Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Walton counties received good news Friday when the Natural Resource Damage Assessment Board of Trustees doled out $88 million for projects to counties affected by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Approximately $21.3 million will come directly to the three counties, which had been shut out in previous NRDA funding awards.
“I’ve been beating up pretty good on (Florida NRDA trustee representative) Mimi Drew, because virtually all the funds so far had gone to Escambia County,” Okaloosa County Commissioner Dave Parisot said. “She asked me today if I was happy, and I said yes. These are good projects.”
A portion of another $11.4 million will go to artificial reef creation and restoration in Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton, Bay and Escambia counties. Other regional projects also could benefit the three counties.
The NRDA money is separate from RESTORE Act funds, which also are expected to bring needed projects in the Panhandle.
Okaloosa received the biggest single NRDA award: a little more than $10 million for the restoration of Norriego Point in Destin.
The county also received $4.6 million to build a boardwalk along Santa Rosa Sound from the Brooks Bridge to Liza Jackson Park in Fort Walton Beach.
“It was something we had looked at, but it was a huge project and not something the city could fund,” said Fort Walton Beach City Manager Michael Beedie, who submitted the project application to the state Department of Environmental Protection in 2011.
DEP officials “loved the project as soon as they read it,” Beedie said, and helped the city submit it for NRDA fund consideration.
Santa Rosa County received about $3.7 million for three projects:
l A $614,000 Navarre Beach Park Coastal Access and Dune Restoration project.
l A $309,669 Gulf Breeze Wayside Park boat ramp project.
l A $2.57 million Developing Enhanced Recreational Opportunities on the Escribano Point Portion of the Yellow River Wildlife Management Area project.
Walton County received funds for eight projects, including $743,276 for work at six boardwalks and crossovers.
The county received another $588,500 for development at Deer Lake State Park and a little more than $348,000 for improvements at the Choctaw Beach boat ramp and Lafayette Creek boat dock.