Forest Lakes Homes for Sale

Living in Forest Lakes

Forest Lakes lies north of County Road 30A in Walton County, and the 2025 property roll gives its lots Santa Rosa Beach 32459 addresses. An ecological assessment dated June 12, 2003, written for what it titled the Gulf Hills Campground, also known as Forest Lake, found about 12.6 of the tract's 37.36 acres in use as a campground. It described about 13.6 acres of native pine and mixed hardwood with sand pine, longleaf pine and turkey oak, about 8 acres of wetlands regulated by the state, among them a titi slough and a dome swamp, and two plants on Florida's threatened list, large-leaved jointweed and Gulf Coast lupine. The conceptual plan submitted on June 18, 2003 described the parcel as bordered by state forest to the north, the First Addition to Gulfview Heights to the west and the unrecorded Gulf Hills Estates to the east.

The Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions, recorded with the Walton County clerk in July 2004, names Forest Lakes Community Owners' Association, Inc., defines a lot as each numbered lot on the plats of the Forest Lakes Planned Unit Development, and cites the Phase I plat at Plat Book 16, Pages 6 and 6A. It requires advance Design Review Board approval for construction and exterior changes, listing painting and the cutting of trees among them, and has that board approve every designer and builder. It keeps natural vegetation in the buffer areas undisturbed in perpetuity per Florida Department of Environmental Protection requirements, and it runs at least 25 years from recording, then renews in 10-year periods unless at least 75 percent of owners sign and record a termination. Its Exhibit A describes a single 15.92-acre parcel, and Section 1.8 brings in other property by supplemental declaration, so confirm with the association that a given lot has been brought under it.

The Forest Lakes Design Code, revised in November 2025, counts 151 lots: the four platted phases plus one lot annexed from Gulf Hills Estates. Its lot table assigns each lot a Park, Tower or 30A house type, and its standards call for brick foundation walls, mill-finish galvanized steel roofs, utilities placed below grade, and mailboxes clustered at the central Pool Porch rather than at each house. On the 2025 property roll, the lots carrying houses show build years from 2006 through 2024, and others remain filed as vacant residential.

• Community pool with a central Pool Porch
• Pavilion that owners can reserve
• Green space that owners can reserve
• Rock paths around the lake
• Pet stations throughout the community