Customary Use Will Happen On Sowal Beaches

[Dave Rauschkolb]

As I understand it the Bill that just passed in the Florida Legislature that nullified Walton County's Customary Use Ordinance goes into effect on July 1st. Signs, chains, ropes and "get off my property!" are really not valid or correct; not just yet. When it is in effect we will need to obey the law and educate our visiting tourists on the rules of the road.

What the rules are going to be will take some time to define. Evidently every beachfront homeowner has to follow a procedure to secure a "private beach" within the parameters of the new Bill. I would imagine there will be a patchwork of "private" and public beaches which will be very confusing for everyone.

For example, much of Old Seagrove is public with access, a few of the homes have "ownership" to the waterline and others do not and still others have public beach below their homes. It will be imperative the communities that have public beach insist on keeping the age old accesses open and not allow the Beach "owners" to take legal measures to close them like at Headland Ave which should be reopened in my opinion. At any rate Customary Use is technically still in effect. Anyone have a legal opinion that proves that wrong?

 

[Bob Hudson]

I believe you have burden of proof on the wrong Party. It would seem to me that the plantif bears the burden of proving their case.

Didn’t the first case limit the county’s ability to ban signs based on a violation of free speech ?

I’m not an attorney !

 

[lazin&drinkin]

The first case completely overturned that part of the Beach Activities Ordinance banning signs as unconstitutional under the First Amendment.

And, yes, when the new statute takes effect July 1, the burden is statutorily on the county to prove its claim of customary use on each and every individual piece of privately owned beach it wishes to claim. Property owners may intervene in each case, but they do not have to defend their ownership nor disprove CU. One could reasonably expect such owners to retain counsel and intervene despite the legal presumption going in that there is no CU to disprove, only a claim of CU alleged and to be proven by the county.

I'm not an attorney, but I can read and understand the language of the statute, and I'm quite familiar with the legislative intent.

 

[FactorFiction]

Best and most accurate explanation I've heard of the legislation:
Does a new law privatize some Florida beaches? It's more complicated than that - WMNF

 

[boomerang]

Fact or Fiction (Huckabee) will you please report whether you promoted this bill that banned customary use and whether you will dispute your gulf front property?

I think you you be willing to stand for what ever you are saying behind closed doors.

 

[FactorFiction]

Fact or Fiction (Huckabee) will you please report whether you promoted this bill that banned customary use and whether you will dispute your gulf front property?

I think you you be willing to stand for what ever you are saying behind closed doors.

For starters, I am not Gov. Huckabee and I'm sure he would get a kick out of anyone thinking I am. To clarify, I have this amazing skill called empathyI can actually see both sides of the debate over customary use and don't begrudge anyone for their viewpoint or support one way or the other. I DO think that name calling and demeaning, etc. are counterproductive and tend to bring out the worst in both sides. I think property rights are significant and important to protect. I also like to share. That's how I was raised. I have no pull whatsoever with the powers that be in Tallahassee, so no, I did not "promote" the bill in any way other than I think that to have ANY private property rights diminished, facts and evidence in a court of law is the right way to handle it. Hopefully this clears up any confusion you may have on my position.

 

[Teresa]

Best and most accurate explanation I've heard of the legislation:
Does a new law privatize some Florida beaches? It's more complicated than that - WMNF

Good info. Thanks for posting.

I believe Walton County did the best thing for our community by making all beaches open to the public, resolving a local problem that was only getting worse with signs, ropes and calls to the law. We needed resolution. But here we are again. Back to the battle of the beaches.

I understand Beach front owners concerns. But I can't support signs and fences on the beach keeping people from using the beach. We didn't grow with restricted access to certain beaches with a few exceptions. Yes crowds do bring problems for some beach homeowners. Why can't we address those problems with rules and enforcement? Surely there are common sense solutions found in other Beach towns. And certainly not all beach front homeowners want to declare their beaches private. Even though they may wish for better management of vendors and enforcement.

I remember when dogs were banned from the beaches. And we thought that was the worst thing ever to happen. Massive crowds at the BCC meetings. We got past that and it turned out to be a good thing (we didn't think so then). We just need to keep trying to make the beach experience better for all of us. And protect them from all harm whatever that may take. Our beaches are truly beautiful and worth the effort regardless of where you may stand on these issues. Love this beach town from its beaches to its Bay shores. A special place to live, work and play

 

[FactorFiction]

Good info. Thanks for posting.

I believe Walton County did the best thing for our community by making all beaches open to the public, resolving a local problem that was only getting worse with signs, ropes and calls to the law. We needed resolution. But here we are again. Back to the battle of the beaches.

I understand Beach front owners concerns. But I can't support signs and fences on the beach keeping people from using the beach. We didn't grow with restricted access to certain beaches with a few exceptions. Yes crowds do bring problems for some beach homeowners. Why can't we address those problems with rules and enforcement? Surely there are common sense solutions found in other Beach towns. And certainly not all beach front homeowners want to declare their beaches private. Even though they may wish for better management of vendors and enforcement.

I remember when dogs were banned from the beaches. And we thought that was the worst thing ever to happen. Massive crowds at the BCC meetings. We got past that and it turned out to be a good thing (we didn't think so then). We just need to keep trying to make the beach experience better for all of us. And protect them from all harm whatever that may take. Our beaches are truly beautiful and worth the effort regardless of where you may stand on these issues. Love this beach town from its beaches to its Bay shores. A special place to live, work and play

I think a return to good ole fashioned manners and respect would resolve a lot of the world's problems, including the beach.

 

[30A Skunkape]

I think a return to good ole fashioned manners and respect would resolve a lot of the world's problems, including the beach.

I agree. So long as people act in a manner that respects the beach, ergo the property, the reasonable majority should get along just fine.

 

[Kaydence]

Good info. Thanks for posting.

I believe Walton County did the best thing for our community by making all beaches open to the public, resolving a local problem that was only getting worse with signs, ropes and calls to the law. We needed resolution. But here we are again. Back to the battle of the beaches.

I understand Beach front owners concerns. But I can't support signs and fences on the beach keeping people from using the beach. We didn't grow with restricted access to certain beaches with a few exceptions. Yes crowds do bring problems for some beach homeowners. Why can't we address those problems with rules and enforcement? Surely there are common sense solutions found in other Beach towns. And certainly not all beach front homeowners want to declare their beaches private. Even though they may wish for better management of vendors and enforcement.

I remember when dogs were banned from the beaches. And we thought that was the worst thing ever to happen. Massive crowds at the BCC meetings. We got past that and it turned out to be a good thing (we didn't think so then). We just need to keep trying to make the beach experience better for all of us. And protect them from all harm whatever that may take. Our beaches are truly beautiful and worth the effort regardless of where you may stand on these issues. Love this beach town from its beaches to its Bay shores. A special place to live, work and play

I know someone is just dying to tell me why 50% of our beaches are given to vendors FREE OF CHARGE which restricts access to PUBLIC BEACHES WHILE INSISTING that public beach access isn't being restricted when clearly it is?

And...why do folks want to make light of the issues vendors cause?

You can't fix the problems by refusing to acknowledge they exist!