Local Government
Perdido Key Beach Access Fight Hits Key Deadline: Testimonials Due August 28
Beach advocates need your memories, not your lawyers, to restore public access that predates a wave of condo development eight years ago.
Escambia County residents and visitors alike have until Aug. 28 to submit sworn testimony supporting customary use of the beach on Perdido Key, according to beach access advocate Melissa Pino, who joined me this week on Rick’s Blog Live.
The testimonials are the evidentiary backbone of an effort, now eight years in the making, to get the Escambia County Commission to formally declare by ordinance that the public has historically used the beach in front of gulf-front condominiums on Perdido Key, regardless of what property lines say today.
What’s Being Asked For
Pino said the process is simpler than it sounds. The county needs basic details: when you visited the beach, where you went, and what you remember, no GPS coordinates required.
“Your memories in this case become a legal instrument towards recovering the public access there,” Pino said.
Testimonials can be submitted two ways:
- Online through the county’s portal (search “Escambia Perdido Beach”)
- By handwritten or typed form, notarized, available at Perdido Pack and Ship at 10447 Sorrento Road.
Completed paper forms can also be emailed to openperdidokeybeach@protonmail.com.
You don’t have to live in Escambia County, or ever have lived here, to submit one. Pino said a visitor who spent a week on the beach decades ago and now lives elsewhere can still file a valid testimonial.
What Happens After Aug. 28
Once submissions close, county staff has a built-in 90-day review period. Given the timing lands in the holiday season, Pino expects the item to reach the County Commission agenda in January or February 2027.
- If commissioners pass an ordinance establishing customary use, Pino said gulf-front condo owners could respond with a lawsuit, a scenario she noted has played out in other Florida communities, including the town of Redington and in Walton County.
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