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Bay County Looking for Public Input on "Old Pass"

Posted: 3:15 PM Jun 11, 2012
Reporter: Mark Vaughn

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Back in 2001, Bay County commissioners paid a little more than $2 million dollars to reopen the East Pass, also known as the Old Pass. In less than a year, the waterway closed naturally.

Now county officials want to know if the public wants to try again.

Bay County commissioner Bill Dozier has been talking about reopening the East Pass since 2008, but no one's in Tallahassee or Washington has been listening. So he's hosting as public meeting to see if the local thinks he should keep trying.

Dozier said, "As I go around town I have people stop and ask me about the old pass. Are we still working on that, are we going to get that open. So individually I'm hearing, but i want to hear the community as a whole if they're still interested in moving forward with this project."

Before 1934, the East Pass was the only way to get from St. Andrews Bay, or East Bay, into the Gulf of Mexico. When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredged the pass in 1934 at what is now St. Andrews State Park, mother nature went to work on the East Pass filling it with sand. It was closed for decades.

"Opening the old pass is certainly a win win for the environment. It's a win for the locally community and the bay system as a whole. It will allow that fresh sea water in and help the bay all the way around," said Dozier.

In 2001, the county reopened the East Pass, dredging the waterway 300-feet wide and 10-feet deep. Within 7 months it was half that size. Since then, no one's wanted to invest the money to try again.

"Worked with Tallahassee, ran into the beaches and shores people over there. Had meetings with them, and at that point that we were met with resistance that we weren't allowed to have a permit," said Dozier, "No we're making another attempt to get the permit to move forward with opening the old pass. That's where we are in the process now."

The public meeting is scheduled for Thursday at 5:30 p.m. In the Bay County Commission chamber at the Government Complex.