Parking problems: Two weeks ago, emergency vehicles had to park in the middle of 98 because they couldn’t park down by the trouble site on the beach. No parking. All kinds of vehicles are parking in no-parking areas, including boat trailers. This has been pointed out to deputies; their position is, they won’t enforce it without a complaint. “There’s a lot of things not being enforced out in the Crystal Beach area that are having a horrible impact on the environment.”
John Medina, resident: A lot of what’s been discussed today is about Destin’s image. We must find the money to make sure we have enough lifeguards for the beach.
Medina then says he’s worked on the Harbor Board for years and knows that a lot of captains are concerned about the traffic at the harbor mouth, particularly on peak weekends. “The number of wave runners this weekend is totally out of hand” and they have no idea how to handle themselves.
And that’s it for the audience.
But Bagby asks about the analysis of the black sand found on Destin’s beach. He says he didn’t think the analysis I reported on was definitive.
Schmidt: It’s heavy minerals that occur naturally, as in the report.
Bagby: It has started to mix in spots, “but it is still there sitting on top of the white sand.”
Kisela: The report is on our Web site.
Barker: did the report say how or if it would go away.
Schmidt: “because it’s a heavy mineral it tends to settle in lower areas … hurricanes that breach coastal lakes have exposed a lot of it … it’s possible it was exposed, in part by restoration” but this particular layer was exposed by storm-spawned high tides.
Pat Young: Most of the black sand is still behind my house. It’s not gone. It has been churned into the white sand by emergency vehicles. Contrary to what Okaloosa’s Jim Trifilio said, it’s not going away, and if it does it’s going out in the water, and who knows where it goes next?
And we’ve never seen it in Destin before! Several murmurs of disagreement from council. “When was it documented? I keep hearing this, I don’t believe it.”

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.