When the Sarasota County Commission holds a public hearing in early December on the topic of beach access, we expect a packed house.
As the commissioners craft a revised ordinance on that topic, we’re sure they’ll continue to get nasty e-mails along the lines of one we read last week on the county’s web mail site. A Sea Club V condo owner on Siesta Key wrote, "[We] have paid very high property taxes to own this beach. You have no right to take this property."
That may have been mild compared to others to which the commissioners have alluded.
Regardless of how nasty the invective becomes, we urge the board members to hold fast to protecting what rightfully belongs to the public.
One of Mark Twain’s best-known quotes is "They’re not making any more land." Apparently that resonates particularly strongly with lovers of coastal property – an affection that continues to be reflected in coastal land prices, in spite of the economic downturn.
What we cannot comprehend is why those who own property on a beach believe that no one else should have access to the beach near them. We’re not condoning folks tramping onto people’s porches or jumping into private, beach-side swimming pools. We’re talking about those owners who are some distance from the water but who think that only they and their loved ones have the inalienable right to tread every foot of the distance from their homes to the Gulf of Mexico.
Fortunately, Florida’s statutes are clear in stating that any part of a beach below the high-tide line is public property. What our commissioners are trying to do is clarify that point even further.
If they proceed as they have indicated, their action should make Sheriff Tom Knight grateful, along with the tourists. The revised ordinance would enable his deputies to make better use of their time, as they no longer would have to respond to beachfront property owner’s cries of "Foul."
As the Pelican Press pointed out last week, the county’s proposed ordinance would ban signs, gates, barricades, fences and walls on beaches designed to make the public feel unwelcome in spite of what state law allows.
The commission at its Oct. 27 meeting stripped out language that seemed more threatening to property owners, including what some apparently perceived as a portent of legal action over the public’s being kept off any part of a beach that is public.
Sarasota County may have a wonderful abundance of cultural opportunities for visitors and residents, but anyone who denies that the biggest local attraction is the beach is what we can only call "clueless." The county must stand its ground over public ground with its beach access ordinance.
November 6th 2009 - 9:16AM