WALTON COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) — Changes are coming to Walton County beaches. A settlement has been reached between the county and private beach owners regarding customary use.
The end result is keeping a majority of the beach private.
“We’ve settled some. We are still under litigation with a few and other than that we really don’t have any comment,” said Danny Glidewell, Walton County Board chairman.
Walton County has 26 miles of beachfront property and only 8 miles of that is owned by the county or the state for the general public. Now in the settlement posted below, a transitory lane the public can use on private property.
The transitory zone is 20 feet from the wet sand towards the homes. The zone can be used for walking, jogging or running, swimming and surfing, or sunbathing, as long as you don’t use umbrellas or tents.
Private property owners have permission to kick people out of the transitory zone if there is more than one person every 5 feet of beach, as well as if they are disturbing any beachgoers at their discretion.
Many residents at the July 27 meeting spoke out on the county reaching a settlement.
“It’s sad, it’s just sad to see what you have allowed to happen to our county,” said Shari Clark, Seagrove resident.
“Did we give up too soon? Have we arrived at this settlement without doing everything we possibly can?” asked Jenny Dargavell, Walton County resident.
Chairman Glidewell said the public will see updates regarding the new customary use rules from the tourism development council.
“The TDC is going to be putting out a public information packet soon and they’re the ones who will be coordinating the response,” said Glidewell.
For more information, call Christina Meinen at 850.974.9704 or Andy Meinen at 850.419.4777. Andy and Christina are Realtors, who specialize in listing and selling real estate along 30A, Destin and Sandestin, as well as Seacrest Beach, Rosemary Beach, Alys Beach, WaterColor and WaterSound.
