Former Escambia County Commissioner Gene Valentino told Inweekly that tried to get county staff to get a declaratory judgment concerning the 75-foot public beach easement after he took office in 2006.
“It was during that period of time that land use was becoming a real issue,” Valentino shared. “The number one issue – which is a blessing and it’s a curse for Escambia County – is its management and mismanagement of land. The land use management in this county sucks. It’s been a total debacle of inconsistency and a disjointed vision in its methodology of developing the community.”
He added, “The have and the have nots were the center issue of how land was developed, and it caused in many ways for this community to lag behind in its growth.”
The former District 2 commissioner praised Commissioner Jeff Bergosh and Mike McCormick for uncovering the easement. He said that he believed a public easement existed and was being hidden from the public.
Valentino said he asked his fellow commissioners and county staff to investigate and do “a deeper dive into the deeds and the encumbrances or restrictions or easements on those deeded properties, not only for Perdido Key but also Pensacola Beach.
“I was disappointed that the deep dive of research did not occur into the true origination of the deeds and any language related to those deeds that may have clarified some of the land use issues,” he told Inweekly. “I wanted the county commission to do what’s called a declaratory ruling, authorizing the attorney to seek legally a declaratory judgment countywide, which would’ve given us clarification on the entitlements to land, whether it was the land leases on Pensacola Beach and how they could were to be distinguished from true land ownership down towards the rest of the county, specifically Perdido.”
Valentino said, “That never happened, but it needed to happen because you could not soundly develop land without clarity of thought, clarity of understanding of what the deed entitled you to do.”
