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mputnal

Beach Fanatic

This should be called the Hypocrisy of human morality and The ineffective legal descriptions in wording of beach property lines along with misunderstood legal definitions of property rights. The legal system is one thing.  Ownership of a natural resource like our beach shoreline is another thing.  I know of property line disputes where one property owner paid taxes and the court sided with the adjacent owner who "used" the property for productive activities.  If a beach owner enjoys the sunsets from their recliner while a family enjoys the water and a little dry sand it seems rather short sighted for the guy in the recliner to waste the time of law enforcement.   I also know of this guy named Jesus who taught that sharing is caring.  I am not religious but I think we all agree that sharing is a humanistic productive purpose for us humans.  It seems simple to me.  Enjoy the beach but follow the rules of good behavior.  If beach front owners don't want a barbecue grill behind them I think that can be worked out so work it out...

This should be called the Hypocrisy of human morality and The ineffective legal descriptions in wording of beach property lines along with misunderstood legal definitions of property rights. The legal system is one thing.  Ownership of a natural resource like our beach shoreline is another thing.  I know of property line disputes where one property owner paid taxes and the court sided with the adjacent owner who &quot;used&quot; the property for productive activities.  If a beach owner enjoys the sunsets from their recliner while a family enjoys the water and a little dry sand it seems rather short sighted for the guy in the recliner to waste the time of law enforcement.   I also know of this guy named Jesus who taught that sharing is caring.  I am not religious but I think we all agree that sharing is a humanistic productive purpose for us humans.  It seems simple to me.  Enjoy the beach but follow the rules of good behavior.  If beach front owners don&#039;t want a barbecue grill behind them I think that can be worked out so work it out...

MrSunshine

Beach Lover

They forgot to mention Dave's restaurant  is on a portion of the beach which is private and has locked beach accesses.

They forgot to mention Dave&#039;s restaurant  is on a portion of the beach which is private and has locked beach accesses.

bob1

[QUOTE="MrSunshine, post: 973846, member: 36345"]
They forgot to mention Dave's restaurant  is on a portion of the beach which is private and has locked beach accesses.
[/QUOTE]
You're a broken record. Dave would like nothing better than for Seaside to be public beach. Even Robert Davis probably feels that way. But many Seaside owners want gates and 30A routed around the town. You'd fit right in.

<blockquote class="xfBb-quote" data-name="MrSunshine">They forgot to mention Dave&#039;s restaurant is on a portion of the beach which is private and has locked beach accesses.</blockquote>You&#039;re a broken record. Dave would like nothing better than for Seaside to be public beach. Even Robert Davis probably feels that way. But many Seaside owners want gates and 30A routed around the town. You&#039;d fit right in.

UofL

[QUOTE="bob1, post: 973847, member: 16511"]
You're a broken record. Dave would like nothing better than for Seaside to be public beach. Even Robert Davis probably feels that way. But many Seaside owners want gates and 30A routed around the town. You'd fit right in.
[/QUOTE]
Seaside has almost as many HOAs as they have streets.  That can be a challenge too I expect.  (The keypad photo for the obelisk is on the back side of Bud & Alley's.  Might have been used by waiters when they had more beach service for a brief time.  The obelisk has a different direct access which is open to the public after 6:00 pm or earlier, I think.  We haven't been there in a year so things change.   Only come down once a year.  Expensive and too many people.  Thankful that our realty companies has gone to payments! Counting down.  Ellen

<blockquote class="xfBb-quote" data-name="bob1">You&#039;re a broken record. Dave would like nothing better than for Seaside to be public beach. Even Robert Davis probably feels that way. But many Seaside owners want gates and 30A routed around the town. You&#039;d fit right in.</blockquote>Seaside has almost as many HOAs as they have streets. That can be a challenge too I expect. (The keypad photo for the obelisk is on the back side of Bud &amp; Alley&#039;s. Might have been used by waiters when they had more beach service for a brief time. The obelisk has a different direct access which is open to the public after 6:00 pm or earlier, I think. We haven&#039;t been there in a year so things change. Only come down once a year. Expensive and too many people. Thankful that our realty companies has gone to payments! Counting down. Ellen

bob bob

Walton County boasts 26 miles of shoreline and is home to the tony beach towns of Seaside, WaterColor and Alys Beach, along state Scenic Highway 30A. It's known for emerald clear waters and white sand so soft and fine it squeaks underfoot.

