Florida Beach Dispute
DESTIN, Fla. - The latest property rights battle before the U.S. Supreme Court started where the Gulf of Mexico laps at the crystalline white beaches of this seaside resort. The justices will hear oral arguments Wednesday over whether a nearly seven-mile stretch of beach is public or private after the state of Florida poured more sand on the rapidly eroding shores. The new sand dumped in a project that ended in 2007 was designated public property by the state,...
Local communities have been placing sand on beaches in Florida due to the beach erosion. Residents claim their property values have been diminished because of the renourishment, claiming a “taking” under the U.S. Constitution.
What these owners are likely to find is that the navigable servitude reaches the high water mark of the waterway itself, in this case the Atlantic Ocean, and it that this high water mark delineates public and private ownership. However, this will be for the United States Supreme Court to determine.
