The press release issued on Friday, May 20, use of the word "exception" when describing the Leave No Trace Behind Special Event Permit, was incorrect. Escambia County's Leave No Trace Behind ordinance has a special event provision, click here to read. Any organization who wishes to apply for a special event permit for a beach event to include leaving items overnight on the beach, may do so. This is not a change to the ordinance, but was included when it was passed last year.
The Santa Rosa Island Authority will issue a special event permit to Johnny Chisholm for the Memorial Day Weekend festivities on Pensacola Beach. As part of the special event permit requirements, cleanup is the permit holder's responsibility for the permitted area, thus placing the burden of cleanup costs on the special event permit holder rather than the taxpayers of Escambia County.
SRIA issued a special event permit just last weekend for the jet ski races under the same provision. To date, only one special event permit has been requested for memorial day weekend. The SRIA permit to Chisholm will allow for personal items to be left on the beach overnight from Friday, May 27 through Monday, May 30 in the following designated areas only: between beach walkover 28A (dog park) to approximately ΒΌ mile east of beach walkover 29D, or the University of West Florida boundary. Overnight camping and campfires are not permitted.
As with other recent ordinances on Pensacola Beach Escambia County and SRIA are taking the approach to issue warnings and educate those visiting Pensacola Beach on the Leave No Trace Behind ordinance. Memorial Day weekend is the first major influx of tourist from all over the United States to the beach since the enactment of the new ordinance, and many are unaware of the change. Educational efforts include:
- Passing out postcards at the tollbooth at peak tourist times explaining the ordinance
- Providing the hotels with educational magnets to give to guests
- Sending a mailer to homeowners on the beach
- Placed & scheduled advertisements throughout the spring and summer in local and tourist publications
It is imperative that when visiting Pensacola Beach, everyone takes responsibility for keeping our most valuable resource clean.
