Navarre gulf access gets early pass

NAVARRE BEACH, FL - The committee working to reopen the long-closed Navarre Pass has new life after Santa Rosa County commissioners amended a plan that would have stalled the project.

Commissioners voted last week to approve an amended version of the Tri-County Joint Land-Use Study to remove wording that recommended no new passes leading to the Gulf of Mexico be cut.

"It's a big victory," said Chuck Pohlmann, chairman of the Navarre Pohlmann Pass Committee, the group named after his late father that is trying to reopen Navarre Pass.

"That would have killed us," Pohlmann added. "We never would have been off the ground and never could get off the ground if that had been accepted that way by our county commissioners."

The Joint Land-Use Study was initiated in January 2007 to help plan for future growth at Eglin Air Force Base from the Base Realignment and Closure Act. The study rec-ommended that Santa Rosa County discourage any new marine cuts, channels, passes or marine sanctuaries leading into the gulf.

Rather than approving the study as presented by Destin-based consultants Tetra Tech, commissioners approved an amended version that removed the restriction related to passes and marine sanctuaries.
Tetra Tech had made the recommendation to deter additional boat traffic in Eglin's training ranges over the gulf.

"We're not in an active firing zone," Pohlmann said. "This whole gulf coast is a firing zone but it's not an active firing zone. If it was an active firing zone, you and I would not be living on the gulf coast because the military could do anything they wanted, including dropping bombs and shooting targets."

With the study amended, Pohlmann's committee will resume its fundraising efforts for required feasibility and environmental impact studies.   Navarre Pass was a 15-foot-deep channel cut into Navarre Beach about 450 yards east of the Navarre Beach Bridge that allowed boaters access to the gulf from Santa Rosa Sound.
It opened in July 1965 and closed two months later when Hurricane Betsy filled it in.

Navarre now sits near the middle of a 52-mile stretch between gulf access points at Destin's East Pass and Pensacola Pass.    

For more information on the Navarre Pohlmann Pass Committee, or to donate money for the studies, go to www.navarrepass.com.