I along with a group of bird and wildlife enthusiasts participated in Audubon post oil spill bird counts along Santa Rosa Island for the past two years. We are intimately familiar with the flora and fauna - both resident and migratory. The sound area in Navarre Park is a unique breeding ground unlike any other area along Santa Rosa Island. It is home to dozens of species of birds. Many of these species are Federally protected and use this area as their breeding and nesting grounds. It is also an important layover area for migrating birds both in the spring and fall.
This is a nesting area for the Snowy Plover (State Threatened) and Wilson's Plover. It is the only place in the Choctawhatchee Audubon Society area of responsibility where Wilson's Plovers nest. Concert goers in the nesting season may cause significant disturbance.
Trying to turn Navarre’s end of Santa Rosa Island into a 3 ring circus is certainly not what I believe the majority of residents want for the area. There are plenty of tourist dollars spent without adding raucous bars and an amphitheater. There is no parking to handle such a venue let alone building this with taxpayer money when it will just be destroyed in the next hurricane is a waste of our money. The rest rooms in the pavilions in the park mostly only have one men’s and one women’s toilet in each building – Total! How can this be figured to be adequate for a 400 seat theater?
Why does this little park have to be exploited? Build your amphitheater on the main land if it must be built at all. Let the natural beauty and all things wild that know this area as their home live safely without the further exploitation by pave and build money grabbers. I am sorry that the State of Florida ever turned this park over to the county. What a shame it will be to see its natural beauty destroyed and turned into a Pensacola Beach clone.