Paradise Lost: Lawful Beach Upgrade or State Land Grab?
Paradise Lost: Lawful Beach Upgrade or State Land Grab? http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Politics/supreme-court-property-rights-lawful-beach-upgrade-state/story?id=9206358
>>>Nestled along the pristine white beaches of the Florida Panhandle town of Destin, is the home of Nancy and Slade Lindsay, who say when they bought their property 12 years ago they fulfilled a lifelong dream to own a private beach.
Will homeowners in Destin, Florida get to keep their private beach?(ABC News)
But now the Lindsays say the state of Florida has dashed that dream by illegally taking their beach front property and allowing the public to use it without any proper compensation.
"They are literally taking our property," Lindsay says. "Changing our deeds, changing our property boundaries, no compensation and no tax breaks."
The controversy arose when Walton County officials-- citing dangerous beach erosion-- stepped in to renourish beaches along a 6.9 mile stretch using taxpayer money. Florida's Beach and Shore Preservation Act authorizes publicly funded beach restoration projects to protect critically eroded beaches.
The multimillion dollar project added new sand, reshaped dunes and in some areas substantially increased the size of the beach. But the improvements, according to Florida law, also made that "new" strip of beach behind the Lindsay's home, public property. <<<
Funny thing about history it teaches that basic human actions both good and bad are simple and few but always seem to control man. This story reminds me of an earlier one where a young lobbyist for the state of Ill., one Abraham Lincoln did pretty much the same thing to a man and his sons along a river, ruined the family business’s. I wonder if we’ll here arguments referring to that case.
Why does this FL case not surprise me. The federal government, states, counties, and municipalities have been stealing folks land for a couple hundred years. In the late 1920s the US Forest Service stole hundreds of acres of my maternal Grand Dad's land for three dollers an acre.
It even gets worse than that: Your city or county can condemn your land on behalf of a private company who wants to develop it: Then China Outlets gets to build their new Wal Mart store.
Completely different issue here. Beach erosion took their land, not the state. They should have contracted their own private company to replace it. Instead they allowed the tax payers to pay for it and therefore the tax payers own it. In many states water is the property of the public and so is the land adjacent to it up to the high water mark. I bet florida falls under these laws. I maybe wrong.
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John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
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"The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency........... Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president."
Completely different issue here. Beach erosion took their land, not the state. They should have contracted their own private company to replace it. Instead they allowed the tax payers to pay for it and therefore the tax payers own it. In many states water is the property of the public and so is the land adjacent to it up to the high water mark. I bet florida falls under these laws. I maybe wrong.
If that was the case then it would've been that way from the begining. According to the article the deed says otherwise.
Well it may have been according to the article. However in real estate law, there are laws on the books that speak about property loss due to errosion. I'm not a lawyer, but it was covered in my real estate class. Clearly, their property was loss due to errosion not the state. The state created new property and has the right to claim that new property they created.
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John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
The general rule in riparian law is flowing waterways are public, oceans to the high water mark. Evulsion or Avulsion (erosion) goes to the winner (or loser) but it's a natural changing of the property, not government caused. I would think Florida would have a duty to notify the land owner of their intentions to allow them a chance to fork out their portion of the $$$, if not, it would appear to be a "taking" under the 5th Amendment and subject to "reasonable compensation" under eminent domain. States tend to like this kind of stuff and do it because they can. It costs a bundle to challenge the government at any level with no guarantee of success. Another way they do this is identify a plant or animal which is "endangered" then tell the owner they can't use their land in a manner they planned but the government doesn't have to pay. That's what they call a "Constructive Taking" but it still subverts the intent of the 5th Amendment. You need only look as far as the recent Kello decision by the Supreme Court. They ruled the municipal government need only show a public "benefit" for the use to be deemed "public." There they took the property and gave it to a private developer.
Hey, I'm all with you when it comes to that bad kello decision. The sadest thing about that is the fact they got rid of the homes, the developement has collapsed and the big anchor company, is closing down its shop and packing out of there. However, I don't see this as being the samething. I bet if you look into it more, they and others were probably calling for the government to do beach replenishment, like so many other around the country. I would like to know more. Also if you look at it more closely, you find they:
Quote:
The multimillion dollar project added new sand, reshaped dunes and in some areas substantially increased the size of the beach. But the improvements, according to Florida law, also made that "new" strip of beach behind the Lindsay's home, public property.
They created land that wasn't there anymore.
__________________
John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
Paradise Lost: Lawful Beach Upgrade or State Land Grab?
