Walton County TDC Breaks Ground on new Dune Allen Regional Beach Access

WALTON COUNTY, Fla. – February 12, 2019 – Today, the Walton County Tourist Development Council and Walton County Board of County Commissioners were joined by members of the community in celebrating the beginning of construction on the first of three planned new regional beach accesses in South Walton.

The new Dune Allen Regional Beach Access will include restroom facilities, parking, and a lifeguard station. The 1.51-acre of beachfront property located at 5999 W. County Highway 30A has 220-feet of beachfront and was purchased for a price of $7.4 million in 2016. The project is estimated to take 4-6 months to complete.

“Our goal is to ensure continued ease of beach access in South Walton so both locals and visitors can experience our beautiful beaches,” says Visit South Walton Executive Director, Jay Tusa. “By giving beach goers more options, we can ease pressure off of any single stretch of beach and ensure a great beach experience for everyone.”

Since August 2016, Visit South Walton has purchased seven beachfront parcels for a total of 748 feet of beachfront to be used as three new regional access points, along with two inland properties. Those inland properties include a site on Driftwood Road for a planned parking and stormwater project, and a 7.35-acre property that currently serves as additional parking in the Grayton Beach area.  The total spent for these properties is $25.6 million.

“Providing our residents and visitors access to our beautiful beaches is critical to Walton County’s economy and way of life,” says Walton County District 5 Commissioner Tony Anderson. “This is something that’s very important to me, and it’s taken a tremendous amount of hard work and cooperation from a lot of people to make it happen. I’m glad to be moving forward to open a new regional beach access, and look forward to following through with our plans to add more in the future.”

When all three of the newly purchased beachfront properties open, the total number of regional beach access points in South Walton will rise from eight to 11. Each access point includes parking, bathroom facilities, and a lifeguard station. The three new accesses will be located in Miramar Beach, Seagrove Beach, and Dune Allen Beach.

Construction on the Miramar Beach property is expected to begin later this year, while the construction on the Seagrove Beach Regional Beach Access could begin in early 2020.

The properties were purchased and will be maintained using bed tax dollars, a 4 percent tax collected on short term rentals.

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