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Shannon Lince

Beach Lover
Sep 9, 2018
103
97
Florida
I think we have developed WAAAAY past first tier off 30A. :lolabove:Try 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, development between 98 and the Bay, north of the Bay through Freeport- so many new houses and multi-family housing. We enjoyed CU forever here, and just because there are more people here is not an excuse do away with CU. If anything, we need to be able to customarily USE all beaches that can be ACCESSED by the public- and that is all 26 miles of beach.

As far as I know, CU has yet to be established - that's what the county has been trying to implement for a few years now right? No one actually knows what actually flipping all private beaches into public beaches will result, but it's not a stretch to be concerned about what the density will be once this occurs.

Walton county just can't keep flipping single family homes into 20 person rentals and just keep creating more density and at the same time believe that the area will remain tolerable for full-time residents.

Watch what you wish for.

Shannon
 

Kaydence

Beach Fanatic
Jan 19, 2017
1,415
1,124
Florida
Grace, you are entirely correct to ask these questions. Unfortunately, Walton county is blinded to what's really behind all of this --- increasing density of short-term rentals and flipping residential areas into tourist zones.

Unfortunately for Walton county's future - the local leaders and the passionate locals are like sheep asking for directions to the slaughter house. They haven't bothered to even pop their head up on the internet and see what other Florida residential communities are facing with the exponential explosion of renting (what were once) single family homes as short term rentals and flipping residential beach front areas into investor zones.

This is what another community is writing about - they understand what's really happening - the bigger picture.

"The real estate industry is aggressively lobbying the Florida legislators to further curtail the ability of communities to limit the ill-effects on the communities caused by increasing short term rentals.

The long-term effects on neighborhoods and communities can be profound. If you talk to the steadily decreasing residential community in Bradenton Beach, they will tell you they are moving because there is no longer a sense of community, the number of tourists is many times more dense than when their street was inhabited by neighbors, that the traffic and late night noise have become intolerable. The residents are leaving. Too soon, what was once a unique friendly beach town will become only a tourist destination."

Customary use as it is being implemented in Walton county is designed to push out the historical "beach neighborhoods" with full-time residents, which are anchored by their own stretch of beach ... and turn these beaches into a wide open commodity --- the locals doing the real estate industry lobbyists and developers bidding. How many full-time residents are at Seaside?, recent article, 12.

You think ECAR who is strongly behind this and rewriting their listings and denying they ever sold private beach property because they are just "good citizens" and privatization (the new buzz word) is "wrong"? How about Senator Bill Nelson? You really think he's all about "helping Walton county"? Or just old fashioned politics?

The recent photo with the dead sea turtle stuck in a bar stool, is a good example of what is going to uncontrollably hit these beaches once they actually are "opened up" to all new development and the plans are carried out. The rare coastal dune lakes won't be the pretty pictures that sowal.com posts - because once the density doubles those areas will be lined with tourists and all they bring with them. Tourist numbers go up sea turtle nests and other wildlife goes down. This isn't hard to understand.

To vote in customary use without demanding a growth plan and preservation plan attached to it is idiotic and irresponsible.

The community just can't seem to connect the dots, and as long as their emotions are whipped up into a civil war, they are distracted and won't even recognize there are long-term strategies being played out on the bigger stages: Real Estate, Politics, Development.

When these self-appointed community leaders voices say they want to make our beaches a "shared resource" we all should be paying very close attention to what those two words really mean. And if anyone thinks this is really about "giving the beaches "back" to the locals --- well that's simply a very naive view of what's actually happening here: Real Estate, Politics, Development.

Other communities in Florida understand what's really behind this. Maybe Walton county will poke it's head out and see what's happening around Florida and finally wake up, maybe it won't.

Signed,
A full-time resident
Shannon Lince


Shannon,

I support CU but...

I agree that the reason the BCC has allowed all this over development is that it is "designed to push out the historical "beach neighborhoods" with full-time residents, which are anchored by their own stretch of beach ... and turn these beaches into a wide open commodity --- the locals doing the real estate industry lobbyists and developers bidding".

Gone are the days of our cozy and quaint community with some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Coming soon to a neighborhood near you are more traffic jams, more rentals, more private homes being sold to turn them into rentals, more development and still no infrastructure in place to handle the demands of more traffic.

Gone will be sea turtle nesting habitat's, destruction of more dunes and all the things we once knew our beaches to be.

It's sad and its heart wrenching to watch but this is what the BCC has bought and paid for by ignoring the LDC and Comprehensive plan and allowing developers, big money and politics to determine their poorly thought out decisions.

