The gentle, rolling waves embrace the white sand Gulf Coast beaches of Destin, Florida. But the quiet resort community, which likes to call itself “The World’s Luckiest Fishing Village,” is now a heated central battlefield over property rights.
“The government is taking our waterfront property and making a public beachfront property,” exclaims Linda Cherry, a spitfire with a cause who would seem an unlikely activist. She and her husband Jim, both political communications consultants, own a beachfront home on an exclusive stretch of beach, and have become symbols of what they consider to be the government stealing their beach.
The issue? The Cherrys say their private property extends to the surf, which means the pristine beach behind their house is their private backyard. When the state deems a stretch of waterfront land critically eroded though, it replenishes the beach in an effort to protect against storm damage. The government puts new sand along the shoreline, effectively extending the beach seaward. Under Florida law though, all new land created seaward of the erosion control line is public property. It’s a policy that Linda Cherry says amounts to the government illegally taking property.
“The government is trying to take our private property to make more public beach to bring more tourism into the area,” she charges. “If they can do that, they can take anybody’s property.”
Several beachfront property owners in the area have taken the issue to United States Supreme Court, where a decision is expected soon. The high court is weighing the issue of property rights versus state law, and the drama centers on the white sand beaches that run for seven miles along the Florida Panhandle.
“We want to be able to keep our beach; it’s what we paid for, it’s what is described in our deeds,” says Cherry, who organized the group Save Our Beaches to oppose the state’s moves. “When we buy property on the beach we assume that Mother Nature might take our backyard. We don’t expect the government to take our backyard,” she says.
The city of Destin denies it is land grabbing, only obeying state law. “We don’t believe we are taking private property,” explains the City Manager, Greg Kisela. “We believe that we are simply restoring these beaches and creating new beach,” he says. “It’s not a taking of their property rights. If we’ve done anything we’ve given them free sand to protect their upland structures,” he says of the homeowners. The program is designed to prevent beach erosion and provide “storm protection,” not only for the homeowners but says Kisela, for “the roads, sanitary sewer lines and gas lines.”
As we talked, couples strolled along the surf past the Cherrys’ house, and they do not disagree with that. It’s the principle of owning property that is unfairly infringed upon, they say, and having their property no longer extend all the way to the water. The Cherrys also point out that when strangers pitch tents on their property, they are not allowed to remove them.
“Everybody in America who owns property needs to understand if we can lose our property here, our waterfront property in Destin, they can lose their property,” warns Ms. Cherry.
But the state sees it differently.
The case is about “protecting the right of the state to preserve critically eroding shorelines for public interest and to protect the existing right for the public to use state-owned portions of the beach,” notes the Deputy Communications Director for the Florida Attorney General’s office, Ryan Wiggins. She says rather than “a taking of any recognizable property interest,” the law “is a governmental ‘giving’ of enormous benefits to beachfront owners that restores, rather than takes or diminishes their properties’ values along severely eroded shores.”
One private property owner who supports the State is John Comer, whose family owns a beachfront restaurant, The Back Porch, as well as several other restaurants.
“To us it’s the lesser of two evils,” he says about having suddenly public beach front at the restaurant. As we talked, surfers were riding the waves and a girl was surf casting as diners ate lunch in the balmy breeze. He says if the state does not add to the beach, “then we feel like we’re going to lose our building … because we need the protection from the storms.”
The restaurant also rents out umbrellas for people to use their beach. But the homeowners are left with waterfront property that really isn’t. And Ms. Cherry is worried about the consequences.
“Can the government come in and take our waterfront property?” she asks. “If they can do that, then they can take anybody’s property.”
This is the second in the Fox News series, “It’s Your Land.” Have a land or private property issue? E-Mail Senior Correspondent Eric Shawn at: [email protected]. Reports can also be seen Sundays from 10 to 12 noon, E.S.T. on the Fox News Channel. Save Our Beaches can be reached at: beachfront owners of [email protected].
