The Walton County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) was prepared this week to make a decision on the future direction for the public beach access at Eastern Lake in South Walton. As recently reported by Mid Bay News, this topic was highly contested by residents of Eastern Lake, and many raised specific concerns about pending County development near and on the coastal dune, which shares a natural ecosystem with the Gulf. Residents of Eastern Lake voiced concerns and opposition to a proposed regional beach access that could affect the lake. To the delight of many residents in attendance, the BCC came ready to support the protection and conservation of Eastern Lake.
The Chairman of the BCC, Brad Drake (District 3), made a motion that he believed would be readily acceptable to everyone in attendance saying, “The Chair would entertain a motion to lay the item on the table and leave [it] pending indefinitely – meaning there would be no action [or pursuit to move forward with the regional beach access] meaning there would be no action [but] if another board [BCC} would like to pursue this [a change] in the future, they could.” Drake then asked, “Is there a motion?” The motion was made by Commissioner Danny Glidewell (District 2) and seconded by Commissioner Donna Johns (District 4).
With an expeditious posture, the Chairman invited public comment, then asked whether anyone opposed the project, and asked those in opposition to raise their hands. Almost everyone’s hand in the audience was raised. Drake then indicated that there were “no persons here [in the BCC Conference Room] to speak in favor of it.” He added, “Everyone is in agreement. The motion on the floor is to abandon the project or to be pending.”
Dan Curry offered a comment on the motion and expressed his preference for the motion to be approved or denied regarding the regional beach access. He added, “I’m ready to deny.”
The conversation continued with concern by Commissioner Curry that if the Regional Beach Access is defeated, he would like for there to be no possibility for the subject to be considered again. His preference was to put the possibility of a public beach access at Eastern Lake to a close – forever.
The Commissioners voted with a 4 to 1 vote. Commissioner Curry, who voted in opposition to the proposed motion, said that, “For the record, my ‘nay’ was to deny anything on Eastern Lake.” With that remark, the residents applauded.
Vending – Another “no-go” for Eastern Lake.
Commissioner Glidewell then made a motion regarding vending on Eastern Lake. He said, “I would like to make a motion that we permanently deny or permanently prohibit vending on the Eastern Lake property.” The motion was seconded by Commissioner Johns. The vote was unanimous for prohibiting vendors on Eastern Lake.
Commissioner Drake concluded the Eastern Lake decision, saying, “The net effect…is that the Eastern Lake project will not be pursued in perpetuity unless another board [BCC] decides to bring it up. We took that [Eastern Lake regional beach access] off, we laid that on the table, and that will not come back unless someone else brings it back up.”
Resident of Eastern Lake, Nina Horn, spoke following the BCC vote and expressed her gratitude for the decision they made. She said, “I know this was not easy, but we did pray that y’all would do exactly what your preamble [referring to the motto of Walton County] says up there with ‘Pride, Preservation, and Conservation’ to save our coastal dune lakes to the utmost that you possibly can. We don’t have an entity at the state level. We have to trust in you, our Board of County Commissioners, to protect our coastal dune lakes.”
South Walton resident Barbara Morano also offered kudos to the BCC on their decision. She offered a quote by American historian and author Heather Cox Richardson. Morano said to the Commissioners, “Tomorrow is still wet cement waiting for our fingerprints.” “And,” Morano added, “You [Commissioners] put your fingerprints on the future today, and I don’t think any of us will ever forget that.”
County Attorney Clay Adkinson addressed the concern that future Walton County Commissioners could change the vote and overturn the BCC’s decision today. Adkinson said, “A future board can change the action, whether it’s by super majority or otherwise, but I guess the question is, right now, you have a motion that has been made that is going to require a future board in a duly noticed public meeting to take a different course of action to allow vending on that property. At this point in time, the entire Eastern Lake regional beach access project has been laid on the table, so unless it comes up in your next board [BCC] meeting, it dies automatically.”
Commissioner Curry pressed for the possibility of a super majority vote being required to make a change to the decision made on Eastern Lake. After a brief discussion, the County Attorney indicated that he would return in a future meeting with a proposal that would support the creation of a required super majority vote to make a change to the decision made for Eastern Lake.
Pro Communi Bono
St. Francis De Sales, Ora Pro Nobis!
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