I think all of us agree that it will never be again what it once was and its difficult to let go of that. The reality is I don't think we don't have a choice anymore.
 

Lake View Too

SoWal Insider
Nov 16, 2008
6,861
8,295
Eastern Lake
Unless you have something constructive to add to the conversation or debate, I think we are done here.

Shannon

You are just a tad bit defensive about disclosing how long you have been a residence of this community. Why is that? And you more than a tad bit arrogant that you are" adding something constructive to the debate" considering your lack of a long and deep understanding and commitment to this community.
 

EZ4144

Beach Lover
Aug 6, 2005
194
107
You are just a tad bit defensive about disclosing how long you have been a residence of this community. Why is that? And you more than a tad bit arrogant that you are" adding something constructive to the debate" considering your lack of a long and deep understanding and commitment to this community.
See if this pattern holds ... troll...troll...troll..troll...OMG you guys are terrible .... IMA VICTIM! ... silence.
 

FactorFiction

Beach Fanatic
Feb 18, 2016
494
409
A full time resident who only joined SOWAL 3 days ago? Oops, your credibility is showing...

Lake View Too, not everyone hops onto all the social media sites available these days. Even people who have been on here for years tend to come and go in terms of their interaction. It really is ok for people to have differing views. It sure would be helpful if people could get back to being civil and courteous while disagreeing.
 

Shannon Lince

Beach Lover
Sep 9, 2018
103
97
Florida
Shannon,

I support CU but...

I agree that the reason the BCC has allowed all this over development is that it is "designed to push out the historical "beach neighborhoods" with full-time residents, which are anchored by their own stretch of beach ... and turn these beaches into a wide open commodity --- the locals doing the real estate industry lobbyists and developers bidding".

Gone are the days of our cozy and quaint community with some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Coming soon to a neighborhood near you are more traffic jams, more rentals, more private homes being sold to turn them into rentals, more development and still no infrastructure in place to handle the demands of more traffic.

Gone will be sea turtle nesting habitat's, destruction of more dunes and all the things we once knew our beaches to be.

It's sad and its heart wrenching to watch but this is what the BCC has bought and paid for by ignoring the LDC and Comprehensive plan and allowing developers, big money and politics to determine their poorly thought out decisions.

I think all of us agree that it will never be again what it once was and its difficult to let go of that. The reality is I don't think we don't have a choice anymore.

You maybe right, but I don't support anything that would accelerate the demise of these irreplaceable natural resources or residential areas. In my view is customary use or as I call it, customary density will greatly accelerate this result. We may not be able to stop it, but we damn sure shouldn't be encouraging it. The environmental impact of density is undeniable.

Shannon
 

L.C. Bane

Beach Fanatic
Aug 8, 2017
424
257
Santa Rosa Beach
I wonder... does a BFO call the sheriff if their next door BFO neighbor or their guests steps foot on "their beach"?

I wouldn't want to live in a neighborhood like that.

Very possesive and paranoid behavior in my opinion. This is symptomatic of deep seeded personality issues. Very deep issues.
 

JBBeached

Beach Comber
Jun 11, 2008
21
27
@Grace Daniell

Wouldn’t the private property owners be better stewards and provide more protection for our beaches and unique dune lakes with eco systems that exist nowhere else in the world than the overdevelopment that may come with customary use?

Have you seen the piles of garbage and tents and junk on the stretches of private beaches that have called for the stop of all Walton County TDC activities including trash collection? Its disgusting and appalling.

If there are piles of garbage, tents and junk on those private beaches it's not due to the homeowners. The homeowners didn't leave that mess. The people that left it obviously don't care much for our beaches. It all goes back to being a respectful beach goer, leave with what you brought. This is an issue that homeowners have dealt with for years. The county's answer was to have garbage trucks come clean up instead of insisting that people clean up after themselves. We've created an environment of people can do whatever they want on the beach instead of teaching people to be respectful of the beaches and our environment.
 

L.C. Bane

Beach Fanatic
Aug 8, 2017
424
257
Santa Rosa Beach
The area definately lacks code enforcement if people are leaving trash behind. At least now code enforcement can concentrate on those public area commoners that have no respect for the beach.

If we are still cleaning the public beaches every day and 50% of those beaches have beach chair vendors on them and there is still trash left on the beach, wouldn't at least some of that be coming from the 1000 or so bfo's and their guests?

I think someone said we have 3 miles of publc beach minus 50% (for vendors) that leaves the rest of us with 1.5 miles of beach to mess up and clean after. The remaining 20+ miles is being tended to by the ecologically conscience bfo's.

If my numbers are even close to accurate, this should be an easy fix.
 
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