"Even if we don't live on the water, we drive across there, all of us all the time, and we can look out and say what a beautiful place we live in," Okaloosa County Commissioner Carolyn Ketchel said in April, just before she made the motion that tied the two corners of the Shalimar Bridge into one plan. "This could have been condos, this could have been homes. Instead, we're going to have a beautiful park there on both sides."
The "both sides" part changed the order of things. The south corner was supposed to come first. It now waits on the north corner, and the north corner waits on a state funding agreement that was still unsigned in the most recent public report.
The Corner That Was Supposed to Go First
The southeast corner of the bridge has been county land since September 2023. That month, commissioners voted to buy the parcel of about three-quarters of an acre for up to $900,000. Before the purchase, the lot sat vacant and neglected, with trash, overgrowth and old concrete slabs. Some people fished from it or parked there anyway. By February 2024, county crews were clearing out the vegetation, the trash and the old foundations.
The original deal was a county and Town of Shalimar partnership. Under the 2023 interlocal agreement, the project would cost roughly $3 million, the town would put in up to $500,000, and the county would lead the acquisition, design, permitting and construction.
In June 2025, county commissioners unanimously approved a conceptual plan for what they called Shalimar Bridge Park. It included parking, restrooms, pavilions, a seawall, a riprap fishing pier, boat docks and dock parking spaces. County Facilities and Parks Director Jeff Peters said permitting would take roughly 12 to 14 months and that the county hoped to break ground "by this time next year." That would have meant around June 2026.
That date has passed, and the plan behind it has been rewritten.
How Dowd Park Rewrote the South Corner's Plan
In March 2026, the county approved a $3 million purchase and sale agreement for 1.7 acres at 901 Eglin Parkway North. The property sits on the northeast corner of the bridge on Garnier's Bayou and is owned by John R. Dowd Jr. It would become Dowd Park, named for his father, longtime county attorney John R. Dowd Sr., and it would carry a 40-year deed restriction requiring public park use.
The April interlocal agreement for Dowd Park also covers the south corner. Once the Dowd property closes, the 2023 agreement for the southeast park would be repealed. The county would then own and control both sites, cut back some of the planned improvements on the south side, and move some elements between the two parks. The agreement gives the reason in plain terms. If the Dowd purchase goes through, the town can't pay for both projects. Deputy County Administrator Craig Coffey said the two parks would be designed to look like a matched pair, with similar features, colors and materials.
Each corner also gets a different job. Here is how the county has described them:
| Northeast corner: Dowd Park | Southeast corner: Shalimar Bridge Park | |
|---|---|---|
| Address or location | 901 Eglin Parkway North | Southeast corner of the bridge |
| Size | 1.7 acres | About three-quarters of an acre |
| County purchase | $3 million agreement, pending closing | Bought in 2023 for up to $900,000 |
| Intended use | Passive, family-oriented | Fishing and boating access |
| Fishing | Not permitted | The corner designed for it |
| Planned features | Trails through mature live oaks, pavilions, playground, restrooms, parking, observation platform, shallow wading area with a floating barrier | 2025 concept had a fishing pier, boat docks, pavilions and restrooms; some elements are now set to move between the two parks |
If you've been waiting on the fishing pier and boat docks from the 2025 drawing, the north side is the one to watch. The final layout of the south corner won't be settled until the county owns both corners and starts designing them together.
The Order of Steps From Here
In July, county commissioners voted 5-0 to approve the results of a months-long due diligence review of the Dowd property. That cleared the last contingency they had built into the March deal. Here is what has to happen next, in order:
- The state funding agreement gets signed. The legislature approved a $1.5 million appropriation, and the governor signed it into the budget. Coffey said he expected a funding agreement through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in the following weeks, and that the county would not close until it was signed.
- The county closes on the property. As of the July report, closing was expected between Oct. 31 and the end of the year. In April, the target had been "no later than Oct. 31." The interlocal also sets a hard deadline. If the property doesn't close within this calendar year, the agreement is repealed entirely.
- The 2023 south-corner agreement is repealed, and the county takes full control of both sites.
- Both governments approve the final design. The interlocal let the county start lining up engineers and other design professionals as soon as the agreement was signed. The final park design still needs separate site plan approval from the county and from the town, each at a public meeting.
As of October 4, we haven't found a public report from after mid-July confirming that the DEP agreement was signed, that a closing date was set, or that a design firm was hired. That doesn't mean nothing has happened. It means the July timeline is the most recent one on public record. The early end of that closing window is 27 days away.
The seawall should speed things up once the county closes. Due diligence found a reinforced concrete seawall with layered concrete slab armoring along the full shoreline. A local seawall company estimated it needs only about $50,000 in minor repairs. Coffey said that would save the county more than $1 million in construction costs and a lot of permitting time. It also means work on land can move ahead while the waterside permits are handled separately. The appraisal came in at $2,950,000. That's just under the $3 million price and within the 90% threshold the agreement requires.
What Shalimar Is Putting In, Measured Against Its Budget
The town's share went up when the project grew to cover both corners. In 2023, Shalimar agreed to put up to $500,000 toward the southeast park. Under the Dowd interlocal, it would put in up to $1.5 million. That is three times as much, and it comes from the town's tourist development tax dollars.
The town doesn't have that money on hand. Its share would come from existing reserves of roughly $258,000, plus an annual allocation of about $75,000, until the total reaches $1.5 million or the allocation expires. At that pace, the remaining $1.24 million or so would take around 16 to 17 years to build up. To bridge that gap, the county agreed to pay the town's share up front. Coffey said the town asked for that because its total contribution comes close to the size of Shalimar's entire general fund budget.
The full Dowd project is estimated at $6.5 million:
- $3.05 million for acquisition and closing costs
- $375,000 for design and permitting
- $2.625 million for park development
- $450,000 in contingency
The state covers $1.5 million and the town up to $1.5 million. The county's share is about $3.5 million, which is also paid from tourist development tax revenue. Ketchel thanked Sen. Jay Trumbull and Rep. Patt Maney for securing the state money.
How Dowd Park Is Designed to Fit Next to the Townhomes
A preliminary sketch shows a stormwater retention pond in the low spot where a house once stood. It also shows a residential buffer along the southern edge of the property, next to the neighboring townhomes. The park would be open from one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset. The county would own and maintain it, and the Shalimar Police Department would help with security, including locking the park and watching the cameras.
The entrance is the open question. The park's access runs along Clifford Drive, past the townhomes. County Commission Chairman Trey Goodwin asked staff to look into whether an entrance from Eglin Parkway might work instead. He also pushed for timed access, cameras, fencing and lighting, pointing to the internet-controlled gate arm the county installed at Colonel Bud Day Park. Coffey said the county's informal traffic analysis found a park would create less traffic than any other likely use of the site, including single-family homes or townhomes.
Neighbors raised those concerns at a town hall the county hosted. Planning and Zoning Board member Scott Eastwold said the presentation there addressed the issues and put people at ease. Shalimar Special Projects Commissioner Brian Taylor called the plan for parks on both sides of the bridge "nothing short of spectacular."
Watch for one thing in the next few months: a county commission agenda item for the Dowd closing. The south corner's fishing and boating plan can't move until that closing happens.
If you live near Garnier's Bayou and want to know what your home is worth while plans for both corners of the bridge take shape, The Babe Group can walk you through it. Start your move with a free home valuation from a team that follows the bridge news as closely as you do.
