Navarre residents push for new pass
BY HANNAH BUNNING Gulf Breeze News franklin@gulfbreezenews.com

Graphic by Nick Stamenkovich/picture courtesy of Paul Lombardo The location of the previous pass is indicated in yellow.

In 1965 the first Navarre Pass was opened, but it was only two months before Hurricane Betsy blew through the Gulf of Mexico and destroyed it.

Ever since then, residents across the county have been working to get the pass reopened.

The Navarre Pohlmann Pass Committee, under the leadership of Chuck Pohlmann, has recently begun making strides toward finally doing just that. Pohlmann will speak about this issue at the Feb. 13 meeting of the Navarre Area Board of Realtors.

The pass would allow boat traffic in the Santa Rosa Sound to enter the Gulf of Mexico near Navarre Beach.

After his father's death six years ago, the members of the Navarre Pass Committee approached Pohlmann and told him of their intention to rename the committee after his father, who was an active member for 30 years. It was also their desire for him to become its new chairman.

According to a law passed in 1991, the property of Navarre Beach was transferred from Escambia to Santa Rosa County. As a result, both county commissions must approve any construction of a pass on the island.

Grover C. Robinson IV, the Escambia County District Four commissioner, said that he supports the reopening of the pass under two conditions: It must not cause any harm to the environment and it must not financially burden the citizens of the county.

"This subject is a non-starter unless the [Department of Defense] is interested in reopening the pass," said Santa Rosa County Commissioner Gordon Goodin, who represents the area. "If they are interested, that means someone else can help carry the financial and permitting aspects of the project, so the burden of the studies, permitting, and inevitable lawsuits challenging the project aren't borne entirely by Santa Rosa County taxpayers."

In an email, Goodin added, "The pass committee doesn't seem hesitant to expose the county's taxpayers to potentially heavy financial liability for this project. They do seem reticent to put any of their own money into studying the environmental impacts and addressing the concerns of the residents of this county that are opposed to this project... Whipping a bunch of the pass committee supporters into a political frenzy isn't going to be enough to convince the current (or future) [Board of County Commissioners], or the taxpayers of Santa Rosa County into supporting a new pass. The pass committee is going to have to do some heavy lifting if they want the kind of support it will take to get a new pass constructed. In this time of major tax reform, it would be shortsighted of them to imagine anything else from the county's taxpayers."

Lombardo said he is aware of the environmental and financial issues surrounding the reopening of the pass. He also said that getting the general public's support is a hurdle that must be overcome.

Pohlmann and his committee are prepared to face all of these hurdles, including building jetties around the pass to protect it from damage.

"We've got to knock down some dominoes to get to the ultimate goal," Pohlmann said.

Their plan for the next six months is to raise money for ads, get the word out about the committee and arrange speaking engagements.

Lombardo said, "Right now everything revolves around money."

There is speculation that the initial cost of the pass will be around $6 million, Lombardo said.

The treasurer said they currently have no plans on how they are going to pay for the pass, only ideas. Some of their ideas include a small increase in taxes, grants from the state and private funding.

"All of these issues can be resolved with people who are proactive and want to get it done," Lombardo said.

The committee has plans to conduct a feasibility study on the island to make sure that the pass will not cause any environmental damage. The cost of the study will be between $30,000 and $50,000.

Pohlmann said the number of people on the committee is continuing to grow, and he encourages people to visit the Web site, www.navarrepass.com, in order to gain more information on what the committee is about and what they are trying to accomplish.

The reopening of the pass would create many opportunities for people in the area and could increase tourism on Navarre Beach.

Currently the residents of Santa Rosa County have to travel a distance of 50 miles between existing passes. Pohlmann is determined to give the residents of the county the same opportunities as those of the surrounding counties.

He doesn't want to open the pass for just the fishermen and the boaters; he wants to do it for the families of the county.

"The last thing my father said to me was, 'open that pass for the people of Navarre and Santa Rosa County'," Pohlmann said.

Franklin Hayes contributed to this report.