Hampton Inn is seeing major opposition while attempting to become the first chain hotel on 30A.
Everyone that lives in South Walton County, or even those who have visited, know that the area is growing and developing at an exponential rate. Even with this growth, however, 30A has been able to remain chain free. Hampton Inn is attempting to change that by proposing to build a hotel in Seagrove on the land next to Seagrove Baptist Church.
Originally, the piece of land in between Seagrove Baptist and the storage facility on the Eastern end of 30A had been slated to have a 28 unit luxury condominium complex build on it called Chateau 30A. This would be fine, and is part of the expected growth in the area. The developer, however, decided not to move forward with that project and sold the property. Hampton Inn wishes to build a 90 unit hotel there, and the locals are outraged. One of the main issues people have with this are that it will be the start of changing the look and feel of the area. Also, instead of the money being spent there going back into the local economy, it will instead go to the shareholders of Hampton Inn, wherever there headquarters may be.
A petition has been started, along with a Twitter Account and a Facebook Page called “Not On My 30A. Through social media the petition has spread like wildfire, and has garnered an astounding 7,500 signatures, shooting for a goal of 10,000.
On January 14th at 5:00PM The Walton County Planning Commission plans to meet and discuss this issue. If you are a local, or a visitor in town who does not want to see 30A turn into another Panama City Beach or Daytona Beach type of location, your presence there and support would be greatly appreciated.