Beach Clubs

[BPickelTDC]

2005 to 2007 = 2 years. As for spouting inaccurate info about the beach I don't believe I've been inaccurate. Maybe a little to sarcastic. The County and DEP have all been negligent in regards to the beach. They've allowed unpermitted/permitted structures to be built on Public lands -FACT. They've allowed inferior quality sand to be dumped onto the beach- FACT. TDC allows trash(umbrellas,chairs,kayaks etc.) to be left under/near beachwalkovers for an inordinate amount of time-FACT.
I may be wrong about the closing of the access in Seagrove... Sorry. But I just heard Naturewalk has asked to expand it(West of the Villas) to allow for a max of 2500 users during the high season. Am I wrong? I say who ever approves that must be High! Because the access proposed is private for condo owners...FACT.
There's a meeting scheduled I think at 1:30pm at the S. Walton Annex. concerning Naturewalk's proposed(is it approved or not?) Beachclub. All 30a needs to be concerned about such developers who want to buy up a beachfront lot so hundreds of private owners can have private access. Anyone else see Pandora's Box opening.
And Brad if the beach access just east of the Villas is what you meant by 2 accesses then I must ay the TDC has done nothing there in 10 years. FACT. I never seen stairs or walkway to the bluff. I do however have some lovely pics of the TUBE that was installed beneath it.... on Public Beach...FACT.
Or am I just spouting false misleading statements?

I'll take the bait. My statements and concerns are very simple. In two occasions, you had an easy opportunity to find out if what you were saying is true, and neither time did you try.

You take a little bit of fact, a little bit of falsehood, and a lot of emotion and mix it all together to make your story.

MANY of your points are valid and if you want me to respond to them than that is what I call communicating and is exactly what I have asked you to do. You flippantly say you may be wrong but it's ok because of a littany of other things. I am sorry but I have more respect for honesty than that. There are enough things that are wrong to work on then to spread rumors, lies, or innuendo about other things.

All I ask is the same as before, ask the question before you post. Most people do and I have had the chance to address many problems I never knew existed but were seen by others. It will make your posts more believable because as of now, I wouldn't believe them, but it's up to the rest of the board to decide if they do.

As for 2005 to 2007, my calendar still says 2006 and the access was lost in July 2005 and it will be rebuilt prior to May 2007. Less then 2 years, again another example of a little truth, a little falsehood and some emotion thrown in.

 

[BeachSteelers]

I suppose you'll say I'm lying when Ms. Blackshear ( Hope I got her name right) told me last year it'd be done before last turtle season?
2 months less than 2 years again I'm sorry I guess I'm wrong again. It was the one of last ones rebuilt after Ivan and is on pace to be last again. I wonder Is it because it doesn't service a big rental community?
I apoligize again for being wrong at least twice beforemaybe more but no apoligies from TDC for taking nearly 2 years to get a walkdown place.
I see that Seaside & Watercolor have retractable walkdowns yet it takes the County again nearly 1.5 years for them to approve one? Wouldn't the County have had to approve those too? I understand the TDC is hands are tied by the County concerning the pace
of this walkdown. But how many Tax Dollars were spent on this walkdown project? How can the County claim it costs nearly $50,000 to build a wooden walkdown and yet the costs for a metal retractable one is almost the same? This according to the Walton Sun but maybe their info isn't correct.
How much Tax money will the TDC/County pay to upgrade the access West of the Villas? Which mainly will benefit Naturewalk's Homowners?
Why has the access to the east of the Villas never been developed? Cause some homeowners there have blocked it? Pretty lame answer you had for that. Why just to the east of the Grove's walkdown has a private, not even beachfront owner, been allowed to put up a walkdown on the 20' right of way between the homes there?
Why does the TDC allow people to leave chairs,umbrellas,kayaks and tents to be left under public walkdowns sometimes for over a week? I'll say it again if it isn't in a TDC trash bag then I guess the TDC doesn't considerate it trash. Or am I wrong on that too.
You wanted me to ask questions, so I have.

