- November 17, 2024
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Flagler County might add a beach access walkover about three-quarters of a mile south of Varn Park, but a lack of parking and a price tag that could be as high as $300,000 have commissioners concerned.
“I know darn well that that dune walkover should not be in the $300,000 range,” Commission Chairman Frank Meeker said in a March 2 workshop after a presentation on the proposal prepared by county staff.
Commissioner McLaughlin wasn’t impressed, either.
“I’m not thrilled with a $300,000 price tag for a dune walkover,” he said. “I mean, that’s insane.”
County Administrator Craig Coffey said that if anything, the cost estimate was probably high.
Commissioner Barbara Revels asked why the walkover would require pole lamps — those alone are predicted to cost $54,174 — and assistant county engineer Richard Gordon replied that it’s required to comply with Florida Department of Transportation requirements.
The problem is partly one of the county’s making: A previous commission allowed the sale of a parcel that had an old cut-through that let people in the surrounding homes walk onto the nearby public beach.
“Apparently there was an historical cut-through of the dunes and the lot … that people on this side of A1A used to enjoy,” Coffey said at the workshop. “And more recently, in the last year apparently, a house was built there.”
The county, he said, “gave up, probably, some good stuff” when it lost that parcel.
Revels asked if the county could just add a dune walkover and not do anything with the A1A right of way, to save money.
“I would not recommend that, because we are the government and we are building something new, and it’s an attractant,” Coffey said. “And if we don’t do things right, we open ourselves up to all kinds of stuff.”
McLaughlin noted that the proposal includes no parking, and said that without it, the site would likely only be used by people who live in the houses right around it. Three hundred thousand dollars, he said, is a steep price tag for a project that would benefit just a handful.
Most the homes on the east side of A1A in the immediate vicinity of the proposed crossover have private boardwalks out to the beach. The homes on the west side have Intracoastal access, but not beach access.
“I know we’ve got to have these, but it just seems we ought to have at least six parking spaces somewhere around here,” McLaughlin said.
Coffey said cyclists could use it; Commissioner Charlie Ericksen, an avid cyclist, noted that it was so close to the more developed Varn Park that most cyclists would probably just stop there instead.
Revels asked Coffey why the money for the proposed project would come from the beach renourishment fund. Coffey said the county had used beach renourishment money for walkovers before. Revels said that those had been “normal crossovers,” not $300,000 ones.
Coffey said the project could cost less if it’s not made ADA-accessible — and it wouldn’t necessarily be legally required to be, as long as there are other dune walkovers that are — but Hanns said that if the county doesn’t made it ADA-accessible, “If one resident who lives in that area is handicapped, and they don’t have accessibility, you’re going to hear about it.”
McLaughlin said that the proposal, without parking, was “completely inaccessible to the county at large.”
The commission directed staff to work on the design and the possibility of adding parking to the proposal.
