More than 20 speakers lined up Tuesday morning inside the Okaloosa County Commission chambers – nearly all of them from Destin and wearing green – to deliver a message about the state’s newly acquired waterfront property near Norriego Point: work with us.

• The City of Destin’s attorney, mayor, city manager and a quorum of its city council traveled to the county meeting in Shalimar to formally assert the city’s land use authority over the 4-acre parcel on Holiday Isle and urge commissioners to sign an interlocal agreement before any park plans advance. 

Hours later, at a Destin City Council meeting that evening, council members voted 4-0 to place a rezoning of the property to conservation on their next agenda.

The property sits entirely within Destin’s municipal boundaries. Florida’s Board of Trustees approved the state’s nearly $84 million acquisition of the former condo development site in September 2025. Under the state’s approval language, Okaloosa County is designated to manage the new park “in collaboration with the City of Destin’s Norriego Point Beach Access and Park.”

But what “collaboration” looks like has become the central dispute for Destin.

The city’s case

Destin City Attorney Kim Kopp opened the public comment period by laying out the city’s legal position. The property is bordered by a city conservation park on one side and an established residential neighborhood on the other, with Gulf Shore Drive as the sole access road, she told commissioners.

“We understand that the county is exploring the possibility of pursuing a lease from the state and of potentially introducing activities such as operating the docks as a non-residential marina, adding various types of food sales, or renting pavilions for special events,” Kopp said. “Please be aware that all of these uses are currently prohibited in this area of the city.”

Kopp added that the existing development order for the property’s 53-slip marina docks “strictly prohibits” renting of slips or any commercial or non-residential use. She also noted that as of Tuesday, the county does not hold a lease from the state or any legal interest in the property.

• “Our goal today is not at all to be adversarial,” Kopp said. “We are seeking collaboration with the county, and we believe an interlocal agreement between the city and the county … would be the appropriate methodology for this collaborative relationship.”

Destin Mayor Bobby Wagner followed with a more pointed appeal. He told commissioners the city delivered a proposed interlocal agreement to the county on Jan. 22 and questioned why it had not yet appeared on a commission agenda.

“Why am I using my three public-comment-meeting-minutes to advocate on this behalf?” Wagner said. “We are supposed to be a team. We talk about partnership. We celebrate it when we’re at a ribbon cutting.”

Wagner asked commissioners to approve the interlocal agreement at their next meeting, saying it would simply put on paper what the county already promised to the state – collaboration with the city. Outside of his role as mayor, Wagner said he believes the county should “do the bare minimum, let nature be and allow this park to be what it was bought for – conservation.”

The public weighs in

Residents and neighborhood leaders echoed those concerns. Rob Valiton, treasurer of the Holiday Island Improvement Association, told commissioners the community believes the property should remain accessible while “keeping its natural beauty intact” and “avoiding commercialization.”

• “At the town hall meeting held on December 30th, Mr. Palmer and Mr. Coffey heard very clearly that not just the residents of Holiday Isle, but the residents of Destin do not want to see commercial development of this property,” he said.

He asked whether the county had conducted a traffic study, an environmental impact study or any survey of how county residents broadly feel about the proposed plans.

Another Destin resident said the state purchased the property for conservation and that plans for food trucks, additional paving and increased dock usage “seems to be the exact opposite of conservation.” He also raised safety concerns about increased boat traffic near East Pass, where dangerous tidal currents have caused drownings.

Destin City Councilman Jim Bagby framed the dispute as a problem with three possible solutions: continue the current path, ask the state to replace the county as park manager with the city, or enter into the interlocal agreement.

“I would ask you to choose one of the latter two options,” Bagby said. “This is the most angry I have seen the citizens of Destin in 20 years.”

Councilwoman Theresa Hebert kept her remarks brief, telling commissioners the city wants to work as a team. Councilman Rodney Braden reminded the board that the city and county had previously collaborated on beachfront property purchases in Destin through interlocal agreements and asked, “Why is this so much different?”

Cinco Bayou Mayor Jean Hood also spoke in support of the agreement, citing her town’s recent positive experience with an interlocal agreement with the county on a boat launch project. She urged the commission to give Destin residents the same opportunity for input.

• “The real backbone, the bedrock of Okaloosa County, are the people who live here,” Hood said.

The county’s perspective

Commissioner Drew Palmer, appointed by the board as liaison for the park project, responded during the meeting – an unusual step during public comment that Chairman Trey Goodwin allowed given the official presence of Destin’s council.

Palmer said he was open to an interlocal agreement but expressed concerns about the version the city submitted.

• “I just don’t think it’s the right thing to do for us to subject ourselves to the city when the state has asked us to manage it,” Palmer said. “All that this interlocal agreement does is basically put the city in charge of us as we are responsible for managing the park.”

Palmer said he had been reaching out to city officials and that the communication had been “one way.” He said he looked forward to drafting a response version that would be “more workable” for the county.

