I posted the following (and there is a thread there with a bit more) in NPNR. I should have also included it here in Surfing. Since the original post, the BC Commission has cancelled their meeting for tomorrow due to Milton, but it will surely be back. We need to fight this tooth and nail. Harrass not just CCB's commissioner (Tom Goodson) with emails and phonecalls, but all of them. He could easily be outvoted 4-1 to give it away. This needs to be stopped --

Haven't seen anything on any forums, but the BC Commission has an item on its agenda for this Tues to enter into an agreement to let the new Westin complex reserve Lori Wilson Park for its exclusive use up to 100 days/year and up to 3 years in advance. I don't live in CCB, but as a county taxpayer, I am flat OUTRAGED. Here is one of the applicable paragraphs. The entire agreement can be read at the following link -

file:///C:/Users/jdlsi/Downloads/LWP%20Draft%20Agreement%20DRAFT.pdf

Per the agreement ("DAD" is the new Westin Resort) -

DAD 1300 shall be permitted to rent the south area of the Park for a
maximum of one hundred (100) days per calendar year. Rental of the Park shall
not exceed eleven (11) days per month between November 1st through April 30th
and shall not exceed two (2) weekends, defined for this section as, Saturday and
Sunday, or a portion thereof, in any month.
3.3 In the event DAD 1300 wishes to rent the entire Park, north and south, the
number of rental days would be inclusive in the 100-day maximum annual rental.
Rental of the entire Park shall not exceed twelve (12) days in any one calendar
year.
3.4 DAD 1300 may reserve the exclusive use of the Park, or portions of the
Park up to three (3) years in advance, on a rolling basis. Any reservations by third
parties prior to the execution of this Agreement and any events that are historically
reserved on the specific dates/weekends as set forth below shall have priority over
any future DAD 1300 events.

I posted this on the Cocoa Beach FB page - Wake Up cocoa Beach - and the reaction was not what I'd call positive.

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I was right.

Thanks, Cole. This proposal is craziness.

2ndlighters, all - Post it in as many places as possible. Let your friends and neighbors know. Raise hell!

This has been the plan for several years. Driftwood is going to dump a couple million into the rehabilitation of Lori Wilson and they're going to be build a boardwalk from the new Westin to the Hilton which they also own. The county is going to turn over Laurie Wilson to the city and the city is going to install parking meters.. The Westin will use Laurie Wilson as excess parking and the city will reap the revenue.

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Matt B :)

That appears to be in addition to the current proposal which is to give them sole use up to 100 days per year and they can lock it up for those days up to 3 years in advance. So, if what you say is correct, the residents (and taxpayers) will be denied parking for those 100 days plus any other days in which Westin's "guests" fill it up. Sorry, but the additional revenue does not offset the denied access in my book. In Melbourne Beach, we instituted a parking plan that guarantees resident access to our beaches. Sounds like the County and CCB have exactly the opposite intentions.

The Westin people will park for free and other will have to pay?

We elected these people why?

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I was right.

That is not the way I read it. It sounds like everybody will pay, but they can use it as a parking lot, but still taking the spots of the locals. Still your question is valid and the answer is, Those who vote for candidates with an (R) next to their names."

You cannot vote for lower taxes and revenue and expect same or increased public services and amenities. They don't go together unless you add increased development to bring in more revenue. I don't know if this the case in Brevard and Cocoa Beach. If folks in Brevard want to keep some of the semi rural charm of the costal communities by keeping out development then the population is either going to have to make a lot more money driving more revenue or raise taxes. If not the local governments have to search for revenues some way or another.

If I'm not mistaken, a good amount of tourist tax revenue - one million a year for thirty years - has been diverted to prop up a billion dollar corporation.

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I was right.

True, but if they subsidize childcare or healthcare or..., that's Socialism.

