The Board of County Commissioners has two hot topics on this morning’s agenda.
Public Beach Access on Perdido Key
County Commissioner Steve Stroberger has little interest in reaching a compromise on public access to Perdido beaches. He sees it as a property rights issue for the condo owners. To date, he has failed to win two more commission votes to stop customary use. It’s up for discussion this morning again.
Coalition Offered Compromise to End Perdido Key Beach Access Battle
In late February, a grassroots coalition asked Escambia County commissioners to consider a middle-ground solution that its organizers believe could end years of conflict over public beach access on Perdido Key—without the cost and division of protracted litigation.
- Save Our Beaches, formed from the merger of Save Pensacola Beach and Open Beach Access 4, proposed a perpetual 75-foot public easement along Perdido Key’s Gulf-front shoreline, running from the Gulf Islands National Seashore boundary east to the Florida-Alabama state line. The easement mirrors an existing federal perpetual easement already in place in the Gulf Beach subdivision—established on the basis of historic customary use.
The group argued the compromise offers something real to everyone. Private property owners would get a clear, enforceable boundary and legal certainty. The public would get guaranteed shoreline access. And the patchwork of private signage, rope cordoning and beach chair barricade lines that have made parts of Perdido Key increasingly unwelcoming would be prohibited within the easement.
- The legal foundation is Florida’s doctrine of customary use, with Save Our Beaches citing documented public use of Perdido Key beaches dating to at least 1945. The group also points to 2025 legislation—SB 1622 and HB 6043—that it says reaffirmed recreational customary use rights and restored public standing to sue local governments that fail to act.
The proposal also called for keeping Public Access 1 open, pursuing a local fee discount at Johnson Beach and ramping up county code enforcement as an alternative to beach privatization.
Stroberger wasn’t interested in the compromise.
Outlying Fields Take Shape — With a Twist
Developer Chad Henderson has requested that the Board of County Commissioners agree to amend the Purchase and Sale Agreement (PSA) for the conveyance of the OLF-8 property to allow for a
reduction of 171.5 acres (resulting in approximately 366.94 acres being purchased) and a reduction of $14,071,000 of the sales price (resulting in a purchase price of $28,429,000). The BCC either approves the request or denies it.
Inweekly covered the plans for Outlying Fields in February.
The section Henderson wants to hand control back to Escambia County would be designated the Employment, Technology, Innovation (ETI) District — will target aerospace, cybersecurity, marine innovation, clean manufacturing and medical technology companies. FloridaWest Economic Development Alliance would partner with the County to recruit employers to the site.
The County sold the property to Tri-W Development and Chad Henderson Enterprises for $42.5 million. Tri-W is a partnership between Henderson, Alabama-based commercial developer Jim Wilson & Associates and former Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward.
The broader development will include five districts — ETI, Town Center, Community, Residential, Commerce and Services. Henderson projects between 1,000 and 1,500 residential units, a lakefront amenity he’s calling Angel Lake and a walkable main street at the heart of Beulah. Henderson hopes to break ground by early 2027.
The Escambia County Board of County Commissioners will hold its regular meeting today. Public Forum begins at 8:30 a.m., and the Regular BCC Meeting begins at 9 a.m.
- Both meetings will take place in the board chambers of the Ernie Lee Magaha Government Building, located on the first floor of 221 Palafox Place. View the Regular BCC Meeting agenda here.
These meetings will be archived on MyEscambia.com and the Escambia County YouTube channel. Click here to watch the livestream on YouTube. All commission meetings can also be viewed live on channel 4 on Cox, channel 98 for Spectrum and Mediacom (Pensacola Beach) subscribers and channel 99 for AT&T U-verse subscribers.
