Big dreams for a Navarre Beach Boardwalk and a new area welcome center ran smack dab into reality July 21 as county commissioners decided using a beachside venue as a location to greet tourists was not an efficient use of tax dollars.
STOA Architects has been working with county engineering staff and Tourist Development Council President Julie White to design a location just east of the Navarre Beach Pier to enhance the beach visitor experience.
Lead spokesman Cesar Reyes told commissioners it is hoped the nearly 28,000-square-foot boardwalk his firm is designing will promote not just Navarre Beach, but all of Santa Rosa County.
“Hopefully this will be something unique to the beach itself and to the county,” he said.
The design plan made public at the Monday Committee of the Whole meeting showcased a structure that focused on open air access with an elevated walkway to the Gulf.
As conceived it would feature space for seven or eight vendors within the main complex and provide parking for up to eight food trucks. Plans call for an open air pavilion large enough to work as a gathering space for up to 200 or serve simply as a shaded respite for beachgoers.
The architects even went so far as to look into the feasibility of a three level parking garage and discuss the possibility of putting a restaurant at the top of the garage to look out over the Gulf of Mexico, which has been renamed by the U.S. government as Gulf of America.
It was the 8,000-square-foot “interpretive education center” that would house TDC office space that came under fire from the commission.
Billed as being designed to “engage both tourists and locals” while serving as a central hub for community events and educational programs, the architects said the educational center could house interactive kiosks that highlight what Santa Rosa County has to offer outside the beach. It would also provide space for public lectures, workshops and other community focused learning opportunities.
Commissioner Colten Wright was the first to speak out against the idea of putting office space on the boardwalk.
“I don’t know how that is the best use of space and dollars,” Wright said. “Having offices on the Gulf front is not the best utilization of valuable real estate.”
Wright said he might be amenable to giving limited space to an educational center and a small area to share tourist-related information.
Commission Chairman Kerry Smith said he would like to see a boardwalk facility that maximizes retail space and encourages local companies to set up shop. He suggested the county leave its welcome center at the location where it is now on U.S. Highway 98 just west of the entrance to the Navarre Beach Causeway Bridge.
He said with no plans to do anything to replace and widen the bridge on the horizon, it might be best to keep welcome center traffic off Navarre Beach “so they don’t need to go over the bridge if they don’t have to.”
Commissioner Ray Eddington whose District 4 encompasses Navarre and Navarre Beach, said it was at his suggestion that architects designed new TDC offices into the boardwalk plan.
“I’m the one that wanted to move that (TDC offices),” Eddington said. “The reason is I want to use the old space to have meetings for Navarre.”
He said he would be willing to go along with fellow commissioners’ idea about eliminating or minimizing the TDC presence at a new boardwalk.
Commissioners did state support for above ground parking to be built north of the boardwalk site, even at the cost estimated at between $30,000 of $40,000 per space to construct. Engineer David Tiller reported that while work is being done now to build a 270-space parking lot, the above ground lot would expand parking access to 578 vehicles.
Tamara Fountain, who manages the Navarre Beach Pier, stood to criticize the commission’s failure to properly plan for development on the barrier island.
“We have no solution for parking or a bridge, we need a comprehensive plan,” Fountain said. “Parking is a problem on the beach. We’re underwater, parking is atrocious.”
Deputy County Administrator Jared Lowe said the commissioner’s clear direction on maximizing retail space in the interior of the boardwalk will be taken into account and STAO Architects will rework its concept.
“It’s pretty clear commissioners want to change the scope of the project. Staff will be holding one on one meetings with the commissioners and find out what they see as a way forward,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Ample parking, new shops and food trucks envisioned in Navarre Beach Boardwalk plan
Reporting by Tom McLaughlin, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
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