   
It has also become ground zero in a protracted battle over where personal property lines end and the public's right to set up a chair and umbrella begin.

   
The decade-long fight — including the defeat of county efforts to keep the sand open to all, flip-flopping state laws and landowner lawsuits — has left beachgoers to navigate a confusing patchwork of beach access.

      
As the conflict spreads to other coastal communities, residents in the Sunshine State are eyeing a Florida constitutional amendment to settle the issue once and for all — and to warn beach lovers elsewhere that they may be next.

   
"Our beaches should be public," says Dave Rauschkolb, a founder of the nonprofit group [URL='https://www.floridabeachesforall.org/']Florida Beaches for All[/URL]. "They should be shared as they have for eons."

   
Rauschkolb walks down a boardwalk at a neighborhood access point that leads to a pocket of public beach sandwiched between multimillion-dollar Gulf front homes.

   
                                           [IMG alt="Dave Rauschkolb stands on a beach off Scenic Highway 30A on August 20. He's wearing a white polo shirt and khaki pants, and his arms are crossed across his chest. Water and waves are behind him."]https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3001+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fe0%2Fce%2F63a6fe1a449b827043387fd4f38f%2Fflabeaches-photo-7.jpg[/IMG]
Dave Rauschkolb, the owner of Bud & Alley's restaurant in Seaside, Fla., helped found the non-profit Florida Beaches for All to advocate for open beaches.          
  
"On a busy day, this will just be packed between the signs," he says, pointing out no-trespassing and private-beach signs that border the public beach.

   
Security guards posted under red umbrellas greet beachgoers as they descend the boardwalk. Surrounding landowners have hired them to keep people from spilling over onto their beaches.

   
Rauschkolb, a restaurateur who grew up surfing nearby, says that's just wrong.

   
"What we're fighting for is the right for people to go to a public access and walk as far as they want with their beach chairs and set up on any beach," he says.

   
But homeowners, like Eric Wilhelm, an entrepreneur from Marietta, Ga., who spends about half his time at his beach house here, say that this encroaches on their constitutionally protected property rights.

            
"It's the foundational rule of the way that we live in this freedom-loving country of ours," he says. "Once that breaks down, then we have anarchy and chaos."

   
Enjoying a cigar from the deck of his home on stilts, Wilhelm looks out over the sugar white sand and glistening Gulf, recalling how his family was drawn here in the 1990s for the seclusion and low-density development. But now, he says, it has become something quite different.

   
"You're sitting at ground zero of the beach wars."

   
                                           [IMG alt="Two signs saying NO TRESPASSING, PRIVATE BEACH and OWNERS & GUESTS ONLY stand on the white sand at Dune Allen Beach in Florida on August 20. A dune slopes upward behind the signs, leading up to the back of a residence."]https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3001x4500+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fad%2F63%2Fe545d389404a89f800a47fdd52d6%2Fflabeaches-photo-52.jpg[/IMG]
"No trespassing" signs and private security guards are prevalent along the 26-mile shoreline in south Walton County as disputes have escalated between beachgoers and property owners. 
  
The area has experienced [URL='https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FLWALT1POP']explosive growth[/URL]. There's not enough public beach space for all the new residents and tourists, Wilhelm says, so they end up on his property and, sometimes, not just to sit in the sand.

   
He has surveillance cameras set up and says he has called the sheriff about people trespassing.

   
"There will be people downstairs with cars parked in our driveway. They put a table underneath our house," he says. "They'll just set up a little afternoon cocktail party just because there's nobody in the house."

