The imminent destruction of the Destin Jetties??

[Capt Grumby]

Okay, now that I have your attention, I have to ask if anyone out there has the REAL scoop on the rumor that a Destin developer is working on plans to enlarge the harbor.

Background for my question: I spoke to a local real estate agent yesterday who told me that there have been discussions at the County planning meetings about doing just that, widening the harbor. She then told me that a diving friend of hers (a scientst-type guy) told her that there is a layer of something (oil, goop, crap, Burger King French Fries, algae, ???) 5 feet below the sand that, if disturbed, will spread thru the water and kill almost all marine life in the immediate area (Our beloved Jetties).

Can anyone on the boards speak intelligently about this? Does this person know what she is talking about? Do we need to show up in force at City Hall and "put our fins down" against this? If the harbor enlargement part is true, what about the "under-sea bed noxious life-killing junk" part?

Let's get informed about this before the *&$#@@@** Developers completely rape Destin out of existence! First all the land, now the Gulf too ...??!!??

 

[dbombtek]

I love rumors. Good luck getting to the truth of this.

 

[kchFLA]

Not sure what you are talking about but it will take more than the City of Destin's approval. The developer would need to get approval from the Army Corp of Engineers' , Fla Dept. of Environmental Protection, and possibly both state and federal wildlife officals.

 

[GLENFWB]

That is correct as well as the question of....how the heck do you enlarge a harbor completely surrounded by huge condos, homes, and businesses? If you enlarged it you would have to take a lot of land....and there are way to many lawyers that have places in there to ever get that to fly....you know how resourceful those lawyers can be, right kchFLA?

As for the black sludge rumor...we have had enough hurricanes and dredging done around here to stir up anything down there. The only thing I agree with in the post is the need to keep greedy developers in check!

Not sure what you are talking about but it will take more than the City of Destin's approval. The developer would need to get approval from the Army Corp of Engineers' , Fla Dept. of Environmental Protection, and possibly both state and federal wildlife officals.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Every so often, we get a nasty looking hard mud ledge that uncovers at the bottom of the channel at the jetties. It doesn't seem to hurt anything as crabs are often found in the crevices(alive and pissed).

Not sure if thats your french fry grease or not...

 

[Capt Grumby]

If I understood her correctly, the proposed plan was to eliminate the point all together, and open that end of the harbor up completely.



I am very happy to hear that the likelihood of this happening is slim.

As far as the "black sludge" goes, I think the concern was only what is within the confines of the harbor proper.

 

[GLENFWB]

I see what you are saying. I don't think the Corp of Engineers would let them touch the jetties. The point on the harbor would probably get a big fight also although I am not sure how much protection that strip of land provides to the harbor. But. I would think it would be enough to keep it. Besides, where would all the power boats park this summer when they want to set up their read neck village???

If I understood her correctly, the proposed plan was to eliminate the point all together, and open that end of the harbor up completely.

View attachment 38202

I am very happy to hear that the likelihood of this happening is slim.

As far as the "black sludge" goes, I think the concern was only what is within the confines of the harbor proper.

 

[mike_s]

If I understood her correctly, the proposed plan was to eliminate the point all together, and open that end of the harbor up completely.

View attachment 38202

I am very happy to hear that the likelihood of this happening is slim.

As far as the "black sludge" goes, I think the concern was only what is within the confines of the harbor proper.

All the land that leads up to that point is part of the Holiday Isle homeowners association. According to what the Mayor of Destin told me last year, the way the homeowners assocication was writtin in the land title, they have more control over the way the land is done than the city does. For example, the homeowners assoc owns all the sidewalks and right of ways in that entire area, not the city.

The homeowners assoc already dislikes the extra traffic generated in that area, so I really doubt they'll agree with an approving majority to allow any changes down there.... (I'm not saying they have the ulimate decision, but they apparantly have a powerfull group of folks with lots of $$$ running things for them).

 

[SeaYoda]

The developer rumor may have come from the fact that one developer has been working to add another condo closer to the point than the ones already existing. I don't know where in the process that deal is. The sludge in the harbor rumor may come from how polluted the harbor is. There is an intake valve out in the Gulf that "flushes" clean water into the East end of the harbor but it doesn't seem to really clean stuff out too well. Any environmental change would be subject to all kinds of scrutiny, people around here can't even agree on how white white sand should be . The Army Corp of Engineers fought to rebuild the point after the hurricanes so I doubt if they would allow it to be taken away. It provides protection for the harbor. That point of land at the entrance to the harbor is a bird sanctuary. I don't know how difficult it would be to undo that. All of this is a good distance from the jetties themselves. If they did mess things up, the flushing of the tides would eventually clean up the mess. The life at the jetties seems to be pretty resilient, lots of changes have occurred since Ivan went through yet the jetties keep bouncing along. I believe they'll be fine for us to dive for a long while. If I hear anything different, I'll be the first to scream bloody murder!!!!!!!

 

[Tom Smedley]

Go look at the St Andrews jetties in Panama City. These rocks and channel used to look as clean and populated as the ones at Destin. The city was trying to get a cruise ship and spent a long time dredging the channel. Now all the shells and rocks are covered by an ugly algae. The channel is an ugly black mud rather than clean sand. All this and the city still doesn't have a cruise ship.