Folks around South Walton are weary of seeing our celebrated dune lakes manipulated for private gain, such as dredging outfalls for homeowners...let's hope the dune lakes advisory board considers the following when discussing this issue:
--by all accounts the rise in the level of Camp Creek Lake (and for that matter all the dune lakes other than perhaps Oyster) is a completely natural event--hurricanes built sand up on the beach, and rainfall caused the lake level to rise;
--the Camp Creek lake outfall is pretty much untouched--it's in a conservation easement, containing critical habitat for nesting shorebirds and beach mice; St. Joe has done a nice job of posting and protecting the area and letting nature do its thing without interference;
--obtaining a permit to dredge such a nearly pristine area would be very difficult, and it should be;
--flooding of docks is not justification for any action; docks are privately-built recreational structures that are not open to the public even though they are built on public property; owners of docks must know that putting a dock on a lake that rises and falls is a risky venture; take a look at the smart dock owners who built floating docks and are thus unaffected by the rising lake waters;
--it's only one small stretch of homes on Camp Creek Lake--A-frame wooden homes next to bridge--that has water near them, though it's not in imminent danger of entering the homes; the rest of the homes on the lake were wisely built up and out of the way of the lake;
--this small stretch of homes could likely be floodproofed with a retaining wall built around the east side of the homes between the lake and the homes, which would prevent rising lake levels from touching the homes and would for all practical purposes be a permanent solution, so there would never again be any talk of dredging; permitting agencies would likely consider this a better alternative to dredging through valuable habitat at the lake outfall;
--the cost of any actions taken to minimize flood danger to these homes should be borne by the property owners, not the public; owners knowingly bought homes built in a risky, waterfront area; County taxpayers are increasingly weary of paying for dredging of dune lakes that benefits a very small number of property owners, such as the many thousands of taxpayer dollars spent on permitting and repeatedly dredging the outfall at Eastern Lake to benefit one or few lakefront owners
--Nobody wants homes on Camp Creek Lake to flood, and it's great to be able to have a good discussion on this before the dune lakes board, but any action taken should avoid environmental impacts as much as possible and should be paid for by property owners, not taxpayers