   
[HEADING=2]The fight over sand [/HEADING]
   
                                           [IMG alt="This photo is a headshot of Eric Wilhelm, who's wearing a black shirt and blazer."]https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/692x881+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F43%2Fba%2F8f79800d4d20b73fee9b21b4e264%2Fejw.jpg[/IMG]
Eric Wilhelm, an entrepreneur from Marietta, Ga., spends about half his time at his beach house in Florida and has called the sheriff about beachgoers trespassing on his property. He says claiming private land for public use amounts to communism.
                   Eric Wilhelm            
  
Wilhelm is among the property owners who prevailed in a protracted legal battle with Walton County over beach access. The conflict has been escalating for a decade, dating to when the county commission passed a [URL='https://d3583ivmhhw2le.cloudfront.net/images/uploads/publications/Customary_Use_Ordinance_dated_10-20-16_(Clean).pdf']customary-use ordinance[/URL], declaring the public right to all beaches that had traditionally been used for recreation.

   
That's when some politically connected homeowners, including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, complained. And the Florida Legislature [URL='https://www.npr.org/2018/09/10/634666036/private-beaches-in-florida-spark-battle-with-residents-and-county']passed a 2018 law[/URL] that required the county to sue landowners to prove customary use.

   
Tallahassee [URL='https://www.holtzmanvogel.com/professionals/kent-safriet']attorney Kent Safriet[/URL] represented some 80 landowners, including Wilhelm. Safriet says customary use is a concept derived from English law that does not square with the U.S. Constitution.

   
"The Fifth Amendment [says] no private property can be used for public purposes without just compensation," Safriet says. "So, it's in our view that the English doctrine of customary use would be unconstitutional in America."

      
He says the whole fight boils down to control.

   
"The county wants to control the beach, and I understand why," says Safriet. "But the county has not recognized thus far that the beach is private and these private property owners have property rights on the beach, no different than the county commissioners have in their front yard."

   
Last year, the Florida Legislature [URL='https://www.flgov.com/eog/news/press/2025/governor-ron-desantis-signs-legislation-protect-local-beach-access-and-expedite']repealed[/URL] its 2018 law under public pressure to protect beach access, but Walton County had already settled with landowners over the customary-use issue. At the same time, some landowners have gone to court to [URL='https://www.nwfdailynews.com/story/news/2019/02/08/legal-realities-of-obtaining-and-taking-beach-property-photos/41945443/']claim quiet title[/URL] to the sand behind their homes.

   
What's left is ambiguity, says Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson Jr., and his deputies are caught in the middle.

   
"To someone who is in favor of the beaches being open to everybody, they say the sheriff's office are jackbooted thugs," Adkinson says. "People that own the private property say we're godless, liberal communists who allow everybody to go on their beach."

   
                                           [IMG alt="A gray wooden gate on the edge of a wooden beachside deck is equipped with a keypad to grant access to the beach behind it, near the Coleman Pavilion obelisk in Seaside, Florida. Blue waters are in the background."]https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3001+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcd%2Ff4%2F9f315bba4d2b84e6e9a242b880ef%2Fflabeaches-photo-39.jpg[/IMG]
A gate grants keypad access to the beach near the Coleman Pavilion obelisk in Seaside.
               
  
                                           [IMG alt="Beachgoers lounge on wooden reclining beach chairs, with green umbrellas providing shade, in Rosemary Beach, Florida, on August 25. The sand is white, and the water is blue."]https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3001+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fba%2F9e%2F8c74b0704ca2b8f4382bc92edeb2%2Fflabeaches-photo-27.jpg[/IMG]
Beachgoers in Rosemary Beach, one of several communities that have experienced explosive growth in the last decade. 
          
  
Adkinson, who has been sheriff since 2009, says he's getting more calls than ever over beach disputes. But deputies, he says, aren't in a position to legally judge property boundaries.

