Public vs Private Beach [threads merged]

[John G]

After catching up on all the new posts after the meeting, I can't help but see that "word" being used again; ENFORCEMENT.

If our elected sheriff would have been doing his job (enforcement of rules / laws on beach) back in his fist term, we would not have anywhere close to the beach issues we have now.

It took law suits to get to the bottom of the illegal wedding house. Money spent on noise meters with zero training for officers and now you never see a noise meters, where'd they go? Dogs and glass on beach, oh that's code enforcement's job...just look at there annual report to see how good a job they do...pathetic.

The blaintant lack of enforcement towards visitors has gotten us to this new argument of Customary Use. That plus the failure of renourishment is what brought us to this.

Now, some people feel the right to act out on there envy of those that own beach front property and seek to take it from them. Disgusting.

 

[Dawn]

Isn't customary use what got people putting out signs and fences in the first place? For the logic "I've had a no trespassing sign on my beachfront for 18 months so that means no one can trespass".

@John G I would prefer not having more cops on the beach. Thank you very much. And wedding disruptions should be discouraged and prevented in the first place, not by trying to shut them down by Barney Fife with a gadget. Instead of spending millions to invite people here to abuse us we should be spending it on education about what is allowed and what is not allowed. How to act when you are here. How to treat our environment and locals with respect. Let's put our foot down. Time to stop letting all the spoiled rich treat SoWal like their exclusive playground.

 

[Lake View Too]

Yes, customary use is what caused the signs and fences. Unless some sort of guidelines are established that law enforcement can enforce uniformly, I see nothing but a vast wasteland of lawsuits stretching out for decades.

To me, I would like to see some deputy presence on the beach, telling people to stay off the dunes, and pick up their trash, and then, have the deputies pulling up the signs and posts that stretch thru the "half" of the beach that shall remain customary use.

 

[gailforce]

Unfortunately, they won't be pulling up signs. It's the WCSO's new SOP for beach tresspassing that calls for these signs. Look at section VII, A5.

 

[jodiFL]

Just saw a post on Facebook touting a new condo in Seagrove with 335ft. of "PRIVATE BEACH"...the blame should be put right were it all starts.. with the developers,realtors, and PR firms advertising our beaches like this in order to make a mere $48 million off of a 2 (maybe 3) acre site...complete with 31 units. With sites like this saying that the beach is private its no wonder we have people thinking it is private. I think if some of them got sued for false advertising they would stop selling/telling people the whole "PRIVATE" thing

 

[BlueMtnBeachVagrant]

So glad I live in Old BMB, owners own ALL (3) access points( state of Florida approved not TDC)..they put those silly PVC vendor only signs between two of our accesses pointing toward each other over 800' of beach. They came back in a few days and removed ALL signage TDC/ code enforcement have NO sign authority own our neighborhood beaches. FYI we have a few lots left to build on just sayin.

Help me out here. Can you clarify what you mean when you say, "...owners own ALL (3) access points( state of Florida approved not TDC)..." ? I always thought the developer deeded the accesses to the county and therefore the county is responsible for maintaining these accesses. By the way, "you" have some really beautiful walkovers (Trex material from the street to beach, nice handrails, public parking spaces, etc.) - not typical for an association funded walkover.

 

[sunspotbaby]

The State parks do a great job keeping the dunes apart from 'customary use' with minimal posts and rope. Use the same logic with gulf front owners....especially the ones that have put out hundreds of feet of 'walkover'. They are all trying to establish new property lines for themselves.

 

[Danny Glidewell]

This issue should have been addressed several years ago instead of kicking the issue down the road. Now we have come to a place where our economy is threatened and there is a real danger that our area could lose millions of economic impact which means the livelihoods of thousands of Walton County citizens could be adversely effected. If the vast majority of the beach is private then everything north of 30-A and old 98 is going to experience a huge drop in value. Since a large portion of the business traffic is generated by those properties, then the amenities (restaurants, stores, attractions etc.) are going to experience a significant decrease in profits and many will be unable to sustain their business model and will close. Without these amenities the area will be less attractive to many visitors and the beachfront properties themselves will experience a drop in profitability. Since many in the North end make their living working in the South, the loss of business will cost them their jobs and they will move on which will hurt the North economy and so the entire county is regressing economically. Tax revenue will decrease and county government will suffer. In order to make up for the revenue shortfall government will raise the tax rates which will significantly impact the beachfront properties and force many to sell or move into foreclosure. Before long you will have the ghost town a few seem to desire and the rest of us will be poorer or will have left to find an area that has the foresight to protect and defend their economy. It would be better for everyone if we could agree to work together and find common ground, but if not, then we must move to protect what has taken hundreds of years and much blood, sweat and tears to produce. The beaches have historically been common ground and our economic model has always been built on this premise. Private beaches in the long-term only benefit a very small minority of our citizens. But it will destroy the rest of us. It is what it is.

 

[Garner]

This issue should have been addressed several years ago instead of kicking the issue down the road. Now we have come to a place where our economy is threatened and there is a real danger that our area could lose millions of economic impact which means the livelihoods of thousands of Walton County citizens could be adversely effected. If the vast majority of the beach is private then everything north of 30-A and old 98 is going to experience a huge drop in value. Since a large portion of the business traffic is generated by those properties, then the amenities (restaurants, stores, attractions etc.) are going to experience a significant decrease in profits and many will be unable to sustain their business model and will close. Without these amenities the area will be less attractive to many visitors and the beachfront properties themselves will experience a drop in profitability. Since many in the North end make their living working in the South, the loss of business will cost them their jobs and they will move on which will hurt the North economy and so the entire county is regressing economically. Tax revenue will decrease and county government will suffer. In order to make up for the revenue shortfall government will raise the tax rates which will significantly impact the beachfront properties and force many to sell or move into foreclosure. Before long you will have the ghost town a few seem to desire and the rest of us will be poorer or will have left to find an area that has the foresight to protect and defend their economy. It would be better for everyone if we could agree to work together and find common ground, but if not, then we must move to protect what has taken hundreds of years and much blood, sweat and tears to produce. The beaches have historically been common ground and our economic model has always been built on this premise. Private beaches in the long-term only benefit a very small minority of our citizens. But it will destroy the rest of us. It is what it is.

AMEN

 

[Sun Chaser]

Just saw a post on Facebook touting a new condo in Seagrove with 335ft. of "PRIVATE BEACH"...the blame should be put right were it all starts.. with the developers,realtors, and PR firms advertising our beaches like this in order to make a mere $48 million off of a 2 (maybe 3) acre site...complete with 31 units. With sites like this saying that the beach is private its no wonder we have people thinking it is private. I think if some of them got sued for false advertising they would stop selling/telling people the whole "PRIVATE" thing

Exactly. The conspicuous silence from real estate agents (except from a couple of them) agreeing with Customary Use is deafening.