home to rinse off. Not so with the other activity.

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totally

There was a grant for the property that was funded by the Florida Trust for Public Land which had stipulations on it and I believe all they can do is build a boardwalk and observation deck.

wrobert

Not all of that property in the area was owned by the Florida Trust for Public Land and they have unrestricted reserves that could be used, that is why they are called unrestricted. $6 million comes to mind, but I am sure someone can offer the correct number. If they were truly interested there are plenty of locations in that area that could have been purchased for far less and turned into a public facility. Just a matter of priorities. They want to save the turtles and let people pee on the beach and in the gulf, cause we all know not everyone is going home to do their business.

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jensieblue

Recently saw a reference to a proposal for a handicap accessible beach pavillion in Grayton that was descibed as planned to be built behind Red Bar. I was so glad. Can anyone tell me anymore? ie., where is it in the process?

kurt

It is still in preliminary stage. Hopefully someone will fill us in on the meeting tonight. I was not able to make it.

BeachSiO2

You can still come tomorrow morning, 8:30 am at the TDC Conference Room...

It was well attended compared to typical beach access public meeting standards. County Commissioner C. Jones and an aide were in attendance to hear first hand what residents thought which was GRAYT. There were definitely some Sowallers in attendance with good input. I hope they will chime in and say how they think it went. I have typed my opinion three times and keep deleting it so I will just say how much I appreciated seeing some old friends and their input was good to hear.

Grayton Girl

I was at the meeting yesterday, and actually Kurt, this project is NOT just in the planning stages. This was a project that was put forward back in 2002 or 2003 (I think) and then it was put on the back burner because of various hurricanes and other beach issues. It is back in front of us now and is ready to be built.

The background for this project is that the county was able to get a grant from the Florida Communities Trust to purchase a piece of beach-front property in Grayton that essentially made the entire beach frontage publicly owned (most owned by the State with this long narrow lot owned by the County). The lot was the last sliver of privately-owned property on the Grayton beach-front and it is something like 40 ft wide across the beach and 450 ft. long (long and skinny). As explained to us yesterday, in order to get the grant to purchase the property, the County had to agree to use the property for some “recreational” purpose (and the general passive uses that it affords today does not satisfy the grant).

In order to satisfy the criteria of the purchase, and because there is not really a whole lot you can do on a long narrow piece of property that, coincidentally, happens to be designated beach mouse habitat, the County, through the TDC, decided to construct a “handicapped” walkway/boardwalk that leads to a small, uncovered deck. The deck would be located about 400 feet from the water’s edge. The idea is that people in wheelchairs can park at the one handicapped parking space at the end of Garfield Street, wheel along the boardwalk, and get to this deck to “have a view” of both the Western Lake outlet and the Gulf of Mexico. The boardwalk and deck would be located within 100 feet to the west of the current boardwalk that leads down to the beach at Grayton. There will be no way to access the beach from the deck or the boardwalk leading to it. It just sits in the middle of the sandy dune area that is south of the Red Bar.

Sadly, this seems to be another one of those pointless projects that will not end up serving the population that it is being built for. The general consensus at the meeting yesterday was that it is a shame to build this project on sensitive beach just because “we have to do something to justify getting the grant.” I would bet that “0” handicapped people would opt to wheel out to the middle of nowhere for a view of the Gulf when that same view can be seen from the handicap parking space that they would have to use and a better view could be had by just wheeling down to the end of the boardwalk that currently exists in the same area. I hate to say it, but it is almost an insult to the handicapped folks for us to think that they would be happy about this.

Instead, I can see this deck as being a “holding area” for those folks who are waiting for their table at one of Grayton’s restaurants. Or, it could be a great place for underage people to gather and drink late at night in relative privacy. But I would be surprised to see anyone in a wheelchair opting to use this deck for viewing.

While we recognized that the TDC’s heart is in the right place and that they feel that they had to do SOMETHING to satisfy the conditions of the grant money, the community members at the meeting felt that if, indeed, the members of Florida Communities Trust actually came out and viewed the property and reviewed the plan, they would just shake their collective heads in dismay. When asked if the proposed structure HAD to be located on the actual property that was purchased, the answer was “yes.” However, when questioned further, the promoters of the project stated that they had not really tried to talk to the Florida Communities Trust folks to see if the project could, perhaps, be constructed in the same general vicinity in order to satisfy the grant. Some of the ideas at the meeting: Perhaps the current boardwalk could be improved to provide better access for handicapped folks, and maybe even a platform viewing deck could be built at the end or along the way. Perhaps there would be some way to have available at the access one of those large-wheeled wheelchairs so that handicapped folks could actually get onto the beach near the edge of the water. Etc….