 

[BPickelTDC]

I suppose you'll say I'm lying when Ms. Blackshear ( Hope I got her name right) told me last year it'd be done before last turtle season?
2 months less than 2 years again I'm sorry I guess I'm wrong again. It was the one of last ones rebuilt after Ivan and is on pace to be last again. I wonder Is it because it doesn't service a big rental community?
I apoligize again for being wrong at least twice beforemaybe more but no apoligies from TDC for taking nearly 2 years to get a walkdown place.
I see that Seaside & Watercolor have retractable walkdowns yet it takes the County again nearly 1.5 years for them to approve one? Wouldn't the County have had to approve those too? I understand the TDC is hands are tied by the County concerning the pace
of this walkdown. But how many Tax Dollars were spent on this walkdown project? How can the County claim it costs nearly $50,000 to build a wooden walkdown and yet the costs for a metal retractable one is almost the same? This according to the Walton Sun but maybe their info isn't correct.
How much Tax money will the TDC/County pay to upgrade the access West of the Villas? Which mainly will benefit Naturewalk's Homowners?
Why has the access to the east of the Villas never been developed? Cause some homeowners there have blocked it? Pretty lame answer you had for that. Why just to the east of the Grove's walkdown has a private, not even beachfront owner, been allowed to put up a walkdown on the 20' right of way between the homes there?
Why does the TDC allow people to leave chairs,umbrellas,kayaks and tents to be left under public walkdowns sometimes for over a week? I'll say it again if it isn't in a TDC trash bag then I guess the TDC doesn't considerate it trash. Or am I wrong on that too.
You wanted me to ask questions, so I have.

Now this is what I call progress:clap_1: :clap_1: :clap_1:

Honest discourse and good questions. I'll start from the top. The TDC has been managing beach accesses for at least 10-15 years, so unfortunately you got bad information but I am glad you checked. I will reinforce with County staff to please not answer questions for which they are not responsible as we don't do that for them and it only causes hard feelings.

It's not that you were wrong about 2 months but your comment said almost 2 years now (go back and check your post). We hope to have it done even before May but it's been less than 18 months right now- little fact, little fiction but at least it got you to ask questions!!!

As for two years for a walkdown, does it matter that we have had to rebuild over 80 since 2004? maybe not since you are one of the unlucky ones caught in the middle. Keep in mind that Greenwood was selected to try a design that was directed by the BCC. A removable/retractable walkover. So hopefully, you won't have this problem again. Keep in mind we can't build during turtle nesting season anyway so that takes 6 months off the table each year.

Our typical Hurricane Dennis boardwalks cost between $350-400 per linear foot, but this is a removable boardwalk that is priced differently. As for WaterColors and Seaside, we have a responsibility to research a structure and present a working idea to the County Commissioners. We looked all around the world to make sure we had a good idea of how it should be done. It no doubt took a while but we hired this company
www.hurricaneaccess.com It should be a VERY good project that does not have to be replaced and I look forward to seeing how well all of the different types work

ONLY TAXES PAID BY OUR VISITORS HAVE GONE TO REBUILD ANY TDC ACCESSES IN WALTON COUNTY SINCE 1986. THERE ARE NO COUNTY TAX DOLLARS SPENT FOR THIS PURPOSE. The access west of the villas is already complete and no changes have been made to upgrade the access. The TDC has been given a number of accesses since 2004 and our inventory has grown by about 20 access points. There were other accesses maintained by other County departments that are now all being handled by us. So to your specific question I will ask one, do you see it as a good investment to develop an access located 450 feet to the west of an existing access location (as I discussed Greenwood is being rebuilt prior to May), and 320 feet east of Gardenia Street? That means there are already two walkovers about 770 feet apart. Are you saying we should build another one in between? We typically try to provide accesses within 1,200 feet of each other so since these are so close, it will come after some of the others that we have inherited and are not developed. by the way, I am sorry you had to walk that extra 450 feet from Gardenia Access to Andalusia Access as Andalusia was one of the very first that were replaced after Dennis :roll: ;-)

As for removing items from the beach, you are correct, but for the wrong reasons. We are not a County regulatory agency and thus do not have the ability to enforce the removal of items from the beach, except when marked by Code Enforcement or Beach Activities Coordinator (BAC). We have removed items in the past and had to subsequently pay to replace them, we learned our lesson and now pick up items in or leaning against trash receptacles. This year, we began a program where Leslie Campbell (BAC) would tag the items, and we would remove them. It was working well, but she has quit We are hopeful to continue this process but please let me know if you see somethng out of the ordinary as we will check it out.

Now, I hope after you read all of this you will see why I wanted to start a dialogue with you instead of inaccurate information being spread. From your post, I can tell that you hate to be wrong ;-) so hopefully in the future you will at least send a PM or email as they take just as long as an inaccurate post. If not, I will be glad to follow-up.

Brad

 

[Smiling JOe]

...