   
"First of all, we don't know whether the property is private. We don't know whether you actually have legal guardianship of it. We don't know what the legal boundaries of the property are," Adkinson says. "There's a lot to ascertain."

   
So they mostly just try to [URL='https://waltonso.org/trespassing-on-gulf-front-property-standard-operating-procedure/']lower the temperature[/URL] when there's a standoff.

   
"In a decade, I don't think we've made an arrest for trespassing on the beach, because we've been able to resolve these."

   
The sheriff is being sued for not enforcing the law by Brian Littrell, a member of the band the Backstreet Boys. Littrell's beachfront property has become a [URL='https://www.facebook.com/reel/1622779752181147']flash point[/URL] in the beach battles.

      
Littrell's attorney, Peter Ticktin, likens the situation to people setting up a barbecue in your backyard and you calling the sheriff to report trespassing.

   
"And if the sheriffs came and talked to the people but didn't even tell them that they have to leave, they are basically part of the problem," says Ticktin.

   
Littrell has also [URL='https://www.mypanhandle.com/news/local-news/walton-county/backstreets-back-brian-littrell-refiles-lawsuit-against-walton-county-woman/']filed a civil lawsuit[/URL] for a second time against a 68-year-old woman for trespassing. Her supporters say she was within her rights, sitting in a chair seaward of the mean high-tide line considered public land — roughly where the surf laps the shore.

   
[HEADING=2]Beach battle lines [/HEADING]
   
On a recent afternoon at high tide, beach activist Sara Day points out where the dividing line is.

   
"The tide is coming up right now," she says. "So you can see you don't have a lot of space, but you can see all that wet sand over there. You can be there."

   
Day has created an app called [URL='https://www.shorelinedefenderapp.com/']Shoreline Defender[/URL] that helps people find the mean high-tide line on Florida beaches.

   
"It is not telling you to trespass," she says. "It is giving you a bandwidth of how much sand you might have at any given time."

   
She was motivated to develop the free app after a private security guard tried to kick her family off a beach. She says the problem is exacerbated by local concessionaires whom the county allows to set up beach chair rentals along the water line in prime areas.

   
                                           [IMG alt="The photo on the left shows Sara Day standing at the railing of a beach boardwalk. She's wearing blue jeans and a white long-sleeved shirt. The photo on the right shows Day's hand holding a smartphone that's displaying the Shoreline Defender app."]https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3000+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1f%2Fad%2Fa9798cae4da2991047b1a4937d77%2Ffla-beach-diptych.jpg[/IMG]
Beach activist Sara Day created an app called Shoreline Defender to help people figure out where you can set up a beach chair and umbrella along Florida beaches.

        
  
Day says a beach should bring solace, not conflict. But she's only seeing the situation escalate.

   
"It's very important to make the distinction that if you live in a coastal community anywhere in the United States, you need to be watching this, because we never thought it would happen here. But here we are," she says. "You need to be on high alert."

      
Indeed, similar conflicts are [URL='https://mulletwrapper.net/aug-28-is-deadline-to-submit-customary-use-precedents-on-perdido-key-beaches/']brewing elsewhere[/URL] in Florida, and that has led to a [URL='https://www.facebook.com/groups/174152322339593/']grassroots campaign[/URL] for a state constitutional amendment allowing public beach access from the dune line to the water.

   
Real estate agent Linda Miller says Walton County should have been preserving more public beach space long ago. The county's population has [URL='https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FLWALT1POP']more than doubled[/URL] since 2000, and its beaches drew more than 4.5 million visitors last year, according to the [URL='https://www.waltoncountyfltourism.com/userfiles/Walton_County_Tourism_2025_Annual_Visitor_Tracking_Report_2.pdf']county tourism office[/URL].

   
"Everybody wants to be here, and the infrastructure has not been developed for everyone to be here," says Miller, who has witnessed the boom in her 28 years as a real estate agent here and is known as the [URL='https://thesmileof30a.com/']Smile of 30A[/URL].