The head of the TDC, Sonny Mares, was at the meeting, as well as Commissioner Cecilia Jones. Both agreed that we should definitely talk with the Florida Communities Trust folks to see if they would be amenable to allowing the County to make improvements for “recreation” in some other way other than the proposed boardwalk/deck. That was very encouraging, indeed.

So…. that is where it was left as of yesterday afternoon. We have all seen projects that have come to fruition because, well, “we have the $ and we have to do something, or we lose out on it.” But in this instance, I am hoping that the goals of the Florida Communities Trust and the goals of the County can be re-aligned to allow for a project that will be meaningful instead of pointless.

Thanks for hearing me out. I am hopeful that there will be a positive resolution to this proposed project.

Smiling JOe

underage people will drink wherever they are, and this particular place would not offer anything more than other places where they could drink.

From what I hear, it sounds like last night's meeting was very productive and that the TDC came away with valuable citizen input, though only from a relatively small group. It sounds like the group proposed the idea of making the "recreational opportunity" at the area closer to the existing boardwalk and shower area, an idea which sounds much better regarding the precious dunes remaining in Grayton. However, it is unknown whether or not this will be enough to satisfy the Florida Communities Trust requirements, since it would be on an adjacent property, not the one which Walton County purchased.

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Miss Kitty

Boardwalk to Nowhere?

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The mind is like a parachute, it works best when it is open.

jensieblue

For me the main attraction of a proposed handicapp accessible beach pavillion is the handicap accessible function. I am not in a wheel chair but I am on a walker. I would have difficulty covering a great distance to reach a pavillion. I sure hope ya'll can work something out. Handicap accessible takes on a whole new meaning when you loose the ability to navigate as people typically do.

Smiling JOe

Kitty, it isn't a boardwalk to nowhere. It is a board walk to the most beautiful beaches in the world. Think about it like this -- the beaches could be said to end nowhere, but we all want to go right to the edge of nowhere.

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murphrg

So what happens when another "Opal" comes along and washes the pavillion up into the houses and businesses of Grayton Beach? Another grant to rebuild? It is a hard job the TDC has trying to preserve the goose laying the golden egg. I just hope they realize that is there job!

Smiling JOe

If another Opal comes along, we will be much more worried about things other than one of hundreds of boardwalks washing up.

I guess the property could have been sold to someone else so it could be an entire house washing up rather than a short boardwalk with observation deck. You need to remember that part of the requirement for the receiving the grant money for the County to purchase it, was to add a "recreational opportunity" to the property, for the public.

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goodwitch58

and unless someone has changed the original plan, it will only be a "pavilion" in the sense that it will be a widened-out boardwalk. The same material and same height as the boardwalk that is there presently on the East side of Garfield.

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BeachSiO2

To clarify a couple of issues:

The grant was given to the County to purchase the land, not build the boardwalk/ADA compliant sitting area. The initial grant package submitted by the County included a requirement to build a recreational amenity.

The boardwalk/sitting area is extremely similar to what was initially proposed with the biggest difference being the requirement by USFWS and Florida FWS to build it 30" above the ground and slight bending of the walkway to avoid sensitive areas. It does have a widened platform area with benches at the end. Additionally, educational signage is to be included along the boardwalk highlighting flora and fauna, coastal dune lakes, flag warning system, etc.

Like Grayton Girl said, based on input from the community at the community meetings, Dist. 5 Commissioners office, the TDC, and others are requesting a meeting with the agency who gave Walton County the grant to discuss not developing anything within the parcel and leaving it in it's pristine state. Then building a similar recreational amentity on the eastern side of the drive-on access where the boardwalks currently are.

Stay tuned!

SWGB

I can already see a wedding planner frantically trying to run people off of this thing right before sunset.

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jensieblue

A frantic wedding planner trying to herd a group of folks in wheelchairs and on walkers. We don't heard well or quickly and have a tendency to either fall or get our wheelchair wheels misaligned. I don't know. I frequently have difficulty exiting the elevator in my physicians building and have been known to require the assistance of several medical personel. You don't think she would use a cattle prod do you?

totally

If I remember correctly, it was questionable if a house could be built there at all.

SWGB

No, I just meant commandeering it as an alternative to a beach wedding.

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jensieblue

What was the decision regarding erecting a beach pavilion with handicap access at Grayton? Thanks

kurt

A Garfield Street addition for an observation deck and boardwalk was awarded to Floridian Construction of Walton County for $58,000.