Destin Council approves school expansion, Crystal Beach parking and $2M FDOT grant

Threadgill Park

The Destin City Council on Monday declined to take action on a proposed parking lot development at Threadgill Park after learning the project could take years to complete and cost significantly more than expected.

City Manager Larry Jones presented the report, which detailed the estimated expenses and environmental challenges associated with creating 30 parking spaces in the right-of-way near Calhoun Avenue and Hickory Street.

Jones said the surface work alone would cost about $200,000, but the presence of delineated wetlands would trigger additional environmental assessments and permitting. A Phase 1 environmental study would add roughly $5,000, while a Phase 2 study could cost between $20,000 and $50,000, depending on the extent of the findings.

The site also includes a stormwater conveyance structure that would need redesign or reconfiguration, estimated at another $40,000 to $50,000. Jones warned that obtaining an Army Corps of Engineers permit for wetland mitigation could take two years or longer and cost between $200,000 and $300,000, due to the absence of a mitigation bank in the watershed.

“All in, these spots would probably be somewhere between $15,000 to $20,000 each and two to three years out,” Jones told the council. “That was the report we were asked to bring back tonight.”

Mayor Pro Tem Destin said the update confirmed that pursuing the right-of-way project was not feasible and moved to take no action. Jones clarified that no motion was required, as doing nothing would leave the matter at “status quo.”

Charter Review Committee

The Destin City Council on Monday debated whether to form a new Charter Review Committee to evaluate potential updates to the city’s governing document, which has seen few changes in recent decades.

Councilmember Kevin Schmidt introduced the proposal, stating that the city’s charter, which outlines how Destin’s government operates, has not undergone a comprehensive review in nearly 20 years. The last change occurred five years ago, according to the city’s attorney.

“I think it would be beneficial to have an opportunity to look at ways to update it, maybe make some tweaks,” Schmidt said. “We do [Land Development Code] rewrites, we do comp plan updates, it just makes sense to take a look at our charter.”

Schmidt noted that Fort Walton Beach recently completed a similar process and suggested using its resolution as a model. He proposed having the city attorney draft a resolution for the council to consider at its next meeting. The proposal would outline how members are appointed, eligibility requirements, and a six-month timeline for the committee to bring recommendations back to the council.

City Manager Larry Jones provided historical context, noting that the last significant change occurred roughly 20 years ago, when the mayor was granted authority to vote in tie situations.

Councilwoman Trammell proposed an alternative approach, suggesting that the city’s existing advisory committees review the charter from their respective perspectives rather than forming a new body.

“Many of them haven’t even read the charter,” Trammell said. “You could have them looking at it from the angle of the committees they’re on. That way, we wouldn’t be trying to find seven new people or having staff attend another set of meetings.”

Schmidt disagreed, saying a dedicated group would be more focused and efficient.

“I really feel like it should be individualized — people specifically looking at this one task,” he said. “Our committees are already overworked or missing meetings.”

Jones cautioned against forming a new committee, saying such groups can drift from council intent and that any charter amendment can already be placed on the ballot by a majority council vote.

“Don’t fix something that’s not broken,” Jones said. “We have the ability and the opportunity to change the charter anytime we want when a majority of the council thinks it’s appropriate.”

No final action was taken.

Annual Environmental Report

Water quality across much of Destin’s bay waters remains strong, with most sampling sites meeting state standards for nutrients and chlorophyll, according to an update from the Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance (CBA) presented Monday night to the Destin City Council.

Kayla Wingard, CBA’s Monitoring Program Manager, outlined the results of the city’s partnership with the alliance through the EPA’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program, which focuses on reducing pollutants entering local waterways.

Wingard said six monitoring stations in and around Destin, including Joe’s Bayou, Indian Bayou, and Destin Harbor, were tested monthly for phosphorus, nitrogen, and chlorophyll levels.

“Everything that is in the City of Destin in the harbor for total phosphorus, nitrogen and chlorophyll did not, on average, surpass the state criteria,” Wingard said. “That’s all good news.”

Only one monitoring site in Indian Bayou exceeded the state’s chlorophyll limit for 2024. Wingard noted that elevated readings had been detected in nearby Kell-Aire Lake, which the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has tracked for blue-green algae.

CBA also recognized the City of Destin as a “Friend of the Watershed” for its ongoing support of restoration, monitoring, and education programs.

Wingard highlighted CBA’s “Grasses in Classes” program, which engaged nearly 200 fifth-grade students from Destin Middle School in growing salt marsh grasses for shoreline restoration. The group also works with local clubs and schools on environmental education, organizes community cleanups, and operates monofilament and oyster shell recycling programs.

In the past year, CBA helped divert 90 tons of oyster shells from landfills for use in restoration projects and collected 25 miles of fishing line from recycling bins at Destin’s harbors and boat ramps.

Mayor Pro Tem Dewey Destin praised the alliance’s efforts, recalling that “there was a time when nobody was taking care of the bay.”

“You all have made a tremendous difference in the quality of the bay,” Destin said. “When the oyster beds were thick, Choctawhatchee Bay was very clean. The amount of water that a single oyster filters every day is astounding.”