A Louisiana developer finally gets his way and will put an RV Park on Navarre Beach
For years developer Christopher Ferrara has battled the Santa Rosa County Commission and Navarre Beach Leaseholder's and Residents Association for the right to put an upscale RV Park on 23 acres on Navarre Beach.
He finally got the victory he has been seeking late last week when board members voted 3-2 to allow him to amend the lease to his property and develop the park. The decision was not popular with many in the audience who had come to protest the island development and stayed late to make sure their anger with the board's action was known.
"We're very disappointed that the pro-development commissioners were more interested in the concerns of the developer and not willing to listen to the voice of the people," said Jim Sutton, the president of the Leaseholder's and Resident's Association. "Apparently they had already made up their minds."
Residents of the island have in the past cited traffic issues created by RVs traveling the two-laned Navarre Beach Causeway Bridge and Gulf Boulevard as a potential detriment to life on the island. They said noise and lights from the RVs and the park will disturb people and disrupt fragile wildlife. Increased crime, decreased property values and the potential for RVs being blown into Santa Rosa Sound by tropical storms have also been raised by those speaking against the RV Park proposal.
Commissioners were critical of what they termed misinformation about the RV Park's impact and the developer himself being circulated ahead of the meeting. Commission Chairman Colten Wright said some of the arguments heard in the past about the RV Park "defy logic."
In exchange for the commission's compliance to his request for the RV Park, Ferrara agreed to drop his appeal of a federal judge's ruling in a lawsuit he'd filed in 2022.
The RV Park will be developed at the location where Ferrara had drawn up plans for Port Navarre, a complex featuring three 16-story residential housing units on the sound side of the barrier island. As envisioned, each building would have featured 220 condominium/hotel units, for a total of 660. Port Navarre would have been the first high rise complex built on the north side of Gulf Boulevard, the island's main thoroughfare.
Commission Chairman Colten Wright remained consistent in his support for the RV Park over the condominium complex and for the first time found himself on the winning side of the debate. He was joined in voting to amend Ferrara's lease and allow the RV Park by Commissioner Sam Parker and Commissioner James Calkins.
Commissioner Ray Eddington, whose District 4 encompasses Navarre Beach, sided with the influential Leaseholder's and Residents Association and voted in opposition to the RV Park. Commissioner Kerry Smith also voted against the lease amendment, choosing to stand with the commissioner whose district the board's decision will directly impact.
Ferrara's original lawsuit had been thrown out of Federal Court in March when a judge ruled "the plain language" of the lease he held on Navarre Beach did not allow for development of an RV Park.
Ferrara appealed the Federal Court ruling and, in compliance with a court order that the two sides in the case attempt mediation, sent the county a letter offering settlement of the legal action if the county agreed to amend its lease to allow him to develop the RV Park.
At last week's public hearing to discuss the terms of Ferrara's settlement offer, the Louisiana-based developer said he remained confident the ruling that went against him in March would be overturned.
Wright and Parker both expressed concerns that the Federal Court ruling might not withstand appeal.
Previous: SR said no to an RV park. Now 3 16-story condominiums will take their place on Navarre Beach
Parker said in his opinion the county would lose in court at some point on the issues raised by Ferrara and estimated continued legal wrangling would wind up costing taxpayers $19 million.
Both he and Wright said that in 2021 the county had erred by issuing Ferrara a development order, then taking it away from him.
"The man did his due diligence and the county said 'yes,' and then it went backwards," Wright said. "If I look you in the eye and say 'we've got a deal,' then damnit, we've got a deal."
The development order had been issued in March of 2021 at the advice of then-County Attorney Roy Andrews, who the governing board would later terminate. It was suspended three weeks later and eventually rescinded as legally deficient.
The County Commission's decision to agree to Ferrara's terms, though, has left the Navarre Beach Leaseholder's and Residents Association considering legal action of their own.
"We are in discussions with our primary attorney, and we have a committee that's fundraising in preparation to intercede legally on the issue," Sutton said.
He said the issue the Association would be most likely to litigate is that of zoning. Sutton and others have consistently argued that construction of an RV Park is not consistent with the zoning on the 23 acre parcel Ferrara owns. Building a high-rise condominium, on the other hand, is consistent.
Sutton said a first legal step being considered is requesting a stay of the county's issuance of a development order for the Ferrara property.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Santa Rosa settles lawsuit, votes to allow RV Park on Navarre Beach
