During Monday night’s Destin City Council meeting, Council-member Dewey Destin asked for a status update on the Shore at Crystal Beach Park.
- You’ll remember that as part of the expansion, the City of Destin & Okaloosa County both ponied up money to purchase three properties adjacent to the existing public beach access in order to provide 251 feet of linear beach.
- Two of the properties have been acquired.
In response to Mr. Destin’s question, Deputy City Manager Webb Warren stated that both he and the city’s attorney, along with the TDC and Okaloosa County, are working together to get the third parcel secured.
“We think we’re drawing close to a conclusion on that,” said Warren to Destin.
Back in August 2020, Get The Coast reported that the city might not close on the final parcel until sometime in 2021 unless the owner was able to timely secure another investment property, for tax implication purposes.
As for the design of the park, that will all depend on what happens with securing the final piece of property, but the county does have some draft plans.
“We do have some draft plans,” said Warren. “The county, as part of the inter-local agreement, is working on some plans for that park. At this time, they are in the draft stage. Hopefully within the next year, we’ll be able to start that but it all depends on the third parcel.”
On Tuesday morning, Public Information Manager Catherine Card said they hope to have an answer regarding the third parcel by the end of the year.