   
The battle over access has upended her business, making it harder to sell properties not directly on the Gulf, because clients worry that they or their renters won't be able to get a spot on the prized beaches. She gets the dilemma.

   
                                           [IMG alt="Linda Miller stands outdoors, surrounded by foliage, at the Western Green outdoor venue in Rosemary Beach on August 20. She's dressed in black and is wearing red sunglasses."]https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3001+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F6f%2F18%2F72fc2bf14b6b9ac2fafb245afae9%2Fflabeaches-photo-17.jpg[/IMG]
Real estate agent Linda Miller says the battle over beach access has affected the housing market on Florida's Gulf Coast.
        
  
"I understand those people that pay $40 million for their Gulf-front property don't want Bubba and them out there with a tent," Miller says.

   
Still, she thinks the no-trespassing signs and security guards have gotten out of hand.

   
"That beach belongs to God," Miller says. "You can buy it, but you can't own it."

   
Some private landowners have proposed a beach-share program in exchange for tax breaks but haven't come to terms with the county. Other proposed solutions include a beach renourishment project that would pump new sand onshore, creating additional public beach property.

   
Public beach advocates say a statewide fix is the answer.

   
"We need a constitutional amendment in Florida that will guarantee all of Florida's beaches are public," says Rauschkolb, of Florida Beaches for All, citing similar laws in Oregon, Texas and Hawaii.

   
"If there ever was a state in our nation that should have public beaches everywhere, it should be Florida."

Walton County boasts 26 miles of shoreline and is home to the tony beach towns of Seaside, WaterColor and Alys Beach, along state Scenic Highway 30A. It&#039;s known for emerald clear waters and white sand so soft and fine it squeaks underfoot. 
 
 
It has also become ground zero in a protracted battle over where personal property lines end and the public&#039;s right to set up a chair and umbrella begin. 
 
 
The decade-long fight — including the defeat of county efforts to keep the sand open to all, flip-flopping state laws and landowner lawsuits — has left beachgoers to navigate a confusing patchwork of beach access. 
 
 
As the conflict spreads to other coastal communities, residents in the Sunshine State are eyeing a Florida constitutional amendment to settle the issue once and for all — and to warn beach lovers elsewhere that they may be next. 
 
 
&quot;Our beaches should be public,&quot; says Dave Rauschkolb, a founder of the nonprofit group <a href="https://www.floridabeachesforall.org/" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">Florida Beaches for All</a>. &quot;They should be shared as they have for eons.&quot; 
 
 
Rauschkolb walks down a boardwalk at a neighborhood access point that leads to a pocket of public beach sandwiched between multimillion-dollar Gulf front homes. 
 
 
 <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3001+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fe0%2Fce%2F63a6fe1a449b827043387fd4f38f%2Fflabeaches-photo-7.jpg" alt="Dave Rauschkolb stands on a beach off Scenic Highway 30A on August 20. He&#039;s wearing a white polo shirt and khaki pants, and his arms are crossed across his chest. Water and waves are behind him." /> 
Dave Rauschkolb, the owner of Bud &amp; Alley&#039;s restaurant in Seaside, Fla., helped found the non-profit Florida Beaches for All to advocate for open beaches. 
 
&quot;On a busy day, this will just be packed between the signs,&quot; he says, pointing out no-trespassing and private-beach signs that border the public beach. 
 
 
Security guards posted under red umbrellas greet beachgoers as they descend the boardwalk. Surrounding landowners have hired them to keep people from spilling over onto their beaches. 
 
 
Rauschkolb, a restaurateur who grew up surfing nearby, says that&#039;s just wrong. 
 
 
&quot;What we&#039;re fighting for is the right for people to go to a public access and walk as far as they want with their beach chairs and set up on any beach,&quot; he says. 
 
 
But homeowners, like Eric Wilhelm, an entrepreneur from Marietta, Ga., who spends about half his time at his beach house here, say that this encroaches on their constitutionally protected property rights. 
 
