DESTIN

Henderson Beach State Park will remain concession free for the foreseeable future.
Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill Friday with language sidetracking state Department of Environmental Protection efforts to hire a concessionaire to provide visitor amenities at the park.
The news made the volunteers who provide the very limited concessions now offered at Henderson Beach State Park “very, very happy.”
“We are ecstatic. The park is going to stay the pristine place it is now,” said Donna Stiles, president of the Friends of the Emerald Coast State Park.
An amendment attached to H.B. 7093 prohibits awarding new concession contracts inside state parks featuring less than 7,000 feet of shoreline undefined if concessions are available within 1,500 feet of the park’s boundaries.
The strict guidelines, crafted by state Sen. Aaron Bean and local state Rep. Matt Gaetz, apply to only two Florida state parks, Henderson Beach and Zachary Taylor State Park in Key West.
Before the Florida Legislature even convened this year, DEP had awarded a contract for concessions at Henderson Beach State Park to Park Venues LLC, managed by William Hagerman and Shannon Howell.
Park Venues planned to provide beach rentals, bike and golf carts rentals, interactive sessions, marine camps and ecotours.
Hagerman and Howell, who also own and are developing the Henderson Beach Resort next to the state park property, intend to drop any plans to amend the business plan they’d created for the park.
“The way the bill reads the only concessions that can go in now are those that are already there,” Howell said.
Howell said his companies have developed a solid business relationship with the volunteers who manage what few concessions are now available at Henderson Beach State Park and there is no need to attempt to steal their business.
“The citizens support organization has volunteered in there for 15 years. They go in and work hard providing the retail and weddings, our backing out, we felt, was the right thing to do,” he said.

Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 ortmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.