We need more revenue to apy for all the new pickleball courts, , , , LOL

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Dora Hates You

From Surfrider Space Coast:

We need your help!
This Tuesday at 9am, the Brevard County Commission will vote on a land use agreement with the Westin Cocoa Beach Resort, which is currently under construction adjacent to Lori Wilson Park. This agreement would grant the Westin Hotel exclusive private use of the south half of Lori Wilson Park for up to 100 days each year! The term of this agreement is 15 years. This agreement would also allow the Westin Hotel to rent the entire park (north and south) for 12 days a year.
This agreement would constitute a gross misuse of our public lands. Lori Wilson Park is Cocoa Beach's only free parking beach and is one of the County's most popular surf breaks. This proposal would restrict public access to our park and beach and is NOT in the best interest of our residents. Space Coast Surfrider Foundation adamantly opposes this proposal.
.
Please help us stop our County Commissioners from selling out to the Hotel Industry.
.
Email your County Commissioners and County Manager and tell them NOT to support this proposal: https://brevardfl.gov/CountyCommission
Agreement between Brevard County and DAD:
https://brevardfl.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=13373802...
Rita Pritchett
D1.Commissioner@brevardfl.gov
Tom Goodson
D2.Commissioner@brevardfl.gov
John Tobia
D3.Commissioner@brevardfl.gov
Rob Feltner
D4.Commissioner@brevardfl.gov
Jason Steele
D5.Commissioner@brevardfL.gov
Frank Abbate, Brevard County Manager
frank.abbate@brevardfl.gov

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So if you are a surfer I wish you the prosperity that allows you more time to pursue the salt water dream, and the true happiness that comes from warm water, clean waves and the companionship of your fellow surfers. If you are an internet troll just spewing bs then f off.

Thanks, I just sent an email to them all.



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If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD WAS MUSIC - KV

Article in FL Today today. I didn't read it because it was behind the pay wall

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"If I say it's safe to surf this beach, captain, then it's safe to surf this beach!"

You know they want to slide some crap through when the meeting is scheduled for 9 AM. On a Tuesday no less.

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I was right.

Edited: 10/22/2024 at 06:11 AM by Cole

A skimpy story at Orlando TV 6

The board is talking about it now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryh3_KRqYwM

About 1:54:00 into the meeting if you are watching it after the fact.

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If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD WAS MUSIC - KV


Edited: 10/22/2024 at 07:52 AM by Bamboo

The county commissioners voted to table this to an undetermined time in the future.
All of the recognized speakers were urging a no vote for various reasons.

The only people who I saw that were for it was Rita Pritchett the District 1 commissioner and the Westin lawyers...and maybe Tom Goodson the District 2 commissioner, not sure.

The burden is now on Westin to work with the locals to see if they can find a middle ground, if that happens then it goes back to the county commissioners for a vote.

Huge thanks to all the people who went, and especially to those who spoke.
Everybody had good reasons about the negatives of this decision.
Many also brought up that if this was advertised better and in the evening then the attendance would have been many times larger.

one interesting point raised by District 3 John Tobia was that Lori Wilson was offered to the City of Cocoa Beach for free after the several million dollar improvements were made.
Seems like a mistake that Cocoa Beach didn't take advantage of this...but it is also the reason there is still free parking there.


Anyway, I listened to much of the discussion and that was my take on it.


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If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD WAS MUSIC - KV

Bamboo

Many thanks for the update. Not taking action for now is not a bad outcome. Beware, these SOBs will come back after this.

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So if you are a surfer I wish you the prosperity that allows you more time to pursue the salt water dream, and the true happiness that comes from warm water, clean waves and the companionship of your fellow surfers. If you are an internet troll just spewing bs then f off.

jb - they always do. Their job is to go to meetings. Their method is to survey the crowd and, if not to their liking, request a delay. They keep doing this until the normal workers can't miss work anymore. Works every time.

This seems so shady/sleazy. Not that I have plenty of free time, but would be interested in looking into the bios of the commissioners who are for this, just to get an idea of where they're coming from.

It's pretty bold of them to just slap the locals in the face, and then take the money and run.

