Pensacola may have found the funds to reopen Bay Bluffs Park, but there's a catch ...

The path to reopening Bay Bluff Park now leads through the Florida Legislature, but the future of Bay Bluff Park will likely be more nature trails instead of a boardwalk.

The Florida Senate's budget proposal includes $2.2 million for Conservation Florida to use to preserve Bay Bluffs Park.

Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves announced in October he was in talks with Conservation Florida to preserve Bay Bluffs Park and restore public access to it.

Conservation Florida, a statewide land conservancy dedicated to protecting Florida's natural and agricultural landscapes, worked with Sen. Doug Broxson to request the $2.2 million in funding.

According to the funding initiative request form submitted by Broxson and Conservation Florida, $2 million would be used to fund the removal of the boardwalk and the creation of trails around the bluffs.

"Bay Bluffs Park is an amenity that many Pensacola residents have enjoyed for years," a description of the project reads in the form. "This project would allow for the removal of areas of the boardwalk that are unsafe while still allowing Pensacola residents to enjoy the natural beauty of the bluffs."

Reeves told the News Journal that partnering with Conservation Florida would require that Bay Bluffs Park is preserved as a natural area that residents can enjoy in perpetuity.

The city closed Bay Bluffs Park last year after it learned the boardwalk had become structurally unsound. With the cost of removing and replacing the boardwalk well north of $1 million, the city began exploring ways to reopen the park to public access in a more cost-effective way.

Reeves said exactly how much of the boardwalk will be rebuilt versus how much will become nature trails has still not been decided. Reeves said along with state funding, Conservation Florida can bring its expertise of opening conservation land to public access.

"They've done projects like this," Reeves said. "We haven't started working forward towards any specific (plans like) will it have a boardwalk, will it have a gazebo. Those types of details we haven't even started on because we know right now we've got a broken public amenity that's going to take hundreds of thousands of dollars just to demolish."

Previously: Pensacola looks to partner with Conservation Florida to find funding for Bay Bluffs Park

Conservation Florida has preserved more than 35,000 acres of Florida land since it was founded in 1999.

"We are thrilled to be working in partnership with the city of Pensacola and Mayor D.C. Reeves to reopen and reinvigorate our beloved Bay Bluffs Park," Conservation Florida CEO Traci Deen said in a statement to the News Journal. "Access to the great outdoors and open space is key to our mission, and we are optimistic that the legislature will agree to fund this important project.”

The funding request must survive several more budget hearings and votes along with the veto pen of Gov. Ron DeSantis before its final.

Reeves said the city would start moving forward with planning as soon as the budget is signed.

"If we can get this funding, that would certainly be the trigger point for us to start looking at what could happen there," Reeves said. "And we'll be talking with the community as well as Conservation Florida and our other experts about what makes the most sense for the long term to bring that back as a public amenity."

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola Bay Bluffs Park may reopen under Conservation Florida