Residents have begged Santa Rosa County for months to improve code enforcement to prevent erosion damage and water pollution. Last week, the Board of County Commissioners approved increasing landfill fees, including a $1 per ton impact fee to pay for four new compliance officers.
Once every 10 years or so, Navarre Beach goes through beach nourishment, a process in which sand, lost through erosion, is replaced through other sources.
This can help widen the beach, making it more resistant to the effects of erosion and storms.
The last time Navarre Beach went through this process was 2016 and it was due to happen again in 2026. That was until Hurricane Sally’s impact bumped up the timetable. Now, nearly three years after Sally hit the Gulf Coast, the beach has still not been restored.
The old ball and chain has been given a new meaning. On Tuesday, Feb. 14, Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson spoke at a news conference about a murder for hire case involving a man and a woman from Pace.
“I think this is my first Valentine’s Day press conference,” Johnson said. “That’s kind of appropriate because we’re going to tell you about a love story.”
Beginning Tuesday, Feb. 14, Santa Rosa County residents calling 911 may make a new connection with the Nurse Navigation program, an innovative healthcare solution provided through Lifeguard Ambulance Service in Santa Rosa County in conjunction with Santa Rosa County Public Safety.
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) will open the westbound (Gulf Breeze to Pensacola) span of the Pensacola Bay Bridge on U.S. 98 to vehicular traffic by 6 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14.
The two spans of the bridge are now temporarily accommodating two east and two westbound travel lanes, but upon final completion of the project each structure will support three lanes of traffic in each direction, along with inside and outside shoulders, and 10-foot wide multiuse paths for pedestrians and bicyclists.
The waters off Santa Rosa County could see more artificial reefs in the coming years thanks to a new $1.3 million grant. As of 2021, the last time reefs were deployed, there are 557 reef modules in the gulf off Santa Rosa County.
During a Jan. 23 meeting, the Board of County Commissioners approved the $1.3 million grant, which comes from Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC). It was initially awarded during the 2021-2022 fiscal year.
If you have driven on Granada or Carlos streets in Navarre at any point in the past month, you may have noticed work being done on the lot across from the Childcare Network. There are approximately nine new cottages going in as part of a rental project called Sum Beach Rentals.
Before these cottages, which are not finished, the lot was home to a trailer park that had become dilapidated. The project to create Sum Beach Rentals began when Jeff Perrett, an entrepreneur and developer, bought the property July 15, 2022.
Richard McCool, 67, smiled broadly before making his final remark to the EMTs, dispatchers, drivers and friends gathered in his honor Friday at LifeGuard Ambulance in Milton.
“Really – from the bottom of my heart, thank you,” he said, causing laughter and applause.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents arrested Alexander Brian Freehardt, 42, of Navarre, on six counts of electronic transmission of child sexual abuse material, one count of promoting a sexual performance of a child and one count of unlawful use of a two-way communication device, all felony charges.
The case against Freehardt began in January when Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office received a cybertip about an online user sharing child sexual abuse material on a peer-to-peer network, according to a press release from FDLE. Investigators determined that the user was sharing the material from outside of Okaloosa County, and transferred the investigation to FDLE.
