That s what I hate the most, she said. It would have been such a lovely place.
And in many respects, much of Walton County will remain a lovely place, inasmuch as thousands of acres are protected from development as state forestlands, within the Nokuse Plantation private nature preserve, as parts of the sprawling Eglin Air Force Base reservation or as undevelopable wetlands.
At the same time, however, more and more people are looking at Walton County, particularly the south end along its beaches, as a place to live, work, retire or visit. U.S. Census figures show that the county s population grew by almost 20,000 people between 2010 and 2019 to more than 70,000. And the Walton County Tourist Development Council reported recently that for 2020, a year impacted by coronavirus-related travel restrictions and a relatively brief closure of vacation rental properties, nearly 4.5 million people visited the county.
FREEPORT A developing Walton County government proposal to put an amphitheater, passive recreational facilities and other public projects on 220 acres between Chat Holley Road and U.S. 98, east of County Road 393 and west of U.S. Highway 331, took another step toward possible eventual reality on Wednesday.
The county s Technical Review Committee (TRC), one of the entities in the county s planning and zoning apparatus, voted unanimously Wednesday to recommend, with minor conditions, that the county planning commission recommend approval of zoning and land use map changes needed for the project to the Walton County Board of County Commissioners.
The county commission makes the final decisions on zoning and land use issues.