The Santa Rosa County Commission today voted to approve a $222,134 change order to amend design of a roughly $5.5+ million project on Navarre Beach, replacing plans for a suite of Gulf front offices, which initially were planned to house the county’s tourist development office staff. Now the future building will instead be designed as a conference center available for rent by the public.
The change came after public outcry over using such premier Gulf front real estate to construct a suite of six new offices for county staffers, causing commissioners to reconsider the plans during a July 21 meeting.
Subsequently, during a midday Tourist Development Office Workshop on September 11, the island office suite was quietly scuttled and replaced by a plan for a convention center. An area with brochures for visitors will remain included in design.
But the controversy isn’t resolved.
District 3 Commissioner Rhett Rowell today expressed concern that building a conference center might impact privately owned business on the island, noting how Springhill Suites and Juana’s Pagodas both rent event space. He also pointed out that Navarre Beach Leaseholders and Residents Association and Navarre Beach Area Chamber sent letters opposing building a facility within a designated conservation area inside Navarre Beach Marine Park.
Commission Chairman Kerry Smith stated, “I see your concern but…I believe when this road started it was done by survey – that this was what was desired by the county (citizens).”
However, Navarre Beach business owner Tamara Fountain called out Smith for sharing false information, stating, correctly, that the survey Smith cited did not include a convention center or county office space.
A look back at the 2023 survey shows Smith did indeed share untrue information.
“Just to be very clear, there was not a convention center or an office space with storage on survey…That’s not true,” Fountain said. “Nobody asked you to do this. Stop fixing problems nobody asked you to fix, and spend our money the way we want it spent. That’s why people are upset.”
