LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Escambia County Wants Your Perdido Key Beach Stories—Here’s How to Submit Them
After months of debate, the Board of County Commissioners voted 3-2 to begin gathering sworn testimony, photos and documents from beachgoers and property owners to build the evidentiary record for a potential Customary Use ordinance. The deadline to submit is August 28.
If you’ve walked, swum, fished or relaxed on the beaches of Perdido Key—or if you own property there—Escambia County wants to hear from you.
The Escambia County Board of County Commissioners has launched a formal public information drive to gather personal accounts of beach use on Perdido Key. The information collected will help determine whether there is sufficient sworn testimony to support a Customary Use ordinance under Florida Statutes Chapter 163.035—a legal mechanism that can establish the public’s longstanding right to access privately owned dry-sand beach areas.
The deadline to submit is Friday, August 28, 2026. Late submissions will not be considered.
How This Got Started
The commission voted 3-2 in a recent meeting to direct county staff and the county attorney’s office to begin collecting public evidence on customary use of Perdido Key’s dry-sand beaches—a step that had been debated at the commission table for months without any action.
- Commissioner Lumon May put it plainly: “This has probably been discussed 15, 16 times.”
- Commissioner Steven Barry acknowledged that the board had never actually given staff clear direction despite repeated discussion. He argued that even without taking a position on customary use, the issue was significant enough to at least allow citizens to submit what they know.
- Commissioner Mike Kohler framed it as due diligence, not a commitment to an ordinance: “I can tell you as a sailor that came here—it was customary use out there. Everyone walked around out there.”
Commissioners Steve Stroberger and Chair Ashlee Hofberger voted no. Stroberger argued the effort was a waste of time, given a 1978 county loss in a Perdido Key customary-use case and the steep legal hurdles involved.
- “At its core, this debate is not about beach towels, umbrellas or access points,” he said. “It’s about the right of exclusion—the most fundamental attribute of private property ownership.”
County Attorney Alison Rogers made clear that any eventual ordinance will require specific geographic designations and formal legislative findings demonstrating how the area meets all four legal prongs of customary use—ancient, reasonable, uninterrupted, and free from dispute. “What I do not think is going to be defensible is to simply just say customary use is imposed on whatever area,” she told the board.
- The plan calls for 90 days to collect public submissions, followed by 90 additional days for the county attorney’s office to evaluate the evidence and report back to the board. Whether the record will be strong enough to support an ordinance, Rogers said, remains an open question.
How to Submit Your Information
The county has set up an online portal specifically for this process. You can submit your materials at MyEscambia.com/perdidokeybeaches.
If your files are too large for the online portal, you can deliver hard copies or electronic storage devices in person or by mail to:
Timothy Day, Deputy Director, Natural Resources Management
221 Palafox Place
Pensacola, FL 32502
What Types of Documentation Are Accepted
The county is accepting the following materials:
- Sworn affidavit—this is required if you want your personal account to carry legal weight. The affidavit must include the declaration: “Under penalties of perjury, I declare that I have read the foregoing [document] and that the facts stated in it are true.” It must also be notarized.
- Photographs
- Videos
- Documents such as maps, plats, deeds, and surveys
What Your Submission Should Cover
Whether you’re submitting a sworn affidavit or supporting documentation, the county wants your materials to address as many of the following details as possible:
- The type of use or activity (swimming, fishing, sunbathing, volleyball, etc.)
- The specific location of the use or activity on Perdido Key
- The date or dates of the use or activity
- The frequency—how often you engaged in the activity
- The names of any individuals involved
- Whether your use was ever restricted, and if so, how and when
- Whether anyone ever attempted to restrict your use, and the circumstances surrounding that attempt
Important: What NOT to Submit
The county is explicit on this point: do not submit legal conclusions or legal arguments. This process is about gathering factual, personal accounts—not legal briefs. Additionally, duplicate submissions with the same information will not help the evidentiary record and are discouraged.
- Note also that affidavit language must come from the county attorney’s office. Advocacy groups may have circulated draft affidavit templates, but Rogers made clear at the commission meeting that any formal language will need her office’s approval.
Why This Matters
Customary Use is a legal doctrine that recognizes the public’s historical right to use privately owned beach areas when that use has been open, continuous, and customary over time. Florida law under Chapter 163.035 allows county commissions to adopt Customary Use ordinances—but only after establishing a sufficient evidentiary record through public process.
The testimony, photos, and documents submitted by Perdido Key beachgoers and landowners will form the foundation of that record. The BCC cannot move forward with an ordinance without it.
Both beachgoers and beachfront landowners are encouraged to participate. The county wants to hear all perspectives on how these beaches have historically been used.
Submit your materials online at MyEscambia.com/perdidokeybeaches. The deadline is August 28, 2026.