Escambia County will host a grand opening ceremony for the new Public Beach Access #4 at 16470 Perdido Key Drive on March 4, 2022 at 9:30 a.m. The new beach access will be open sunrise to sunset and features a permeable concrete parking lot with 35 parking spots, an ADA-compliant AccessMat dune walkover and educational signage about protected wildlife. The site will add an additional 300 feet of public beach access on the western side of Perdido Key, adjacent to the Crab Trap restaurant.
Escambia County District 1 Commissioner and Chairman Jeff Bergosh, who represents Perdido Key, stated:
“A lot of folks have worked very hard for eight long years to see this project come to fruition—and on March 4th --this beach access will finally be available for public use! A HUGE thank you goes out to all the staff and citizens who worked to make this day a reality! This new access point will allow us to more than double the existing amount of free public beach access on Perdido Key for all the citizens of Escambia County to enjoy—which in and of itself is a remarkable accomplishment. But this is only the beginning of the work our office plans to pursue to create more free access points on Perdido Key for our citizens’ use in the years to come. I look forward to aggressively moving in that direction—but in the meantime, I look forward to utilizing this newly completed beach access #4 very frequently-- along with all the citizens of Escambia County—and it will be open just in time for Spring Break! This is a great day for Escambia County!”
The site was acquired in 2014 in part with a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide public beach access and conserve critical habitat for threatened and endangered species. It was the former site of the Sundown Condominium which was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. The original concrete pad and building debris were removed in the summer of 2020 and the prior parking lot’s shell base was reutilized for the new public access. Funds for construction were provided by the Tourism Development Tax (TDT).
The site is also home to designated Perdido Key Beach Mouse habitat and the site will be managed in accordance with the Perdido Key Habitat Conservation Plan. Fencing will prevent pedestrian and vehicular trespass into protected habitat areas, while signage will educate visitors about threatened and endangered species that utilize the site, including beach mice, nesting shorebirds and sea turtles.
Escambia County would like to thank the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission and US Fish and Wildlife service for their cooperation in the acquisition and development of the project.
For more information, please contact the Office of Community and Media Relations at 850-595-1647 or email cmr@myescambia.com.
