Florida Beaches For All: Customary Use Update & Meeting Feb 26

[Teresa]

NEWS from Florida Beaches for All (FBFA)
Feb 25 2019

RE: upcoming meeting pertaining to Customary Use Update in Walton County
Tuesday February 26 at 5:30pm
Emerald Coast Association of Realtors (ECAR) Conference Room at Great Florida Smiles O'Donnell Building on Hwy 98 in Santa Rosa Beach

We had an overwhelming response to our Status Update email last week. Some of you donated to our cause, and for that, we are deeply grateful. Some of you reached out personally to thank us for our efforts in support of Customary Use and volunteered to help, and that is greatly appreciated, also.

Florida Beaches for All [FBFA] is a small but dedicated group of people fighting a very, very big fight. Without the type of grassroots support we are receiving from folks like you, our chances of winning this fight are reduced.

Please share the word about tomorrow's 5:30-7 PM Town Hall-style event with everyone you know who has an interest in, and a love for, the beaches along 30A in South Walton County. We will deliver up-to-date, factual information in a presentation then have a Q&A Session open to all.

Please call, text or email your friends and personally encourage them to attend with you. Also, please share information about this event on your social media platforms [Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.].

If you are unable to attend, you can watch the Town Hall on Facebook Live.

There is so much more to this lawsuit than most people can wrap their arms around, and tomorrow we would like to dispel myths and help people understand that this fight is far from over. Thank you, and we hope to see you there!

Upcoming Events : Tomorrow ( Tuesday ), February 26th
Join us at the Emerald Coast Association of Realtors [ECAR] conference room located at 6757 U.S. Hwy 98, Santa Rosa Beach, FL 32459 on the second floor at 5:30 pm tomorrow, February 26th. Florida Beaches for All will give a power point presentation followed by a Q & A session. The goal of the meeting is to present factual information and answer people's questions about the current lawsuit and what the future may hold for the process outlined in HB 631.

[The ECAR office is on the second floor of the Great Florida Smiles building on Hwy 98, across from "Smallmart" and next to the Donut Hole.]

 

[Teresa]

MORE from Florida Beaches For All

The battle over Customary Use (CU) in Walton County continues. Here’s what has transpired since we last reached out to you:

• Walton County Commissioners voted 5-0 in early November to reinstitute CU (Thank you, Commissioners!)

• Walton County attorneys have filed a lawsuit in Walton County Circuit Court requesting immediate reinstatement of CU.

• Walton County has officially noticed 100% of the nearly 1,200 beachfront property owners of its intent to reinstate CU and reverse the effects of HB 631 (which went into effect on July 1, 2018 and struck down a 2016 county ordinance declaring CU in Walton County).

• Since being officially noticed, more than 350 beachfront property owners and their army of lawyers have filed to intervene in the county lawsuit, fighting against the reinstatement and preservation of CU. We expect the number of people fighting against reinstatement of CU to grow.

• FBFA has also petitioned the Court to be allowed to intervene IN SUPPORT OF CU. The current lawyers for Walton County represent only the Board of County Commissioners, not the beachgoing public. FBFA’s mission is to represent the beachgoing public alongside the Walton County legal team. This case should not be resolved without hearing from FBFA and citizens whose CU rights are being affected. The hearing to consider allowing us to join the battle with Walton County has yet to be scheduled.

• It should also be noted that at this time at least THREE beachfront owners have also petitioned to intervene in SUPPORT of CU. This may be a David versus Goliath fight, but we are not in this alone, and we are heartened by their willingness to jump into the fray to get Walton County back the way it used to be.

So, that’s where matters currently stand. And here’s what matters most …

We ask you to take a few moments to watch this brief video (courtesy of Northwest Florida Daily News), and share this newsletter with your friends, coworkers and families ASAP. And we also need your ongoing financial assistance so FBFA can continue to “fund the fight” and turn back the efforts of the particular beachfront property owners who want to take the vast majority of Walton County’s beautiful beaches from the beachgoing public.

We are up against some of the biggest, most well-funded, and most aggressive lawyers in the nation who want to strike down your right to continue to use the dry sandy beach areas for recreation and enjoyment – as we have for centuries.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO THIS CRITICALLY IMPORTANT CAUSE
A simple $5 or $10 donation, or higher amount, goes a long way and will be greatly appreciated. Late last summer, FBFA and its supporters were able to gather more than 14,000 signatures on a petition in support of CU in in just a few weeks. If we were to receive a $10 donation from each of these kind folks, we would be able to significantly ramp up our efforts to protect and preserve in perpetuity what’s right and just – open beaches for all!

OUR MISSION
To preserve and perpetuate
the doctrine of Customary Use of ALL BEACHES in Florida
and in all of Coastal America.

donate and sign up for the newsletter for udpates at:
Florida Beaches for All

 

[Jim Tucker]

Fearing for the future

Fighting to make all beaches public again is a group hoping to recruit more help.

Florida Beaches For All, a organization focused on re-establishing customary use, hosted a seminar — titled “Battle of the Beaches” — Tuesday night to educate citizens on its cause and hear their input.

Chairwoman Tonia Shatzel, a local veterinarian, and board member Dave Rauschkolb, owner of Bud and Alley’s Waterfront Restaurant and Rooftop Bar, spoke to the audience of around 50 people.

“There’s a lot of folks who are unhappy with us because we’ve educated the public on what’s happening,” Rauschkolb said. “Some folks might not have been happy that tourists might find out that they’re going to run into private beach signs on the beaches, but you know, if it takes one, two, three or four years, people are going to find out.

“We felt really, really strongly that people need to know.”

As a longtime Seaside business owner, Rauschkolb, said his passion for the cause stemmed from a hope his two daughters would able to enjoy the same freedoms on the beach as he did before House Bill 631, which went into effect July of last year and banned public access to beaches that belonged to homeowners with private deeds.

With Walton being a tourist destination, he feared restricting beach access would hinder the local economy.

“We’re up against a very highly funded group of folks, and a very determined group of folks,” Rauschkolb said. “They believe in private property, and they’ve framed it in this way, and they have a lot of money.”

During the presentation, Shatzel highlighted that tourists brought around $4.4 billion into Walton in 2017, which represented 65 percent of the county’s tax base.

Shatzel added that the group, which formed last year after HB 631, needed additional support and volunteers for the long fight ahead.

After the presentation, the group opened the floor for questions and comments. Most who spoke were either longtime locals, real estate agents or multiple homeowners — but nearly all expressed their dislike for HB 631 and its negative impact on Walton’s future economy.

Florida Beaches For All representatives at the meeting said they plan to continue spreading their mission across the county and state. The group also hired Santa Rosa Beach attorney Daniel Uhlfelder to help them schedule a court hearing to move forward in the legal process of making Florida beaches a public domain.

“We’re in a court battle,” Shatzel said. “We didn’t ask for this battle, but it happened legislatively with HB 631. This is the only real option that we believe we have, and this is the option we decided to take.”

For more information, visit the group’s website at floridabeachesforall.org.