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Positive Case for County Beach Renourishment Activities Decided
The Supreme Court has released its long awaited decision in Walton County v. Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc., quashing the First DCA’s opinion and declaring that “we find that, on its face, the Beach and Shore Preservation Act [provisions of Chapter 161, Fla. Stat.] does NOT unconstitutionally deprive upland owners of littoral rights without just compensation.” The Court did caution that its decision “is strictly limited to the context of restoring critically eroded beaches under the Beach and Shore Preservation Act.”
An adverse ruling out of the Court would have applied to all existing and proposed beach renourishment projects in the state, as each project requires the establishment and recordation of an erosion control line (“ECL”). The effect of such a decision, would have therefore, been the requirement that the state and/or the local project sponsor acquire, through eminent domain, all littoral rights to the upland properties included within a project area prior to the issuance of a permit by the Department of Environmental Protection. Click here for the full opinion.
Thank you to Gary Oldehoff, former Assistant County Attorney in Sarasota, for his work and to Sarasota County, for its support, on behalf of FAC in this case!