Representatives from Legendary Companies outlined plans for Phase II of HarborWalk Village at Monday’s Destin City Council meeting, sparking lengthy discussions about parking requirements, traffic congestion and pedestrian safety at one of the city’s busiest intersections.

• Attorney Dana Matthews, representing the developer, provided council members with a detailed history of the 14.7-acre waterfront property, explaining that while the original development order was approved in 2003, Phase II plans have been vested since 2009 with a development order valid until October 2031.

Phase II will primarily develop the eastern nine acres of the property, and Matthews emphasized that the new construction would remain within previously approved building envelopes and height restrictions of nine stories or 100 feet from grade.

According to documents presented at the meeting, the proposal includes:

• 60 multi-family residential condominium units (down from the 90 originally approved).
• 245 hotel units with two bedrooms each (totaling 490 sleeping rooms).
• Approximately 16,749 square feet of conference space.
• 56,330 square feet of retail space — an increase of 31,330 square feet from the originally approved 25,001 square feet. Matthews explained that the additional retail space would be transferred from unused entitlements in Phase I.

The developer plans to build Phase II in stages, beginning with a parking garage that Matthews said would provide approximately 500 spaces beyond what’s required for the development.

“When the parking garage is ultimately built, it will be approximately 500 more [spaces] than what we’re required for our entire site,” Matthews said.

Several council members repeatedly questioned the parking calculations and requirements. Councilman Rodney Braden expressed skepticism about previous amendments to the development order, suggesting they hadn’t properly gone through council approval.

Matthews countered that all amendments had been properly approved, including the third amendment which was approved by the city council in November 2009 after multiple technical review committee meetings, planning commission meetings, and council reviews.

The discussion repeatedly returned to traffic congestion at the intersection of Highway 98 and Stahlman Avenue, which multiple council members identified as problematic.

• “The intersection is the worst performing intersection in the city,” said Councilman Dewey Destin. “It’s the worst performing intersection not 100 percent because of your development, but a large part it is… We are jointly responsible for fixing the problem.”

Matthews said the developer has been working with the Florida Department of Transportation and the city on improvements, including plans for an additional drive lane coming off the bridge heading east to prevent traffic backup. He also mentioned internal traffic pattern improvements including a new roundabout.

Several council members pushed for more concrete commitments from the developer to help mitigate traffic and pedestrian safety concerns, particularly regarding the potential for a pedestrian underpass or overpass at Highway 98.

Councilman Torey Geile questioned what the developer meant by saying they would “support” these improvements.

• “Support can mean a plethora of things,” Geile said.

Matthews clarified that support would include providing necessary easements on their property and collaborating on design work, but stopped short of committing to financial contributions.

• “We’re not going to build the boardwalk, but we will help support it in any way we can,” Matthews said, referring to the boardwalk under the bridge. “Are we going to build the overpass? No, that wouldn’t be fair. But we will work with the city from a design standpoint, location, siding, easements, whatever needs to be done.”

Mayor Bobby Wagner noted that the shared parking agreements that had previously given the developer a reduction of approximately 1,000 parking spaces from the unadjusted requirement created an obligation for pedestrian-friendly improvements.

“Under that DO was a shared parking agreement,” Wagner said. “So I would just like to emphasize what that means as a partnership, as we create better safe pedestrian mobility in different avenues of projects.”

Another concern raised was employee parking. Both Braden and Geile questioned why employees were parking in public lots rather than on property. Matthews didn’t directly address current employee parking practices but noted that staff parking was taken into consideration in Phase II plans.

Councilman Kevin Schmidt sought clarification about the additional parking spaces, noting that the roughly 500 spaces the developer was offering would exceed the total number of spaces in all city-owned lots combined. He suggested allowing Destin residents with city parking decals to park in those spaces for free as an additional public benefit.

• Matthews committed to taking this suggestion back to the development team, though he noted the spaces would “probably [have] charged parking like everywhere else in Destin.”

Questions were also raised about whether the proposed 500 additional spaces would truly be available to the public or whether they would ultimately be needed for the development. Matthews confirmed that these spaces would be “for the public” and separate from those required for the development.

Councilman Dewey Destin expressed concern that the city’s multimodal transportation district (MMTD), which allowed for a 20% reduction in parking requirements, might be eliminated before the project is completed. A city staff member confirmed that once the city adopts its new Land Development Code and mobility fee, “the multimodal transportation district will be no longer.”

The meeting was informational in nature, with no formal vote taken. City Attorney Kim Kopp explained that the developer initially approached the city expecting to go directly to construction permitting but was informed that council approval would be required due to changes from the previously approved development order.

The project will undergo a full review by the Technical Review Committee before returning to the city council for formal consideration at a future public, quasi-judicial hearing.