Later during the commissioners’ comments portion of the meeting, Palmer made a broader case for the county’s approach, centered on equitable public access.

He noted that the city of Destin charges approximately $20 for four hours of parking at nearby lots and that the city-controlled parking spaces at the end of Norriego Point have not yet been activated but would likely follow that model. County residents outside Destin, Palmer said, would not have free access to those spaces. By contrast, he said the county was not anticipating charging county residents for parking at the new park.

Palmer said the county represents roughly 230,000 people compared to Destin’s 14,000 and argued the park should serve all of them.

• “This is not a private park. This is not a neighborhood park,” Palmer said. He described the park as a tourism development investment intended to benefit the entire county, adding that the limited existing parking would result in very low usage if the site were left largely as-is.

“If I were a resident that were right next door to that, I might feel the same way, where I would be losing what can be almost felt as a private park or a neighborhood park,” Palmer said. “I just ask that you bear with us as we go through this process.”

Palmer pushed back on characterizations of the county’s plans as commercialization, describing the marina as a “public recreational marina” with potential rental slips for larger vessels. He said the county was not proposing fuel docks or the level of commercial impact previously described.

He also argued the property cannot simply be returned to a natural state, pointing to existing sea walls and armoring on the site. “I don’t think they would want us to tear all that stuff down and leave their harbor exposed,” he said.

• “What we’re doing here is we’re intending to have this be a world-class park that benefits all of Okaloosa County and not just the neighbors that are closest to it,” Palmer said.

Commissioner Carolyn Ketchel offered brief but notable remarks, telling the audience directly: “I haven’t weighed in on this. I’m listening. I hear you. I hear you loud and clear, and my door’s open to you as well. I’m not the liaison, but I have a vote.”

What happened that evening

At the Destin City Council meeting Tuesday night, the council reviewed Palmer’s end-of-meeting remarks and discussed the city’s next steps. City Manager Larry Jones played a video of Palmer’s comments for the council to hear.

Attorney Kopp read from the property’s development order, which she said is “really, really clear” – docking facilities are prohibited except as an ancillary use to the residential condo development originally planned for the site, and subleasing or renting any boat slip by a non-resident is expressly prohibited and considered a commercial use.

Kopp also told the council she was not aware of any agreement between the county and the state regarding the property, and that the state was not requiring any specific development plan. The concept plan referenced by county officials, she said, appeared to be something the seller included in the application package for the state’s consideration.

• “This land is owned by the state,” Kopp said. “Okaloosa County does not have any ownership interest. They don’t have any lease yet.”

City Manager Jones confirmed no definitive plans have been decided, saying the county appears to be relying on language from the cabinet approval packet – language that also states the county would collaborate with the city.

Councilman Dewey Destin made a motion to place a vote on rezoning the property to conservation – matching the zoning of the adjacent Norriego Point Park – on the next city council agenda. The motion passed 4-zero.

• “ The park that was built on the end of Norriego Point – with the cooperation and actual money of DEP – is one of the prettiest parks I’ve seen in this state,” Destin said. “Surely, in our part of North Florida, that’s what we want to do – in cooperation with our friends at the county – with the rest of the property. And I think that would be acceptable to the folks who live over there instead of the commercial enterprise that it appears Mr. Palmer is dead set on building.”

Councilwoman Sandy Trammell noted a key distinction: the county’s definition of “conservation” appears to differ from the city’s. “So I’m thinking we might want to look back at what DEP told us when we went to Norriego Point about what exactly they’re expecting,” Trammell said.

Kopp confirmed that the management plan for the existing Norriego Point Park requires the city’s comprehensive plan and land development code to define what is allowed in conservation – which permits boardwalks, dune crossovers and docks, but not slips for rent or any commercial dock activity.

Councilman Kevin Schmidt, who watched the morning’s county meeting remotely, pushed back on Palmer’s characterization that the city had “hijacked” the meeting. “We’re public, whether we’re council members or city attorneys or staff members,” Schmidt said. “We had every right as citizens in public to go speak.”

• Schmidt also questioned Palmer’s claims of collaboration, saying city officials have been told “this is what we are gonna do and you’re just gonna get over it.”

Councilwoman Hebert echoed that frustration, saying earlier one-on-one meetings pointed to the county’s plans being essentially decided.

“It felt like they had made their decision of what they were gonna do, and they were not looking for our input,” Hebert said.

What comes next

Chairman Goodwin said the topic would return to the county commission agenda for discussion, likely at the board’s first meeting in March. He encouraged city officials to meet with Commissioner Palmer before that date.

Goodwin also acknowledged the constraints of Florida’s Sunshine Law, explaining that Tuesday’s meeting was the first time he and other commissioners could hear Palmer’s views on the subject publicly.

The property was previously permitted for an eight-story, 79-unit luxury condominium development. The state acquired it in late 2025 through a legislative appropriation, and Okaloosa County pledged a minimum of $3 million in direct investment, with an overall contribution exceeding $5 million, to manage the park and marina.