The Fort Walton Beach City Council on Tuesday night approved a $3.1 million contract to renovate Liza Jackson Park, moving forward with upland improvements while the city continues to wait on a federal permit for its planned boat ramp replacement.
- Council members voted 6-1 to award the project to H&T Contractors of Freeport after a competitive bidding process that drew six proposals. The Freeport firm submitted the lowest bid at $3,139,269.93, followed by Empire Building Group of Pensacola at $3,403,224.84.
The project includes a new 832-square-foot restroom building, stormwater improvements, concrete sidewalks, and revamped boat trailer and vehicle parking. It does not include the boat ramp replacement, which remains on hold pending a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that has been pending for more than a year.
“Instead of just sitting and waiting and waiting, like we did with The Landing — five years later — we decided to at least go ahead with the upland improvements,” Public Works Director Daniel Payne told the council.
The city plans to issue a notice to proceed on Aug. 1 so construction doesn’t disrupt summer boating traffic at the park, which sits on Highway 98 on the city’s western edge. The project is expected to take 180 days from that start date.
Councilman Bryce Jeter praised staff and previous councils for sustaining the project over several years and securing a $1 million partnership from Okaloosa County.
- “It’s been a few different boards up here that have supported this the whole time,” Jeter said. “So it’s good to see it finally come to fruition.”
Councilman David Schmidt echoed that support and urged the city to explore user-fee models for out-of-county boaters as a way to fund long-term maintenance, particularly as the county works through its own paid parking proposals.
The project will be funded from the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency restricted fund balance, which totaled approximately $4.8 million as of September 2025. The city also expects a $1.6 million grant reimbursement from The Landing project and has the $1 million county commitment in place.
The city’s bidding process began in November 2025 and included a mandatory pre-bid meeting, six addendums responding to contractor questions, an initial bid opening in January, and a final bid submission on Feb. 17. Purchasing staff confirmed H&T Contractors as the lowest responsive bidder on Feb. 23.
Design work on the project dates to February 2023, when the council approved a $27,900 task order with JDF Architecture of Fort Walton Beach for conceptual plans. A second round of task orders in September 2023 totaling more than $213,000 covered construction plans, permitting and bid documents through JDF and MRD Associates of Destin.
The MRD Associates contract remains active and will continue until the Corps permit for the boat ramp is issued. Councilman Walker was the lone no vote.
5 Responses
One need not look further than the city of Destin for a user fee model. Joes bayou ramp has been doing it for years. Of course, a study costs money and we know government likes studies and spending money.
If that picture is what’s going to happen they need to make a seperate exit for the truck and boat trailer to access hwy 98 better after loading the boat on the trailer
Adding a curb cut on a US Hwy is a big deal and probably not possible, especially that close to a second one. I agree it would be nice.
That’s taking away like half of the park to add more parking!! It’s already not big enough for everyone that uses it in the summertime.
Although improvements to the park are welcome , surely, it would be advantageous for the council to tweak the funding so that the civic auditorium meets code renovations and is not abandoned!! The civic auditorium on 98 is a valuable asset to the entire community. It is the only venue like it in the entire county!! Locals and visitors all enjoy the opportunity to attend shows and concerts there. This staple of FWB should be prioritized, promoted and maintained as a cultural benefit of this community. PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT DESTROY THE FWB CIVIC AUDITORIUM!