BMBV: the only yes to nourishment without a majority rule vote would be for the emergency protection of life and limb or for roads or other necessary infrastructure.
Now may we move together amicably to the laws of property deeds. If your gulf front deed states that you have the specific land in between say 4 GPS points there is really no discussion needed. You own what you own period like any other interior lot.
If however somehow the county was dumb enough to give you a deed that states you own it to the gulf, i can only think that they owe you an apoligy and some compensation if they have to "take" that back sometime in the future.
If they say you own it to the mean high water mark well that is just stupid cuz the future mean high water mark may be 50 feet north of you in the near future, God forbid.
It is my opinion that your deed and all gulf front deeds need to be amended to 4 specific GPS points if that is not the case already( i guess that is obviously NOT the case)
So here we sit with the courts to undo what the county has done with the help of the state and feds and a bunch of PUBLIC $$$...all without the consent of the public for use of those Public $$$...Lawyers REJOICE!!!
Any thoughts?
Regarding voting on beach nourishment: Is that somthing that was voted on before my time for Western Walton County and Okaloosa? I don't think so but I'm not 100% sure.
The laws are very clear that the state owns any submerged lands bordering the gulf (navigable waters). They have defined the "border" as the MHWL which has a very exact definition associated with it. I have no problem with this aspect.
And you are right...if we lose beach, we lose property. If we gain beach, we gain property.
What's interesting is the amount of tidal change on the Atlantic coast. Where there are private beaches, the public can "time" the tide and have somtimes hundreds of feet of beach available to them. The difference on the gulf, as you know, is the tide doesn't change much. And as it is highest during the summer, the wet sand concept provides a reasonable means to delineate the beach. I'll even throw in a foot or two of beach (low tide vs. high tide) for all the SJs out there.
Did you know a kid digging a big hole at water's edge could actually be changing our legal boundary. OK SJ, now go get your shovel and let the games begin.
BeachSiO2 is an expert on this topic as he set me straight a while back.
Edit: Forgot to address your important question:
"If they say you own it to the mean high water mark well that is just stupid cuz the future mean high water mark may be 50 feet north of you in the near future, God forbid. Does Florida Law littoral or riparian, state that you lose it completely if you go completely under water and the water line is north of your property?"
I can only hope that I don't have to address this in my lifetime. All the seawalls in Walton County would certainly and admittedly throw a kink into the analysis (at least for the walls still standing).