Okaloosa Approves Beach Ordinance: The Amended Law Regulates Vendors, Establishes Corridor for Rescue Crews
By Dusty Ricketts, Northwest Florida Daily News, Fort Walton Beach
Mar. 19–FORT WALTON BEACH — Okaloosa County commissioners adopted new guidelines Tuesday to manage public beaches after a nearly three-hour public hearing.
The revised ordinance focuses on recreational activities at the beach. The two main changes are related to registering and regulating beach vendors and providing corridors for beach safety crews.
“The success of our beaches has driven this. The safety of our beaches has driven this,” said Danielle Slaterpryce, the county’s public works director. “We need to know what vendors are going to be on the beach.”
The revised ordinance requires beach vendors wanting to do business on Okaloosa Island to register with the county and go through a certification process. Condominium owners and other upland properties also must register and will be given a list of approved vendors to use.
Property owners will not be required to contract with a beach vendor unless the county sees the need for one.
Some people at Tuesday’s meeting asked the county to limit the number of beach chairs and umbrellas vendors could place on the beach and where they could be placed. But commissioners decided to let upland property owners decide that.
The ordinance approved Tuesday included some changes that were not in the original proposal.
The ordinance originally proposed a 25-footwide safety corridor near the dune line that would run from El Matador condominiums at the western end of Okaloosa Island east to Beasley Park. Additional lanes would branch off to the Gulf of Mexico.
The lanes are designed to give the beach safety crews easy access to the beach and water.
Mike Minich, a Fort Walton Beach city councilman and chairman of the county’s Tourist Development Council, said the corridors to the gulf were not needed because beach vendors and beach-goers will open corridors to let the safety crews through when they are needed. Dino Villani, Okaloosa’s public safety director, agreed.
Commissioners eliminated those corridors.
Other changes included changing the wording to clarify that condominiums and hotels along the beach would not be charged a fee when they register with the county.
Regulations concerning kayaks and boats on the beach and early morning or late evening surf fishing were left unchanged.
Daily News Staff Writer Dusty Ricketts can be reached at 863-1111, Ext. 1448.
—–
To see more of the Northwest Florida Daily News or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.nwfdailynews.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, Northwest Florida Daily News, Fort Walton Beach
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.