June White Decker Park set to open this month
Okaloosa County tourism officials have been working for more than a decade to build facilities at June White Decker Park on Destin’s Restaurant Row.
The park will receive a certificate of occupancy later this month. It’s taken more than a decade, but June White Decker Park on Destin’s Restaurant Row will finally be open for business this month, a county official says.
Okaloosa County Beach Projects Manager Jim Trifilio told the county’s Tourist Development Council last Wednesday that the park’s dune walkovers and restrooms should receive a certificate of occupancy by mid-March.
“What’s two weeks after over eight years?” TDC member Ken Paine said.
The TDC has been working since 1997 to build the park facilities next to developer Tom Becnel’s Silver Shells condominiums. As part of Silver Shells’ 1997 development agreement, Becnel received an easement across the right of way next to Silver Shells, granted the city a 25-foot wide public beach access behind Silver Shells and agreed to build the park if the TDC didn’t do so within three years.
The TDC began designing the park, including a picnic pavilion, bathrooms and dune walkovers.
The name honors the late owner of June’s Dunes, a beloved Restaurant Row breakfast eatery replaced by condos a few years ago.
Winning approval for the project looked simple until Becnel told the TDC in 2002 that the design would violate his development agreement by placing some construction in the Restaurant Row right of way.
To avoid a lawsuit from Becnel over the right of way, the TDC considered moving construction further south. Moving closer to the Gulf, however, triggered stricter environmental requirements, to the point the TDC believed it would be impossible to build. Finally, the TDC decided to take a chance and applied for a state permit in early 2003.
Some City Council members raised the question of whether the lapse of more than three years meant Becnel was obligated to start building the park. City Land Use Attorney Scott Shirley said Becnel wasn’t obligated to start construction immediately after the three years elapsed, so the city might see faster results sticking with the TDC.
After the TDC applied to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for a permit, there followed a year of permit reviews, requested redesigns — including deleting the picnic pavilion because it stood too close to the water — and delays, which some TDC members blamed on the consulting engineer not actively pursuing the permit. In 2004, the DEP finally gave approval for construction to begin.
In 2005, when the TDC solicited bids from contractors, a new problem emerged: Nobody bid. A second round generated one proposal from Decks N Such for $501,785, which the TDC accepted. Construction began in 2006.