Morrison Springs FYI

[kchFLA]

News report from WZEP local AM radio station out of DeFuniak Springs.

Morrison Springs Problems Continue

At the recent meeting, Commissioner Ro Cuchens talked about the continuing problems at Morrison Springs and requested the board hire an off duty officer to assist. Commissioner Scott Brannon said he has spoken with the Sheriff’s Office and they were to help, but admitted they cannot be there all the time. Brannon said the weekend is when most of the problems are happening with groups drinking alcohol and causing problems making it unpleasant for families. The commissioners were not sure if there is a particular group causing problems or a variety of groups of people.
Commissioner Kenneth Pridgen questioned hiring off-duty officers to do the job, saying the taxpayers are already paying for it. Brannon asked to have the board send a letter to Sheriff Ralph Johnson about the issue.

Commissioner Larry Jones said it is important to provide a safe environment at the park and the sheriff should be used, but also agrees if there is a problem then hiring off-duty officers on a temporary basis could be a solution for the safety issue. Commissioner Meadows said the county pays the sheriff and if they have to they could send deputies out to stop the illegal activity. She said they need to be arrested. Brannon said it is a very serious safety issue and is getting worse.

Commissioners approved hiring an off-duty officer on a temporary basis for the weekends and to work with the sheriff on helping to patrol the area.

Brannon gave an update on Morrison Springs. He asked to conduct an archeological survey to meet permitting needs. Brannon also asked to apply for a boating ramp grant application at Cedar Log Lake, Morrison Springs and Cowford. Morrison Springs is now state owned and county managed. Walton County is working with the public to develop the springs into a recreation area. Features could include new buildings and an education area, a boardwalk allowing visitors to walk out and overlook the boils, enhancements to the beach and diving area and changes in traffic control and boat ramps. Boat launches in the swimming area have been considered a safety issue. Illegal activity has also been cited as a problem, with residents saying they will no longer bring their families to the public park.

Morrison Springs is located in the central east side of Walton and flows into the Choctwhatchee River.

 

[mike_s]

wow... they are just now talking about getting a permit for the boat ramp?

SeaYoda and I were out there in October when parts of the county comission had a meeting on site there to discuss "plans". The boat ramps was part of these plans. The invited a bunch of fishermen but apparantly made no effort to include the dive community (in my opinion). We just happened to be there.

They did a bunch of surveying, etc and said they were going to build the boardwalk so we could use it to walk down to the water. We told them we could walk down to the water just fine as it was and that we'd love to have 'gear table platforms" to get ready on. They didn't seem to want to hear much about that as they were set on having the boardwalk for some reason.

Apparantly the issue that involved the fishermen was that us "divers" were taking up the space along the beach making it hard for them to back their boats in. They even want to tear down the picnic pavillion for some crazy reason. oh well. Like I said, they didn't seem to have much concerns for the divers.

They had somebody there from the press/newspaper reporting on it, but they don't seem to have done anything about it in what has been almost a year.

 

[photohikedive]

This is frightening. Read the article again, it talks about building boardwalks that would overlook the boils. Does that mean they plan to put a dock out over the basin itself? Would they then stop us from diving? If it became an "official" park, would they then close off access to the cavern?

 

[SeaYoda]

This is frightening. Read the article again, it talks about building boardwalks that would overlook the boils. Does that mean they plan to put a dock out over the basin itself? Would they then stop us from diving? If it became an "official" park, would they then close off access to the cavern?

Be calm youngling, use the force and do a search. I've been on the committee and they are diver friendly. They don't have much of a clue as to what we need but they have not done anything that will hurt us. They are doing some things that might not make sense but they are doing them in a good spirit. The overlook was intended for divers even though walking down the beach and a beach entry will always be better. It's best not to fight their plans until something is really an issue that will impact our diving, put up your lightsaber for now .

 

[photohikedive]

good, it would be cool though, to be able to swim through the boardwalk when the river floods

 

[mike_s]

Glad to see that you're on the comittee SeaYoda.

I thought they were pretty clueless to diver needs when I was there in October. (either that or they just didn't care).

I found it crazy they were wanting to spend tens of thousands of $$$ to build a boardwalk so we could walk down to the water, but didn't want to spend a few hundred on 5 or 6 gear table/platforms so we didn't have to gear up in the sand. One positive about the boardwalk is I'm sure it'll be handicap accessible, so that's a good thing.


FYI all. The original thread on this is here if you want to read up on what happened in October with the comission
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=114601

Sea Yoda then posted an update from the December meeting
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=121950

BTW... PHD, I don't think they'll close off any access. They basically wanted to move the boat ramp to around the corner so that it would be in a seperate area and they boaters wouldn't have to launch from the beach, which divers and swimmers park on and "block" their access. It's a "win win" for both divers and boaters in my opinion. They get a seperate launch and parking area which reduces boat traffic in the basin greatly. It's a great increase in safety for boat divers and swimmer.

However, in their original plan they also wanted to make parking about halfway up to the main road gate. This was sorta stupid. did they change that yet? (I can see not parking on the beach, but not up near the gate. Either way, we'll survive it).

Overall, I hope their changes are "for the good" of everyone.

 

[SeaYoda]

They will be extending the beach area (a no drive / no park zone) up to where the pavilion is now. Parking will be there up for those without boats and trailers. Boaters will have an access with some parking to the right of the pavilion (as you face the water). This will be the high water boat launch. The regular launch and parking for boats will be down the run from the beach.

 

[mike_s]

I expect to see more use of this as a dive site also since Vortex raised their entry fee to $32 in the past couple months.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I expect to see more use of this as a dive site also since Vortex raised their entry fee to $32 in the past couple months.

Its already a high traffic training site, renovations or not Hence we always plan to get there, uber early.

 

[aries52]

I met with Commissioner Brannon last week. We discussed several issues, including access. I gathered that they are moving the boat ramp away from the beach and, ultimately, there will be no driving to the beach area. I don't know how far away parking will be yet. I, too, am on the committee and am not only a diver but also a scientific consultant. I live about 10 - 15 minutes away from the spring and have been diving, fishing, camping, etc. there since the late 1950s. The problems to which the article referred are by no means new. Also, it is primarily locals and not visiting divers who cause them (being local myself, this is particularly disturbing). I believe the committee will meet again soon and I will be happy to notify everyone when that is planned and what is discussed. Have faith.

FYI, I understand that all or part of Vortex was sold to developers a few months back. They are planning to build condos on the property. I don't know how that will affect the rest of the operation. I did see in another post that they have jacked the price to $32.00. Ouch!!