Customary Use and Our 30A Legacy

Walton’s customary use case again delayed by notification issues

Just great... 6 more months of fish fried tales. Is this an intentional tactic by Theriaque and the county to delay the case? How hard can it possibly be to officially notify the few remaining parcel owners?

It could be quite hard to notify and get the return receipt notification from the multitudes of HOAs, trusts, investment firms,etc. that own /invested in property. Some of the people that got them might not even realize that they are part of the case or that they own property down here. Maybe some of them dont realize that they were left property or are part of an investment that grandpa and/or grandma gave them decades ago. Maybe some of them are in jail for shady business dealings and dont want anyone to find out about the little nest egg they have hiding down here. There are alot of reasons that they couldnt be notified.

I am always amused by the arguments presented by the Customary Use Proponents advocates about the greedy, selfish, rich beach front owners who stole THEIR beach via quiet title. I am one of them. It was written in our subdivision covenants that if the organization became defunct, we could apply for a deed to the MHWL line. Those who think of us as the greedy landowners seem to forget who rebuilt the beaches in 2005 after a horrible hurricane season. The County did not. The State did not. The Feds did not. It was those pesky beach front landowners who did. I know because I personalty spent over $200,000 in sand to save my property and rebuild the beach and save it from further erosion. Where was the public when we needed them the most? Lots of luck to try now to take it from me now.

You're new here but this has been discussed intensely. I was up and down the beaches in 2005 and 2006 and saw all the illegal "beach restoration" you are talking about. A lot of it was documented here with descriptions and photos. Just do a search and read up before posting again.

It was a travesty of a free for all - beachfront owners doing whatever they wanted while officials were busy looking elsewhere. Illegal sand, seawalls, geotubes, etc. After the next major storm we will be stuck with the bill of cleaning up thousands of tons of your crap that will be covering every inch of sand. What is under the sand you dumped?

As for your situation, what possible reason could you have to claim the beach, other than greed?

Typical ignorance. All construction, sand, and walls was approved by the county and state.

Typical ignorance. All construction, sand, and walls was approved by the county and state.

That is patently false. Some reconstruction of “dunes” was approved by county but almost none was approved by the state and they had the jurisdiction.

Typical ignorance. All construction, sand, and walls was approved by the county and state.

Thanks for spending BIG on what mother Nature would have done for free. See you on our sand soon enough!

Although this “video report” was produced back on February 7, 2019, it was linked in the above online referenced article. It again reflects the EXTREME BIAS of NW Florida Daily News. That is a person after viewing this hatchet job with no understanding of the quiet title process would naturally think Mike Huckabee transferred public beach to private beach for $400 as did several other beach front owners. Again, the fallacy (for anyone in the know) is that the sandy part of the beach in Old Blue Mountain subdivision was NEVER PUBLIC IN THE FIRST PLACE. It was always private.

And why do they constantly zero in on Mike Huckabee when several others have done the same thing? The answer is obvious.

NW Florida Daily News does not know the meaning of shame. Tom McLaughlin, are you listening?

Just realized the link for the mentioned video was not provided. Here it is, “again”.

Typical ignorance. All construction, sand, and walls was approved by the county and state.

There were more violations than they could deal with and most of the illegal work was covered up so they slapped some fines on a few people and did a blanket approval of all the illegal and IGNORANT work.
Greed, ignorance and bureaucracy at its finest.

What I mostly have a problem with is Ignorant people like you with more money than sense who brag about saving the beaches when I know what is going to happen after the next big storm. Thousands of tons of worthless junk, geotube carcasses, seawall twisted metal, pilings, metal curtains and who knows what covering most of our beaches and in the gulf and in the coastal dune lakes. WE THE PEOPLE will have your mess to deal with. You think you helped when in reality you have created a ticking time bomb that will ruin our environment.

Quote from jodiFL "It could be quite hard to notify and get the return receipt notification"

Actually the 420 notifications under discussion are people that did indeed receive, sign, and return the green certified mail card, but had not filed to intervene yet. HOWEVER the Judge ruled that the notification itself was not sufficient so they are repeating the process again with a "new one".

When property owners called Sidney Noyes office and asked what was necessary to intervene, if they could write a simple letter of intervention themselves, and, what happens if they did not intervene. they were told the county had no answers and they should contact a lawyer.

Questions:

1. How much has the BCC APPROVED to be spent on outside council to sue private property owners to take over their private property rights (right of exclusion)?

