Are 3 'monstrosity' high rise towers better for Navarre Beach than a RV park? Some say yes

Though developer Christopher Ferrara's path toward putting a multi-story condominium complex on Navarre Beach would appear far smoother than his alternative proposal to put an RV Park on the same property, he continues to push county officials to allow the RV Park.

In March, a lawsuit filed against the county by Ferrara's Santa Rosa Development LLC was tossed out of Federal Court in Pensacola when U.S. District Court Judge Casey Rodgers ruled that the "plain language" of the lease Ferrara holds for the property he wants to develop "does not allow use of the parcel as an RV Park."

Ferrara has appealed that ruling and, following an appeals court order that the county and development group attempt to mediate their differences, he sent the county a letter offering a settlement on terms favorable to him.

The letter states Santa Rosa Development LLC would agree to settle its lawsuit with the county if the county were willing to execute an amendment to Ferrara's lease "that expressly authorizes the development of an RV Park."

Acting on the advice of County Attorney Tom Dannheisser, county commissioners voted Thursday to hold a public hearing at 5 p.m., Oct. 26 to discuss Ferrara's settlement offer.

The public hearing should be well attended and ripe for spirited debate. Ferrara is trying to force the county's hand on a plan that is widely opposed by Navarre Beach residents and the influential Navarre Beach Leaseholders and Residents Association.

The controversy surrounding the Navarre Beach RV Park, as well as the condominium complex, brought residents and association leaders out Monday morning ahead of the decision in favor of holding the public hearing. All were in attendance to protest the RV Park.

Given the opportunity to speak, residents of the island cited traffic issues created by RV's traveling the two-laned Navarre Beach Causeway Bridge and Gulf Boulevard as a potential detriment to life on the island. They said noise and lights from the RV's and the park will disturb people and disrupt fragile wildlife.

It was argued the transitory nature of RV Parks will make life miserable as vacationers move off and onto the park property every four days or so. Increased crime, decreased property values and the potential for RV's being blown into Santa Rosa Sound by tropical storms have also been raised by those speaking against the RV Park proposal.

Resident Erika Thomas said she feared that eventually RV owners would start renting out their travel coaches as cut rate vacation housing, and the quality of life on Navarre Beach would suffer.

"You need to take into consideration what people bought out there for," Thomas told commissioners.

Ferrara was present at the commission's committee meeting as well. The Louisiana resident had come to speak in favor of the legal settlement he'd offered and the RV Park development. But he was also there to make it known development was coming, and soon, to his 23-acre island parcel.

"Something's going to be built out there very soon," he said. "If people don't think that's going to happen they need to examine their conscience, because we're going forward with a project on Navarre Beach."

Ferrara, who could not be reached for comment, has not publicly addressed why he seems to lean so strongly in favor of building the 171-slip luxury RV Park rather than the condominium complex he has dubbed Port Navarre.

More: SR said no to an RV park. Now 3 16-story condominiums will take their place on Navarre Beach

Port Navarre would change the landscape of Navarre Beach by putting three 16-story residential housing units on the sound side of the barrier island. Each would hold 220 condominium/hotel units, for a total of 660, and provide 87 underground parking stalls. It would be the first high rise complex built on the north side of Gulf Boulevard, the island's main thoroughfare.

"You're either going to have 2,500 cars or 171 RV's," Ferrara said in addressing the commission.

The Navarre Beach Leaseholders and Residents Association has long stood against the idea of an RV Park. For all the headaches 2,000-plus new residents could potentially bring, the organization strongly favors the condos.

Association President Jim Sutton spoke Monday at the meeting, but did not discuss specific organization objections, preferring to withhold comment until the public hearing. But in May he told the Pensacola News Journal the association opposed the RV Park for the same reasons it would oppose any proposed lease amendment.

"We're opposed only when they ask for variances for uses that do not conform to what is allowed," he said.

On the other hand, Sutton said, the association has no complaints regarding the construction of Port Navarre.

"Right now if he (Ferrara) wants to build a 660-unit condominium we have no issue with that. As long as he stays in the footprint, we have no problem with that," Sutton said.

Ferrara's court case claimed that an RV Park absolutely did conform with the lease requirements of the lot he bought 34 years ago. As was pointed out in his legal complaint and reiterated by Ferrara and Commissioner James Calkins on Monday, in March of 2021, Santa Rosa Development LLC received a development order from the county to build the facility.

Neither the commissioner nor the developer mentioned, however, that the order was suspended three weeks later and eventually rescinded as legally deficient.

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A summary of what had transpired between 2019, when the RV Park was initially proposed, and 2021 was found within Rodger's order granting the county's summary judgement against Ferrara's company.

In 2019, then-Santa Rosa County Attorney Roy Andrews issued a "preliminary opinion" — an oral opinion according to Dannheisser — that an RV Park was a permitted use for Ferrara's property.

Based on the opinion, county planners expressed confidence that Santa Rose Development LLC would receive its development order, but the court order notes Ferrara was told things were "subject to change" and "pre-application meetings are informal and do not replace the need for a formal review."

Nonetheless, Ferrara spent $179,000 "in preparations necessary to meet development order application requirements."

In March of 2021 Ferrara received his development order and three weeks later it was suspended "to allow a review of legal issues relating to the proposed use."

Ferrara was informed, following review by new County Attorney Greg Stewart, "it appears that the proposed use as an RV Park is not authorized use under the Navarre Beach Lease Agreement." Stewart issued his assessment of the lease in writing.

Rodgers said in the ruling Ferrara's legal arguments attempted to "create rights (his company) did not have under the lease and in contravention to the Land Development Code."

She wrote that in issuing the original development order to Ferrara the county had acted on an incorrect legal opinion and "beyond its lawful authority in approving the project."

If the County Commission ultimately decides not to accept the terms of Ferrara's settlement offer, he likely will face an uphill battle to win his court appeal. Dannheisser said that reversals of a federal judge's ruling are uncommon.

He may, however, be able to persuade a majority of commissioners to amend his lease to allow the RV Park. Commissioner Colten Wright, representing South Santa Rosa's District 2 has been onboard with the idea since 2021, when he found himself on the wrong end of a 4-1 vote that denied the request for the lease amendment.

In September of 2022, after Ferrara had filed the lawsuit, the county again considered the request for the change to the lease agreement. This time the vote was 3-2 against allowing the amendment, with then-Commissioner Bob Cole joining Wright in support.

Cole is no longer on the board, but at Monday's meeting Calkins, who represents District 3, termed the Port Navarre condominium complex "a monstrosity"

"I'm at a loss for words on this issue," Calkins said. "There's a lot of people that don't want a monstrosity out there."

Commissioner Ray Eddington, whose District 4 includes Navarre Beach has sounded at times as though he would prefer RVs to a high rise condominium complex as well. In May, he told the News Journal if he had been on the commission in 2021, he would have supported Ferrara's proposal for many of the same reasons Wright had.

"I'd rather have the RVs than the condos, because the condos are going to block the view," he said.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Navarre Beach RV Park getting public comment before Santa Rosa County