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Kurt

Admin
Staff member
Oct 15, 2004
2,233
4,925
SoWal
mooncreek.com
How long do you think it will be before the beaches are gated? Gates on the walkovers, fences to the water...

Seems ridiculous, but it wasn't so long ago when the only gated homes I had seen were those of celebrities. I never saw a gated community until I was over 20.

It's no fun having enough money to buy something beautiful if you can't exclude people the people who can only afford to enjoy the things that belong to everyone.

Private walkovers can be gated but fencing the beach to obstruct passage is not legal.
 

Paula

Beach Fanatic
Jan 25, 2005
3,747
442
Michigan but someday in SoWal as well
Personally, I have no problems with people trying to keep their walkovers private as long as there are plenty of public walkovers (and it seems as though there are plenty of public walkovers).

I also think it was wonderful that some communities made private walkovers available after storms/hurricanes so that people had access to the beach if the public walkover was not in service -- good karma. I think Rosemary Beach was one of them, though I don't know if they'd do it again - and I now support the businesses at Rosemary Beach more often because of this good Karma. I am less likely to support the communities that blocked accesses for non residents after hurricanes because I figure that's a time to be helpful and open and not a time to just take care of oneself and one's own community.

I do have problems with people saying they own all the beach in front of their places. I have less of a problem with the rule being the "high water mark" (even if the sand is dry).
 

ktmeadows

Beach Fanatic
Jun 21, 2005
763
24
Dont worry if that happens ..nature will take care of those gates/fences. And Mothers Natures way of exacting Karma can be a very humbling thing;-)


How much you want to bet if Karma is exacted that these same folks will be crying at FEMA's doorsteps for assistance restoring "their" beaches!:angry:
 

Sheila

SoWal Insider
There has to be a happy medium. Seacrest beach doesn't let everyone use their pool. They limit that to Seacrest Beach Owners and Guests. I agree with that. (limited # of chairs, capacity) And I think Rosemary would be within their rights to limit parking to 2 hours so that people can't park and hit the beach all day. Save the few parking spaces for the retail spaces -- sorry if that isn't a popular opinion, but I have a vested interest in seeing the retail spaces thrive. I totally disagree with people being teritorial over the beach. I don't get it in Blue Mt and I don't get it in Rosemary. I can't believe that this is legal?!?!?! It has to be solved through the laws soon. But since I can't vote there -- I'll leave that issue to those that can. However, what completely baffles me is why Rosemary doesn't let people use the walkovers. And why aren't the retail operations fighting to allow MORE "rif-raf" access to the walkovers? Didn't our sales tax $$ help pay for the walkovers. Heck, charge us a $1 walkover restoration surcharge if you wish. But The more we use the walkovers, the more likely we are to grab lunch/dinner/glass of wine at Wild Olives. And the more likely I am to buy that cute canvas bag at the little shoe shop. Or my kids are going to convince me they "need" a lemonade from the Sugar Shak. More traffic = more sales = a more vibrant community in MHO. Rosemary needs to wake up and smell the Thymes. heheheh

That being said, I really have a bigger issue with Sunset not letting Seacrest owners ride a bike to the access. Especially when we pay a bigger portion of the restoration and the salary for the very efficient guard that will follow you all the way to the beach to make sure you are following her rules. ok. . .don't even get me started on that. Next time I am down, I'll just get Punzy and the skunkster to show me the little public access that they bike to. :D


Tis, I wish that was the case. We had our HOA meeting yesterday and it's unbelievable how many of the adjacent developments have memberships to the Seacrest Pool. The homeowners of Seacrest don't actually own the pool there.

The ironic thing is we heard from many of the full time residents that they have seen tons of cars with the Rosemary Beach tags on their mirrors park and go to the Seacrest Pool. Apparently, the security we had in place years past that checked the pool passes is no longer there. :dunno:

I agree about Sunset. No bikes or baby strollers. :roll: However, we have almost been plowed over by Razor scooters, and bikers everytime we used the walkover.
 

Philip_Atlanta

Beach Lover
Mar 1, 2005
140
1
www.rosemaryrental.com
Hate to bring up an old topic - haven't been on the board for a while. However; I'm a Rosemary Beach owner and would like to understand both sides a little better as well. From my perspective, the RMB HOA considers (and I guess this is the crux of the issue) the beach to be private. That said, as mentioned in the article, the HOA (i.e. Homeowners) paid considerable $$$ to build private walkovers and obtain new sand after the hurricanes. Additionally, RMB pays private contractors to maintain the beach (pick up litter, etc). Maintaining the beach is far and away the most expensive line item in the HOA budget, thus our HOA dues are considerably higher than other properties I own along 30-a that use public access. So, from my perspective I'm not particularly happy to have plenty of non-guests/owners use the beach that I, as an owner, paid to help maintain/beautify. I actually think the Seacrest pool is a reasonable example - a select group pays for access to the pool - I'd be miffed if people started using it and didn't have a membership, while I did.