2. How much has the BCC spent on lawyers so far?

3. Is there a reduction on rate, or credit from Theriaque, since it has taken over 1 year and Theriaque still does not have a notification to send to defendants that is acceptable to the courts?

4. If the court dismisses the case, does the BCC pay the defendants legal fees, and if so, how much it is?

Maybe the judge just doesn't want to deal with it. After all judges are lawyers and lawyers love to put things off until the last minute, unless, of course, they're chasing an ambulance.

From the book of Matthew...."... be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Hanging out this morning at Old Guys breakfast table at Donut Hole. One Old Fart asks these 3 questions. We all started furiously writing on napkins.

“I wonder how much percentage of the total Walton County property tax revenue the beachfront property owners pay?”

“What if the county really does spend $50,000,000 on suing them as FBFA Leaders have repeatedly claimed?”

“With this egregious attack on private property owners, while using their own money to attack them, only because inept county officials and hooligans are falsely telling folks that they can enjoy someone else’s private property by suing them for it... Who will the actors be in the movie that comes out telling the story about this big lie on the big screen, after the corruption is uncovered, and the county pays them back with those other citizens’ tax money?”

Our answers were hilarious on the top 8 characters.

Huckabee's house is an ugly monument to the nouveau riche regardless of any property lines.

Wow! Seems like old times.
My very first post on SoWal in 2006 (first of several on the seawall subject):
Seawalls

Huckabee's house is an ugly monument to the nouveau riche regardless of any property lines.

I'm sure that Mr. Huckabee is devastated that you don't like his house. Oh, is Skunkape your first or last name?

From the book of Matthew...."... be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Hope you don’t live in FL. A sink hole, tornado or cat 5 may be coming your way. Not sure what bible verse would apply there - same one?

IMHO (as bmbvagrant likes to say) there is no coincidence in the sudden change in bfo's demanding the power to exclude people from the beach and the history of how these beaches have always been shared. You can follow the money, follow the political influence and follow the way individual power believes in their greatness over people who just want to use the beach for shared enjoyment to find out what changed. All the issues about beach density, vending and property rights are nothing more than a way to distract and provoke us from the real issue which is that a few individuals think they have a mandate for private enjoyment of the beach. So who are the few individuals? Certainly this thread has left no doubt about how individual power will use that power to provoke, blame and shame the people who disagree with their quest for exclusion. They can not handle anyone like our little old County telling them NO or you are WRONG. So they began attacking the people. People misbehave. People want free stuff. People are taking something that is not theirs. I will never fully understand how rich people can justify what they are willing to do to get what they want. Apparently they are not told NO very much. I keep asking why is the exclusive mansions not enough that were built solid from the ground up several stories high on the sand dunes where the people gave you those permits to allow these buildings that block the views of this beautiful from the people? I have discovered what the answer is just from reading Reggie/Regina and FBB and a few others. You see when you believe in your greatness instead of earn your greatness (like sharing the enjoyment of the beach) it leads to exclusive needs and extreme justifications like the founders have mandated private enjoyment of the beaches. I think it is obvious that true greatness does not hide their identity and then provoke others. If you do not believe me just experiment with these people who hide their name and then cry out for justice to give them the power to exclude people from the beach. All you have to do is disagree with them and you will find out who they are. They will try to make you feel inferior so be prepared to stand up for yourself...

So, I expect they will shoot back and say that it is about your individual property rights. I am going to say that if you believe that then one day our beaches will be so extremely limited that you will have to make reservations just to see our beaches and driving down 30A will give you a view of wall to wall mansions...

There are answers to beach density, beach vending and beach behavior so as a community we need to be unified to solve these problems. Bfo's and non-Bfo's need to work together to find the right balances. I am not saying it is easy but when we practice civility we should be able to find a balance that works. Hiding your name and then provoking others is not the answer. The purpose of this thread was not to find any balance but to allow the rich and powerful to justify their wants for private enjoyment of the beach. The real solutions are always with real people who show up...