 
&quot;It&#039;s the foundational rule of the way that we live in this freedom-loving country of ours,&quot; he says. &quot;Once that breaks down, then we have anarchy and chaos.&quot; 
 
 
Enjoying a cigar from the deck of his home on stilts, Wilhelm looks out over the sugar white sand and glistening Gulf, recalling how his family was drawn here in the 1990s for the seclusion and low-density development. But now, he says, it has become something quite different. 
 
 
&quot;You&#039;re sitting at ground zero of the beach wars.&quot; 
 
 
 <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3001x4500+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fad%2F63%2Fe545d389404a89f800a47fdd52d6%2Fflabeaches-photo-52.jpg" alt="Two signs saying NO TRESPASSING, PRIVATE BEACH and OWNERS &amp; GUESTS ONLY stand on the white sand at Dune Allen Beach in Florida on August 20. A dune slopes upward behind the signs, leading up to the back of a residence." /> 
&quot;No trespassing&quot; signs and private security guards are prevalent along the 26-mile shoreline in south Walton County as disputes have escalated between beachgoers and property owners. 
 
The area has experienced <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FLWALT1POP" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">explosive growth</a>. There&#039;s not enough public beach space for all the new residents and tourists, Wilhelm says, so they end up on his property and, sometimes, not just to sit in the sand. 
 
 
He has surveillance cameras set up and says he has called the sheriff about people trespassing. 
 
 
&quot;There will be people downstairs with cars parked in our driveway. They put a table underneath our house,&quot; he says. &quot;They&#039;ll just set up a little afternoon cocktail party just because there&#039;s nobody in the house.&quot; 
 
 
<h3>The fight over sand&#8203;</h3> 
 <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/692x881+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F43%2Fba%2F8f79800d4d20b73fee9b21b4e264%2Fejw.jpg" alt="This photo is a headshot of Eric Wilhelm, who&#039;s wearing a black shirt and blazer." /> 
Eric Wilhelm, an entrepreneur from Marietta, Ga., spends about half his time at his beach house in Florida and has called the sheriff about beachgoers trespassing on his property. He says claiming private land for public use amounts to communism. 
 Eric Wilhelm 
 
Wilhelm is among the property owners who prevailed in a protracted legal battle with Walton County over beach access. The conflict has been escalating for a decade, dating to when the county commission passed a <a href="https://d3583ivmhhw2le.cloudfront.net/images/uploads/publications/Customary_Use_Ordinance_dated_10-20-16_(Clean).pdf" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">customary-use ordinance</a>, declaring the public right to all beaches that had traditionally been used for recreation. 
 
 
That&#039;s when some politically connected homeowners, including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, complained. And the Florida Legislature <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/09/10/634666036/private-beaches-in-florida-spark-battle-with-residents-and-county" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">passed a 2018 law</a> that required the county to sue landowners to prove customary use. 
 
 
Tallahassee <a href="https://www.holtzmanvogel.com/professionals/kent-safriet" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">attorney Kent Safriet</a> represented some 80 landowners, including Wilhelm. Safriet says customary use is a concept derived from English law that does not square with the U.S. Constitution. 
 
 
&quot;The Fifth Amendment [says] no private property can be used for public purposes without just compensation,&quot; Safriet says. &quot;So, it&#039;s in our view that the English doctrine of customary use would be unconstitutional in America.&quot; 
 
 
He says the whole fight boils down to control. 
 
 
&quot;The county wants to control the beach, and I understand why,&quot; says Safriet. &quot;But the county has not recognized thus far that the beach is private and these private property owners have property rights on the beach, no different than the county commissioners have in their front yard.&quot; 
 
 
Last year, the Florida Legislature <a href="https://www.flgov.com/eog/news/press/2025/governor-ron-desantis-signs-legislation-protect-local-beach-access-and-expedite" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">repealed</a> its 2018 law under public pressure to protect beach access, but Walton County had already settled with landowners over the customary-use issue. At the same time, some landowners have gone to court to <a href="https://www.nwfdailynews.com/story/news/2019/02/08/legal-realities-of-obtaining-and-taking-beach-property-photos/41945443/" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">claim quiet title</a> to the sand behind their homes. 
 