Completely unacceptable.
Yet another land/power grab by yet another group of carpetbagger developers.
Trying to make a sleazy buck, at the expense of our priceless natural and aquatic resources.
By compromising a truly cherished natural refuge and local treasure.
Ummm, this sure sounds familiar.
Have there been any guvner sponsored attempts to allow greedy developers to make cash off our remaining wild places lately?

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It's a democratic hoax

Just received this from Commissioner Goodson's office: Following Commissioner Goodson's recommendation, a meeting will be held next Tuesday, October 29, at 5:00 PM at the Cocoa Beach Hilton Hotel. Representatives from the Westin Hotel will present the agreement for the use of Lori Wilson Park to the residents. This is a great opportunity for residents to voice concerns and suggest alternatives that benefit everyone in the County. Please spread the word to your neighbors!

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"It's always better than it looks from the crossover."

That's so incredible. The people that own the Westin, Driftwood, own the Cocoa Beach Hilton.

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Matt B :)

Yes, someone at the meeting brought up a good point -- if they get this agreement, they can build a 'golf cart path' through Lori Wilson, which will allow them to shuttle Hilton guests over to the Westin for the amenities/ pool, etc. So basically they'll take over the park for convention parking and for tourist shuttle buses.

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"It's always better than it looks from the crossover."

I love the "suggest alternatives that benefit everyone in the County". Ummm, how about not doing it at all. That will benefit everyone in the County, because I don't consider the resort owners to be part of the County, they just make money off of tourists and are effectively tourists themselves.

The golf cart path is insane.

There is no compromise here.

I wonder how much we'll be charged for parking at the Hilton to attend the meeting... oh wait there's free parking next door! For now


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"If I say it's safe to surf this beach, captain, then it's safe to surf this beach!"

Hopefully everyone shows up...

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"It's always better than it looks from the crossover."

Showing up and having a well prepared 3 min reasons why this should not happen is so important. Going to need a major opposition to this. I don't frequent Lori Wilson much but see what they are trying to do.

Victory!

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So if you are a surfer I wish you the prosperity that allows you more time to pursue the salt water dream, and the true happiness that comes from warm water, clean waves and the companionship of your fellow surfers. If you are an internet troll just spewing bs then f off.

Well done! https://www.clickorlando.com/n...-rental-plan-backlash/

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add a signature since I'm here in profile anyway

I used to go to Lori Wilson often because I found it worked on all tides, not sure how it is now.

But all this commotion shows that developers, like Sauron, are eyeing every sliver of dirt beachside, esp. east of A1A.

I always thought that a lot of the NE transplants beachside are annoying as hell, and are just busybodies that don't belong here, but I guess in these situations, those traits can come in handy as they can be very persistent in opposing these development actions that will just ruin some of the beauty that's left in this area.

" It was all a misunderstanding" the man says. "It was all exaggerated." "we want the help the park out of the goodness of our heart". I see another 9am non announced meeting in our near future.

There was a solid 150 people at the park last evening who were making our feeling known. I want to give a big thanks to Garcia for bringing this into the light.

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I was right.

You are certainly welcome; glad to have helped. That said, if there's one thing I've learned in my 69 years in Brevard, it is that they never go away. They have time and money and they keep coming back until they get what they want. Vigilance and consistent action is the only thing that can get a win for the residents (rare as it is).

Yet another land grab on our priceless natural resources.
That beachfront and behind the berm is just pristine, guys. We take UF extension Master Naturalist classes as a study in what Florida was.
Previous generations of our fellow Florida beach lovers, who came here years ago for the space programs. And made it home,
recognized the importance of preserving our beaches, many parks and preserves were created.
It's ours to cherish...and protect. Great turnout Tuesday!
Nice to see signs and flag waving for a positive cause, hands off our parks.
Vote them out

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spindrift

Edited: 10/30/2024 at 07:57 PM by spindrift

Definitely a W for the LW park and beach users!


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If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD WAS MUSIC - KV