Wow! Seems like old times.
My very first post on SoWal in 2006 (first of several on the seawall subject):
Seawalls

Did your condo get a permit before building your seawall? Or did you install and ask forgiveness? What is the state of the seawall at your condo now? Fully buried as required?

mputnal, I’ll give you credit for creativity and imagination but ZERO for CU beliefs credibility. You do not even believe that by FL Statute definition BPOs have ownership of the sand and all property rights that go with it landward of the MHWL. So how credible can your grand metaphysical class-warfare ramblings beliefs be?
#1994 Customary Use and Our 30A Legacy

There has been “no coincidence in the sudden change”. How long have you been a part of this south Walton “community” and what county do you reside? Because you have not been here as long as we have owned BF or read SoWal before or just don’t believe the local CU history since 2002; almost 18 years ago.

#29 Customary Use and Our 30A Legacy
Dave Rauschkolb said: “This is the most ridiculous comment. No one ever spoke of our beaches being private until a few years ago when this nonsense started.” WRONG again.

Proposed bill could void Walton County's customary use ordinance
“False. Customary use as been litigated and an issue in Walton long before now. Ask Walton’s $425/hr land use attorney, Mr. Theriaque, about Meyer v. Apollo and Destin's 2002 veiled attempt to declare customary use. 2003 Walton Beach ordinance, customary use was considered and rejected by commissioners. 2007 Walton commissioners directed County Attorney to draft a customary use ordinance and failed to enact it.”

Mike Huckabee’s role in pushing controversial beach access law
When did customary use first discussed on the Emerald Coast? Not “suddenly”.

Supporting Property Rights
May 2007 How Property Ownership Changes Your World View
Harvard Business School by Julia Hanna

mputnal said: “So who are the few individuals?” 650+ of the 1,193 beachfront parcels (estimated 2,200 individual BPOs) who have intervened as Defendants in Commissioners’ litigation. Hardly a few individuals. What about the 84% of the FL Legislators who voted for FS163.035 BPO CU due process? House Bill 631 (2018) - The Florida Senate

I’ll give you credit for creativity and imagination but ZERO for credibility of your unsubstantiated beliefs.

Why do BPOs feel compelled to use pseudonyms? Because of CU believers civil discourse like this Mike Huckabee’s role in pushing controversial beach access law and staged trespass on BPO property by CU believer attorney and others or frivolous police reports filed against BPO but not known CU believer active shooter videos.

The CU believers don't want anyone to use Pseudonyms but the CU believers. Maybe the administrators should ban all BFOs and those who agree with the BFOs from using pseudonyms. After all, no one ever accused SoWal of being unbiased.

"EXCLUSIVITY"
(A thoughtful topic for the dinner table)

Before you get caught up adamantly defending the feel-good "customary use" campaign (innocent sounding label, right? Such a cute sticker they gave us at their affidavit blitz, right?), honestly ask yourself these 10 questions:

1. Do I agree beach density will eventually need to be managed so that the beach ambiance is not ruined for everybody?
2. Do I agree eventually there is some threshold?
3. Who gets to decide the threshold? Restauranteur empire-builders? Transient vacation rental investors? Bed tax collectors? Monster rental house developers?

Do I agree low beach use density is beneficial to the environment as well as public health and safety? Seriously now. Where do trespassers actually pee and pooh when they want to day camp on a private beach property all day?

Aren't I here because of the relatively low density of our beaches compared to our neighboring counties? What's wrong with wanting to maintain that?

4. How do I recemmend we manage beach density without some form of exclusion? Are economic barriers of beach access ultimately any different than the physical barriers (locked gates) of say, Water Sound?

5. How do I suggest managing beach density without monetizing beach use? (eenie meenie miney mo?)

Everyone is in agreement that clean drinking water should be available for every human being, but do I get my water for free? or do I have to pay for it? Though water is unequivocally more essential than a convenient sunbathing spot, I still have to pay for water.

Do I really believe the public crowds are entitled to free real estate for sunbathing? Does Walton County owe anyone a cheap vacation? Has Walton County indicated any interest in restricting growth of short-term rentals, which ultimately drives out the full-time residents? (Side benefit- Lack of full-time residents opens the floodgates for corruption opportunities.)

6. How has Walton County indicated any plans in managing beach density? Do I really think just limiting parking is sufficient? How about Uber and the 86 passenger megaliner tour buses? Future shuttle bus plans? How many new rental homes were added just this year, flooding the market. How closely have they studied supply and demand and occupancy rates? Or they just plan to build the pooh out of this county, lining their own pockets while they can still lure investors in the hope of "customary use" while intentionally dragging out the assuredly eventually doomed lawsuits. With supposed ineptness?... How many 'failures to properly notice' do-overs is the county going to get? Pay attention, my friends.

