Okaloosa's new agriculture education center moves closer to breaking ground

Tony Judnich, Northwest Florida Daily News
·3 min read

FORT WALTON BEACH — Thanks to state funding assistance, Okaloosa County officials are able to move forward with their plan to build a new agriculture education and promotion center on Lewis Turner Boulevard.

The state Legislature in its last session approved $854,100 for the estimated 2,800-square-foot facility. Plans call for it to stand on a 3-acre county-owned site at 1954 Lewis Turner Blvd. between Miss Ruth’s Farmers’ Market and the county Courthouse Annex Extension.

Jon Williams, assistant director of Okaloosa Technical College, surveys an empty greenhouse on the college's property which will serve as a temporary home of the Okaloosa County Extension Service in the south end of the county. The agency's old building on Hollywood Boulevard was damaged during Hurricane Sally in 2020, and the Florida Legislature last year approved $854,100 to build a new 2,800-square-foot facility on Lewis Turner Boulevard.

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County Public Works Department officials are searching for a firm to design the facility, Deputy County Administrator of Operations Craig Coffey said Wednesday.

“It’s moving along, but not as quickly as we had hoped because of COVID,” Coffey said. “We’re very thankful for this funding.”

Okaloosa County Extension Service's building on Hollywood Boulevard in Fort Walton Beach was damaged during Hurricane Sally and is closed. The Florida legislature approved $854,100 last year to build a new 2,800-square-foot facility on Lewis Turner Boulevard.
Okaloosa County Extension Service's building on Hollywood Boulevard in Fort Walton Beach was damaged during Hurricane Sally and is closed. The Florida legislature approved $854,100 last year to build a new 2,800-square-foot facility on Lewis Turner Boulevard.

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He said the county is providing mostly in-kind contributions for the project, and that a construction schedule will be in place once the project is under design.

Among other activities, the new facility will host plant sales and clinics, master gardener classes and other agriculture-related programs provided by the county’s south-area extension service office. It is a branch of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

The Okaloosa County Extension Service's building on Hollywood Boulevard was damaged during Hurricane Sally and is closed, although the agency does maintain a nursery on the site. Plans are in the works to build a new 2,800-square-foot facility on Lewis Turner Boulevard.
The Okaloosa County Extension Service's building on Hollywood Boulevard was damaged during Hurricane Sally and is closed, although the agency does maintain a nursery on the site. Plans are in the works to build a new 2,800-square-foot facility on Lewis Turner Boulevard.

Plans also call for the new center to have meeting space for 90 people, a kitchen for nutrition and culinary classes, two offices, a plant and soil diagnostic lab and a restroom for farmers’ market visitors.

For nearly half a century, the south-area extension service office has used a building at 127 Hollywood Blvd. in Fort Walton Beach.

The building was heavily damaged by Hurricane Sally in September 2020, but even before the storm, county officials noted that the structure had a leaky roof. They also said it had insufficient space, as well as not enough parking spaces outside.

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County Extension Director Ronnie Cowan said that because of the pandemic, the only activities that still take place at the site on Hollywood are those in an extension service nursery. The nursery, however, is closed to the public because of the pandemic and will eventually be relocated.

Officials are finalizing a plan to set up a temporary south-area office in a county School District-owned building on the Okaloosa Technical College campus east of the farmers’ market. This structure previously served as a county Sheriff’s Office K-9 training site.

Cowan praised the County Commission, and especially District 2 Commissioner Carolyn Ketchel, for being instrumental in obtaining the state funding for the new agriculture education and promotion center.

“We look forward to getting the ground broke,” he said. “We want to meet the needs of our clientele in the south part of the county. It’s important to have adequate meeting space.”

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Okaloosa County will soon break ground on agriculture education center