I was at the meeting yesterday, and actually Kurt, this project is NOT just in the planning stages. This was a project that was put forward back in 2002 or 2003 (I think) and then it was put on the back burner because of various hurricanes and other beach issues. It is back in front of us now and is ready to be built.
The background for this project is that the county was able to get a grant from the Florida Communities Trust to purchase a piece of beach-front property in Grayton that essentially made the entire beach frontage publicly owned (most owned by the State with this long narrow lot owned by the County). The lot was the last sliver of privately-owned property on the Grayton beach-front and it is something like 40 ft wide across the beach and 450 ft. long (long and skinny). As explained to us yesterday, in order to get the grant to purchase the property, the County had to agree to use the property for some ?recreational? purpose (and the general passive uses that it affords today does not satisfy the grant).
In order to satisfy the criteria of the purchase, and because there is not really a whole lot you can do on a long narrow piece of property that, coincidentally, happens to be designated beach mouse habitat, the County, through the TDC, decided to construct a ?handicapped? walkway/boardwalk that leads to a small, uncovered deck. The deck would be located about 400 feet from the water?s edge. The idea is that people in wheelchairs can park at the one handicapped parking space at the end of Garfield Street, wheel along the boardwalk, and get to this deck to ?have a view? of both the Western Lake outlet and the Gulf of Mexico. The boardwalk and deck would be located within 100 feet to the west of the current boardwalk that leads down to the beach at Grayton. There will be no way to access the beach from the deck or the boardwalk leading to it. It just sits in the middle of the sandy dune area that is south of the Red Bar.
Sadly, this seems to be another one of those pointless projects that will not end up serving the population that it is being built for. The general consensus at the meeting yesterday was that it is a shame to build this project on sensitive beach just because ?we have to do something to justify getting the grant.? I would bet that ?0? handicapped people would opt to wheel out to the middle of nowhere for a view of the Gulf when that same view can be seen from the handicap parking space that they would have to use and a better view could be had by just wheeling down to the end of the boardwalk that currently exists in the same area. I hate to say it, but it is almost an insult to the handicapped folks for us to think that they would be happy about this.
Instead, I can see this deck as being a ?holding area? for those folks who are waiting for their table at one of Grayton?s restaurants. Or, it could be a great place for underage people to gather and drink late at night in relative privacy. But I would be surprised to see anyone in a wheelchair opting to use this deck for viewing.
While we recognized that the TDC?s heart is in the right place and that they feel that they had to do SOMETHING to satisfy the conditions of the grant money, the community members at the meeting felt that if, indeed, the members of Florida Communities Trust actually came out and viewed the property and reviewed the plan, they would just shake their collective heads in dismay. When asked if the proposed structure HAD to be located on the actual property that was purchased, the answer was ?yes.? However, when questioned further, the promoters of the project stated that they had not really tried to talk to the Florida Communities Trust folks to see if the project could, perhaps, be constructed in the same general vicinity in order to satisfy the grant. Some of the ideas at the meeting: Perhaps the current boardwalk could be improved to provide better access for handicapped folks, and maybe even a platform viewing deck could be built at the end or along the way. Perhaps there would be some way to have available at the access one of those large-wheeled wheelchairs so that handicapped folks could actually get onto the beach near the edge of the water. Etc?.
The head of the TDC, Sonny Mares, was at the meeting, as well as Commissioner Cecilia Jones. Both agreed that we should definitely talk with the Florida Communities Trust folks to see if they would be amenable to allowing the County to make improvements for ?recreation? in some other way other than the proposed boardwalk/deck. That was very encouraging, indeed.
So?. that is where it was left as of yesterday afternoon. We have all seen projects that have come to fruition because, well, ?we have the $ and we have to do something, or we lose out on it.? But in this instance, I am hoping that the goals of the Florida Communities Trust and the goals of the County can be re-aligned to allow for a project that will be meaningful instead of pointless.
Thanks for hearing me out. I am hopeful that there will be a positive resolution to this proposed project.