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