After two weeks of scrambling to understand the ramifications, a new law shouldn’t pose a problem for Holmes Beach and Bradenton Beach officials. But that may not be the case in Anna Maria.
Officials in the three island cities are still searching for copies of the erosion control line established in 1992 and maps with the established mean high tide lines, which were surveyed in conjunction with a 1992 beach renourishment project.
But Mayor John Chappie said April 9 privatizing any section of the beach in Bradenton Beach is “absolutely out.”
Chappie said “all of Bradenton Beach” has been renourished — the work completed in 2017 — and it does not fall under bill HB631 signed into law March 30. The Possession of Real Property Act allows for landowners to privatize the beach at their property seaward to the mean high tide line. Beach renourishment projects supersede the new law, making the beach public wherever renourishment occurred.
Holmes Beach, likewise, will have little or no effect due to the law. The Gulf beaches from the Bradenton Beach line to the Anna Maria city limits are renourished.
According to city engineer Lynn Burnett, the erosion control line, or ECL sits far up in the sand, generally along the vegetation or dune line in Holmes Beach.
Landowners most likely would be legally challenged by the city if public use of the beach is questioned. The new law requires cities and counties to go to court to designate privately owned beaches as public under a claim of customary use.
The city would need to prove continuous, ordinary use of the beach and prove historic public use in the courts if such a case arose.
But the lines in the sand are not so clear in Anna Maria, where piecemeal renourishment occurred. The beaches on the northernmost tip of the island, north from the Sandbar Restaurant and Pine Avenue to Bean Point along the Gulf of Mexico and the bayfront have not been renourished with government funding, according to Charlie Hunsicker, Manatee County Parks and Natural Resources director.
“Likewise, a few other sections here and there in Anna Maria haven’t been renourished,” Hunsicker said. “The area around the Sandbar and Spring Avenue was done. Other sections south (of the restaurant) were not all done.”
This sets up Anna Maria for possible challenges under the new law. And, in Anna Maria, the beach continues south from Bean Point on the bayfront, on Tampa Bay.
“The jury is still out on where these property rights fall,” Hunsicker said April 6. “Code violations and local land-use laws also come into play.”
Anna Maria building official David Greenbaum, who also manages flood plains and code enforcement, agreed.
“I’ve had people calling the city office complaining about people up north yelling at them to get off their property for just walking down the beach in the surf,” Greenbaum said in a phone interview April 11.
“The new law doesn’t cover that. Yelling at people walking is unnecessary. They could be yelling at their own neighbors. I feel we should all enjoy nature and the bounty we have here on the island,” Greenbaum continued.
Where codes come into play, Holmes Beach code enforcement officer JT Thomas said its all a matter of “education, education, education.”
“It’s just like any other structure as far as we are concerned,” Thomas said by phone April 8. “There is a process to build most everywhere for accessory structures, like fences. You have to get a survey, you have to get a permit, you have to adhere to city requirements. We shouldn’t have any issues, but you can’t just put up a fence on the beach.”
Greenbaum agreed. “I’m not going to allow that to happen,” he said regarding the possibility of fences appearing on Anna Maria’s beaches. Let’s knock on wood and hope it doesn’t come up. And we won’t allow anything that impacts the turtles.”
Suzi Fox of the Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring also put the focus on protecting wildlife.
“Every city on the island has an ordinance that explains sea turtle nesting beaches (private or not) need to be clear of every object on the sand for the nesting beach season May 1-Oct. 31,” Fox stated in an email April 10.
Hunsicker advised that any type of fixed structures would interfere with nesting season. He also was quoted in Fox’s email, saying, “As we struggle with the business of life and the problems with accommodating both residents and our tourists, we’ve got to remember there is wildlife that depends on us.”