As for removing items from the beach, you are correct, but for the wrong reasons. We are not a County regulatory agency and thus do not have the ability to enforce the removal of items from the beach, except when marked by Code Enforcement or Beach Activities Coordinator (BAC). We have removed items in the past and had to subsequently pay to replace them, we learned our lesson and now pick up items in or leaning against trash receptacles. This year, we began a program where Leslie Campbell (BAC) would tag the items, and we would remove them. It was working well, but she has quit We are hopeful to continue this process but please let me know if you see somethng out of the ordinary as we will check it out....

Brad

Give me a stack of those tags, and I will donate my time. :roll:

 

[BPickelTDC]

Give me a stack of those tags, and I will donate my time. :roll:

Sounds great as long as you're willing to pay for the items if people come back around and want them to be replaced. ;-)

Or were you saying you were applying for the BAC position Come on SJoe, make my Holiday Season!!! You can always just lean them against a trash can, we have over 400 along the beach.

 

[Smiling JOe]

Sounds great as long as you're willing to pay for the items if people come back around and want them to be replaced. ;-)

Or were you saying you were applying for the BAC position Come on SJoe, make my Holiday Season!!!

I am not paying for irresponsible people's lack of knowledge of the law. I thought there was a general rule of common knowledge that ignorance of the law is not an excuse. Do we really have to place signs all over the place where any particular law might be violated? I am not applying for the job. I just thought that me issuing tags might save me some leg work of dragging people's crap to the TDC garbage cans.

 

[BPickelTDC]

I am not paying for irresponsible people's lack of knowledge of the law. I thought there was a general rule of common knowledge that ignorance of the law is not an excuse. Do we really have to place signs all over the place where any particular law might be violated? I am not applying for the job. I just thought that me issuing tags might save me some leg work of dragging people's crap to the TDC garbage cans.

Awww man, I was hoping my County recruiting effort would work. Here's an option, email me where they are and I'll call someone in a regulatory position to make the call and it can be off in a flash:clap_1:

 

[Smiling JOe]

Awww man, I was hoping my County recruiting effort would work. Here's an option, email me where they are and I'll call someone in a regulatory position to make the call and it can be off in a flash:clap_1:

Mostly, I see the problem in the season. Go to any beach area not directly in front of the big communities, on any given day in the summer, and you will not have a trailer big enough to haul the cheap plastic away. I am really for reselling this cheap plastic crap as expensive recycled crap in hopes of not filling our landfills with more.

Maybe I should start making the cheap plastic out of vegetable oil which when exposed to the air, would break down into nothing after 3 days.

 

[BPickelTDC]

Mostly, I see the problem in the season. Go to any beach area not directly in front of the big communities, on any given day in the summer, and you will not have a trailer big enough to haul the cheap plastic away. I am really for reselling this cheap plastic crap as expensive recycled crap in hopes of not filling our landfills with more.

I agree reselling would be great, would you take that on for us

We continue to try and identify those items that appear to be abandoned and I agree there are abandoned items. I know this is an issue that Leslie Campbell was going to continue to address until she decided to move back to Alabama (and no she doesn't want the head coaching job -sorry Bama fans had to do it ). I hope that we continue to see an active role taken by whomever the new person is, and we will be asking them too.

 

[BeachSteelers]

Brad I am in favor of adding another walkdown. Especially at that site on West of the Villas. With the added developements occurring in Seagrove(Naturewalk, Watercolor[east of 395],Hammocks and I think one more South of Publics) we need more accesses. And if that Beachclub goes in then definately we could use another. I know DEP hates that idea. But they hate the walls and tubes yet blatently allowed them to be onto Public beach. Parking is however the breaker since we've overbuilt w/o dealing with beach parking. This section of beach will soon be overwhelmed during the high season. Contrary to Naturewalk's "statistics".
If Greenwood is done by May(skeptical) then it'd be 2 months shy of 2 years. But yes it's been 18 months and counting. And maybe it won't have to be replaced ever again. What is the life expentancy for it?
As to tagging items on the beach, great idea. I'd apply but my day rate is assurredly to high for the County.
I never minded the extra walk/bike to Andulsia. But in these 18 months there's not enough bike parking and the amount of beach chairs left above and below are a nuisance.
I know we'll always have ignorant tourists & residents that trash it for the rest of us. It's the American way. But a new sign suggesting to people only Mother Nature is at work here. She won't pick up after you. Or simply leave no trace might suffice. But thanks for the response. I do appreciate it.
Happy Holidays.