How effective has Walton County ever been in regulating tourist conduct even on their county-owned public beach parks? Is it fair to confiscate private property just to make it a free-for-all "park"?

Why do I suppose coastal cities with large public beaches are hubs for human trafficking and porn production industry? (Come on now. Connect the dots. You're smart.)

How many personnel do I think would be truly required to adequately regulate the conduct of growing crowds along 26 miles of beaches? Who would pay for the high cost of adequately managing crowds on the beach? The beachgoers themselves? How so? If they are day-trippers?

7. When a homeowner wants to enjoy his private property with his family, why should he forfeit the right to insist an obnoxious, albeit legal, two-faced jerk leave? Wouldn't I demand my family be able to enjoy my own private property?

How many law enforcement officers do I think will be required to keep the public safe in today's increasingly violent culture, along 26 miles of open free-for-all beaches? (watch the news lately?)
How many lifeguard stands do we need per capita? How many water rescues and drownings did we have this year?

Can we continue to keep everybody safe on the beach without proper regulation, monitoring, or controls of ever-growing crowds coming and going?

8. Is restricting beach density inherently wrong?
Would veterans suffering from PTSD agree? Would mothers wanting to protect their young children from predatory pervs lurking in large crowds agree? Would shoreline migratory nesting foul and endangered sea turtles benefit? Would elderly couples wanting to walk hand in hand along an uncluttered shoreline agree? Would artists seeking inspiration from the natural environment agree? Would a soul searcher seeking a prayerful, meditative spot, gazing on the gulf horizon agree? Would a shoreline fisherman agree? Would a bride who wants to be assured her beach wedding location can be reserved well in advance agree? Would couples on a romantic getaway agree? Don't people who simply cannot be in a crowd, for one reason another, also have recreational beach rights, even when they're willing to pay for some privacy and solitude?
What about me? Have I ever enjoyed a vacation getaway on a private beach that exluded the public crowds?

9. Why should the rights of exclusion be transferred from the private property owners to the government, merely for greedy economic gain? With zero indication of any intention or cabability to properly manage beach use density and behavior?

10. Is exclusivity wrong? No. It's essential.
(The transfer of the rights of exclusion is really what this CU lawsuit is about, you know.)

Whether you agree or disagree, feel free to copy, paste, share and learn from some honest, thoughtful discussion and feedback among your friends and family. I do appreciate that you at least took the time to read this tl;dr post.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Well, I see a new power broker just entered the room. Kind of makes sense doesn't it? What they lack in credibility they certainly make up in hired guns (their words not mine)!

Exclusion is what rich people want. They do not want to associate with the community much. They do not like people much (just read their words). Definitely are not able to attend a redneck fish fry or care much for our beach enjoyment or weather you have a happy anything! If they would just try to associate with us real working class people they might find us tolerable

Kathryn, I hear you but you are not using your real name right? I now support public recreational beach use and use my real name as well as Dave and a few others. You call people names like "surfer dude" etc. Does that make you feel good about something? Why would you support exclusive beach use by a few wealthy people who will squash you like a little ant if you stand in their way on any issue? They could give a rats aspirin bottle about mine and your rights. Makes no sense to me why you are giving them a mandate to believe in their superiority but I am sure you have a good reason!?! From my little ant life perspective I hope that real hard working people will never lose our voice...

Well, I see a new power broker just entered the room. Kind of makes sense doesn't it? What they lack in credibility they certainly make up in hired guns (their words not mine)!

Exclusion is what rich people want. They do not want to associate with the community much. They do not like people much (just read their words). Definitely are not able to attend a redneck fish fry or care much for our beach enjoyment or weather you have a happy anything! If they would just try to associate with us real working class people they might find us tolerable

Kathryn, I hear you but you are not using your real name right? I now support public recreational beach use and use my real name as well as Dave and a few others. You call people names like "surfer dude" etc. Does that make you feel good about something? Why would you support exclusive beach use by a few wealthy people who will squash you like a little ant if you stand in their way on any issue? They could give a rats aspirin bottle about mine and your rights. Makes no sense to me why you are giving them a mandate to believe in their superiority but I am sure you have a good reason!?! From my little ant life perspective I hope that real hard working people will never lose our voice...

The latest ridiculous, juvenile moniker is that we are a bunch of "hooligans" Happy Thanksgiving!