News Archive

For the second week in a row, a Santa Rosa Board of County Commissioners meeting was tainted and partially derailed by attacks on County Administrator Dan Schebler.

Members of the Santa Rosa County Zoning Board recommended to deny a variance request to increase the length of a Navarre dock from 300 feet to 406.5 feet at a meeting April 29. The board voted against the proposal in a 6-2 vote. The location of the proposed dock is 9679 Navarre Pkwy.

The dock is for Soundside Hollow, where a code violation has already been issued after a red clay mixture ran off the property and into the Santa Rosa Sound during heavy rains.

The Santa Rosa County Zoning Board recommended to approve two variance requests to reduce the front setback along an arterial road and reduce the side setback to accommodate an existing structure at a meeting on April 29. The variance requests are for a new coffee shop the property owner wants to open. The location of the site is at 9389 Chumuckla Highway,

The City of Pensacola and Blues Angel Music have partnered to bring their annual free concert series back to the Pensacola community for the first time since 2019. Concert spectators are invited to bring coolers and lawn chairs to the Hunter Amphitheater, located at Community Maritime Park, for the 2021 Blues Angel Music’s Blues on the Bay Free Concert Series, which kicks off May 2.

Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) contractors have completed the installation of multiple stay-in-place forms and are currently pouring and leveling concrete on the Pensacola Bay Bridge. Following the completion of the concrete pours on the bridge deck, crews will construct barrier walls designed to create a reinforced, protective wall for motorists traveling over the bridge. Additional work will include the installation of electrical conduit and roadway striping, according to the latest press update.

Opening April 12, 1963, the original wooden Navarre Beach Fishing Pier stood 18 feet above the Gulf of Mexico, was 800 feet long and 14 feet wide.

Ira Mae Wells Hewatt Bruce of Holley Navarre, Florida passed away, Tuesday, December 1, 2020 due to complications of Alzheimer’s. She was born June 29, 1940 in Pensacola, Florida to Ira and Mattie Wells. Ira Mae was a pioneer business, community, and political leader who contributed to the growth and development of Holley Navarre and Santa Rosa County. Ira Mae was the first woman to serve on the Santa Rosa Board of County Commissioners. With business partners Jerry Wilkie and Phil Babiak, she operated Century 21 Island View Realty for more than 40 years. She was a member of many civic, community, and business boards. She was proud to be the first woman to serve as the president of a board of directors for a local bank. She was preceded in death by her parents, son Mark Lee Hewatt, and brother Gus Brown. She is survived by her husband Gaius Bruce; children Matthew (Martha) Hewatt, Brenda Barre’, and Keith Bruce; grandchildren Mark (Jordan) Hewatt, Mattie Barre’, and Kayla Bruce; great-grandchildren, Casten, Kylie, and Gideon; sister-in-law Virginia Brown; Naomi Golden, cousin and life-long traveling companion and many other Wells family members. Special friends include Ron and Peggy Fletcher, Bill and Martha Pullum, and Phil Babiak, her business partner. A Celebration of Life will be held May 8, 2021 at The Club Pagoda at Juana’s Pagodas on Navarre Beach. Visitation will be from 10-11 a.m. The Celebration Service will begin at 11 a.m. Reception will follow the service. Please wear a mask while indoors. The family would like to express their deepest gratitude to Kate, her personal caregiver; to the staff of Navarre Gardens North; to Emerald Coast Hospice; and to Dr. William Howe, Suzanne, and Dawn for their loving care of Ira Mae. In lieu of flowers, charitable donations may be made to Pink Pirates of Navarre or the Ira Mae Bruce Scholarship at Northwest Florida State College Foundation.

County commissioners discussed steps to replace the bridge to Navarre Beach at the Thursday morning board work session.

A drawing presented in the agenda packet is just one of the options, said Commission Chair Dave Piech, in discussing it with the board.

The former site of the Coyote Landfill is finally being cleared up by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Santa Rosa County Commissioners granted the DEP permission to access adjacent county-owned property in Holley to “conduct a full closure of the solid waste disposal facility.”

Head down the narrow roadway flanked by sand that connects Navarre Beach to Pensacola Beach at the right time of day you might see Susan or Brian Chiulli.

The Navarre couple bikes and runs that stretch of roadway daily.