 
What&#039;s left is ambiguity, says Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson Jr., and his deputies are caught in the middle. 
 
 
&quot;To someone who is in favor of the beaches being open to everybody, they say the sheriff&#039;s office are jackbooted thugs,&quot; Adkinson says. &quot;People that own the private property say we&#039;re godless, liberal communists who allow everybody to go on their beach.&quot; 
 
 
 <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3001+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcd%2Ff4%2F9f315bba4d2b84e6e9a242b880ef%2Fflabeaches-photo-39.jpg" alt="A gray wooden gate on the edge of a wooden beachside deck is equipped with a keypad to grant access to the beach behind it, near the Coleman Pavilion obelisk in Seaside, Florida. Blue waters are in the background." /> 
A gate grants keypad access to the beach near the Coleman Pavilion obelisk in Seaside. 
 
 
 <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3001+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fba%2F9e%2F8c74b0704ca2b8f4382bc92edeb2%2Fflabeaches-photo-27.jpg" alt="Beachgoers lounge on wooden reclining beach chairs, with green umbrellas providing shade, in Rosemary Beach, Florida, on August 25. The sand is white, and the water is blue." /> 
Beachgoers in Rosemary Beach, one of several communities that have experienced explosive growth in the last decade. 
 
 
Adkinson, who has been sheriff since 2009, says he&#039;s getting more calls than ever over beach disputes. But deputies, he says, aren&#039;t in a position to legally judge property boundaries. 
 
 
&quot;First of all, we don&#039;t know whether the property is private. We don&#039;t know whether you actually have legal guardianship of it. We don&#039;t know what the legal boundaries of the property are,&quot; Adkinson says. &quot;There&#039;s a lot to ascertain.&quot; 
 
 
So they mostly just try to <a href="https://waltonso.org/trespassing-on-gulf-front-property-standard-operating-procedure/" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">lower the temperature</a> when there&#039;s a standoff. 
 
 
&quot;In a decade, I don&#039;t think we&#039;ve made an arrest for trespassing on the beach, because we&#039;ve been able to resolve these.&quot; 
 
 
The sheriff is being sued for not enforcing the law by Brian Littrell, a member of the band the Backstreet Boys. Littrell&#039;s beachfront property has become a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/reel/1622779752181147" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">flash point</a> in the beach battles. 
 
 
Littrell&#039;s attorney, Peter Ticktin, likens the situation to people setting up a barbecue in your backyard and you calling the sheriff to report trespassing. 
 
 
&quot;And if the sheriffs came and talked to the people but didn&#039;t even tell them that they have to leave, they are basically part of the problem,&quot; says Ticktin. 
 
 
Littrell has also <a href="https://www.mypanhandle.com/news/local-news/walton-county/backstreets-back-brian-littrell-refiles-lawsuit-against-walton-county-woman/" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">filed a civil lawsuit</a> for a second time against a 68-year-old woman for trespassing. Her supporters say she was within her rights, sitting in a chair seaward of the mean high-tide line considered public land — roughly where the surf laps the shore. 
 
 
<h3>Beach battle lines&#8203;</h3> 
On a recent afternoon at high tide, beach activist Sara Day points out where the dividing line is. 
 
 
&quot;The tide is coming up right now,&quot; she says. &quot;So you can see you don&#039;t have a lot of space, but you can see all that wet sand over there. You can be there.&quot; 
 
 
Day has created an app called <a href="https://www.shorelinedefenderapp.com/" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">Shoreline Defender</a> that helps people find the mean high-tide line on Florida beaches. 
 