Obviously, the problem here is no one seems to enforce/rule on beaches being private vs public. So, the various towns (Alys, RMB, Watercolor, Watersound, etc) seem to consider the beach their domain and take care of them (buy sand, maintain/build walkovers) etc. If the beaches were ruled as being public, there would be pressure on the county to do that with county dollars. Unfortuanately, the county doesn't seem to have a strong position on this and hasn't built any public walkovers (save the Inlet Beach one) anywhere near RMB, Seacrest, Alys at all.
 

NotDeadYet

Beach Fanatic
Jul 7, 2007
1,422
489
Unfortuanately, the county doesn't seem to have a strong position on this and hasn't built any public walkovers (save the Inlet Beach one) anywhere near RMB, Seacrest, Alys at all.

The county needs easements in order to build accesses and as far as I know, they don't have any in this area that are undeveloped. But the other problem is the beach being considered private. What good is a public walkover if it leads to a private beach that the public is going to get thrown off of? :dunno:
 

seacrestkristi

Beach Fanatic
Nov 27, 2005
3,539
36
Well, thank you for speaking up, P_A. I have walked down and used Seacrest Beach behind the Alys beach subdivision before there were any houses there and no one ever told me to move. So now they build a "town" Of 6 homeowners :dunno:, at least that's what I read on here somewhere, in the middle of an established town :dunno:, Seacrest Beach and just assume the public beach as their own. As a neighbor, :wave:I don't think so. Mr. Hilton never complained before. :dunno: I believe that portion of the beach was renourished by the county previously, no? I saw the county bulldozer down there after Dennis and all the previous storms. I have picked up trash myself, a bunch of firework debris left on the beach this year, after the 4th, behind Alys. :wave:If they had maintenance they didn't get it all. :sosad:

Maybe I should go e-mail the commissioners. The bike path used to be really :cool: through that area. Now its like riding through Hollyhood with guards and everything. :sosad: What about that anybody? Isn't the bike path paid for by the taxpayers? Shouldn't it have been preserved for the unique scrub ecosystem there, and the bikers through Seacrest Beach?? It's one of the reasons I purchased there originally, and now that natural habitat scenic part of the path was destroyed by Alys, and houses aren't even there yet. :love: :sosad: I'm not saying the houses aren't pretty and they aren't nice people with all their parties. IJS...I miss the :cool: natural part of the path. With all that party money why didn't they think about preserving the path? Why try to take the beach there as private, if that's what they are doing?

Does anyone else feel the county should be responsible for their own beaches? Probably not if you're paying maintenance fees on the beach? :dunno: Does anyone else feel the county should have at least one public access on every Walton County Beach? Is Mexico Beach and Port St. Joe area like this as far as privatizing? Is the beach more laid back there? Is the beach just as beautifiul? Do the citzens have more of a "Share the Beach" Spirit? :dunno: Look at the examples we set for our children? :sosad: Take all you can while you can. :dunno:
 

jodiFL

Beach Fanatic
Jul 28, 2007
2,476
733
SOWAL,FL
Being a long time time resident I cant get over all these people trying to turn our once little easygoing community into the gated subdivision hell they left. And expecting the county, (ALL of our tax dollars), to keep up the so called private beach in their gated communities. Keep those gates/walkovers etc to yourselves and I will keep my $$ to myself. Go and check with the developers of those 30A gated/private communities and see just how many of them got the county to abandon those easements in order for them to sell you that property as "private". Dont ask them to come back now and maintain stuff that they were asked to abandon long before you built your 3rd or 4th rental home.
 
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seacrestkristi

Beach Fanatic
Nov 27, 2005
3,539
36
So just keep the beach private? Even where we all paid before? If I'm correct like behind Alys? I believe we taxpayers just renourished not so long ago. Please correct me if I'm wrong about that. Just give it up? Why? What does my 3rd or 4th rental home have to do with anything (not that I have one) if its not in a gated gulf front community other than being denied beach access for being across the street? Also, jodiFL wouldn't you say the vagueness of not answering the 'privatizing' question on any threads is kind of deceptive and makes one wonder their alterior motive? ;-) If I could've afforded gulf front believe me I would've and I would share it with all ya'll because I know it was never mine in the first place. God gave it to us all to share its beauty. :D
 
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