Most residents of Walton County are understandably frustrated by the loss of their beautiful beaches and demand that elected officials do something — anything — to re-open them.
But here is the stone cold truth.
Commissioner Danny Glidewell and the Walton County BCC voted away your customary use rights and agreed to enter into a negotiated settlement with more than 1,000 beach front property owners.
Below is a screenshot of the first page of a 75-page court document that was filed in June 2023. You can read the full document here.
This court record is the judge ratifying a “Settlement Agreement” between Walton County and the beach front property owners. Walton County and the property owners voluntarily entered into this agreement and the judge signed off on it. It cannot be undone. I repeat — it cannot be undone no matter what any politician says on the campaign trail.
Here are the key takeaways:
- Walton County relinquished any claim to customary use rights on these 1,000+ parcels
- The settlement is binding and permanent stating that “the issue of customary use is now and forever moot”
- The roughly 100 or so parcels that did not contest the county’s claim of customary use are not bound by this agreement
Before the County can ever enter into any binding settlement agreement, they must vote on it in open session.
That is what happened when Commissioner Glidewell and the Walton County BCC voted to accept these terms after an executive session on May 31, 2023.
You can view this roughly two minute clip to see for yourself:
When Commissioner Glidewell first campaigned for office in 2018 he pledged to fight for customary use and to defend the right of the public to enjoy its beautiful white sand beaches.
Here he is in his own words:
Recently, he tried to showboat at a BCC meeting in a desperate bid to convince the voters that he is fighting to re-open the beaches. It is all a show — public theater — to distract you from his broken campaign promises and his damning vote at that May 31, 2023 meeting.