 
&quot;It is not telling you to trespass,&quot; she says. &quot;It is giving you a bandwidth of how much sand you might have at any given time.&quot; 
 
 
She was motivated to develop the free app after a private security guard tried to kick her family off a beach. She says the problem is exacerbated by local concessionaires whom the county allows to set up beach chair rentals along the water line in prime areas. 
 
 
 <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3000+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1f%2Fad%2Fa9798cae4da2991047b1a4937d77%2Ffla-beach-diptych.jpg" alt="The photo on the left shows Sara Day standing at the railing of a beach boardwalk. She&#039;s wearing blue jeans and a white long-sleeved shirt. The photo on the right shows Day&#039;s hand holding a smartphone that&#039;s displaying the Shoreline Defender app." /> 
Beach activist Sara Day created an app called Shoreline Defender to help people figure out where you can set up a beach chair and umbrella along Florida beaches. 
 
 
 
Day says a beach should bring solace, not conflict. But she&#039;s only seeing the situation escalate. 
 
 
&quot;It&#039;s very important to make the distinction that if you live in a coastal community anywhere in the United States, you need to be watching this, because we never thought it would happen here. But here we are,&quot; she says. &quot;You need to be on high alert.&quot; 
 
 
Indeed, similar conflicts are <a href="https://mulletwrapper.net/aug-28-is-deadline-to-submit-customary-use-precedents-on-perdido-key-beaches/" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">brewing elsewhere</a> in Florida, and that has led to a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/174152322339593/" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">grassroots campaign</a> for a state constitutional amendment allowing public beach access from the dune line to the water. 
 
 
Real estate agent Linda Miller says Walton County should have been preserving more public beach space long ago. The county&#039;s population has <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FLWALT1POP" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">more than doubled</a> since 2000, and its beaches drew more than 4.5 million visitors last year, according to the <a href="https://www.waltoncountyfltourism.com/userfiles/Walton_County_Tourism_2025_Annual_Visitor_Tracking_Report_2.pdf" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">county tourism office</a>. 
 
 
&quot;Everybody wants to be here, and the infrastructure has not been developed for everyone to be here,&quot; says Miller, who has witnessed the boom in her 28 years as a real estate agent here and is known as the <a href="https://thesmileof30a.com/" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">Smile of 30A</a>. 
 
 
The battle over access has upended her business, making it harder to sell properties not directly on the Gulf, because clients worry that they or their renters won&#039;t be able to get a spot on the prized beaches. She gets the dilemma. 
 
 
 <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3001+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F6f%2F18%2F72fc2bf14b6b9ac2fafb245afae9%2Fflabeaches-photo-17.jpg" alt="Linda Miller stands outdoors, surrounded by foliage, at the Western Green outdoor venue in Rosemary Beach on August 20. She&#039;s dressed in black and is wearing red sunglasses." /> 
Real estate agent Linda Miller says the battle over beach access has affected the housing market on Florida&#039;s Gulf Coast. 
 
 
&quot;I understand those people that pay $40 million for their Gulf-front property don&#039;t want Bubba and them out there with a tent,&quot; Miller says. 
 
 
Still, she thinks the no-trespassing signs and security guards have gotten out of hand. 
 
 
&quot;That beach belongs to God,&quot; Miller says. &quot;You can buy it, but you can&#039;t own it.&quot; 
 
 
Some private landowners have proposed a beach-share program in exchange for tax breaks but haven&#039;t come to terms with the county. Other proposed solutions include a beach renourishment project that would pump new sand onshore, creating additional public beach property. 
 
 
Public beach advocates say a statewide fix is the answer. 
 
 
&quot;We need a constitutional amendment in Florida that will guarantee all of Florida&#039;s beaches are public,&quot; says Rauschkolb, of Florida Beaches for All, citing similar laws in Oregon, Texas and Hawaii. 
 
 
&quot;If there ever was a state in our nation that should have public beaches everywhere, it should be Florida.&quot;

NPR: Who owns the beach? A heated battle plays out in the Florida Panhandle

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NPR: Who owns the beach? A heated battle plays out in the Florida Panhandle

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