HOLMES BEACH – As residents on 78th Street fight beachfront property owners for the right to walk a path to the beach, city leaders say that because the path is located on private property, they can’t get involved.
Commissioners addressed the issues broiling between neighbors during comments at their April 26 meeting, where Mayor Judy Titsworth and city attorney Erica Augello gave an update on the situation.
Titsworth said that while a Holmes Beach police officer was stationed at the disputed beach access over the April 22-24 weekend, the officer was off-duty and working privately for property owners Bryce Raub and Travis Resmond at 101 78th St., despite being in uniform and using an HBPD vehicle. She added that she discussed the issue with Chief Bill Tokajer and the two decided it would be more beneficial for residents and visitors alike to have a local officer with jurisdiction in the city to guard the path against trespassing instead of a security guard unfamiliar with Holmes Beach. Titsworth said she felt an HBPD officer might have more compassion toward members of the public trying to use the path.
The fight between neighbors started in mid-April when Raub and Resmond closed a long-used access path which stretches along their property from the end of 78th Street to the beach. While an easement was recorded on the property for the path, Augello said that the easement language doesn’t specify who it benefits, giving the property owners the right to close the path to the public, including their neighbors, some of whom have stated they’ve used the access path for decades.
While neighbors are protesting that they have a right to use the path due to how many years it has been open to the public, city leaders say they can’t get involved in the dispute, though they are keeping up with the issue as it develops.
Resident Nancy Gilchrist, who lives on 78th Street, says she feels the issue is larger than just one street. If private property owners are allowed to close a beach access path on one street, she asked commissioners what was keeping other owners from doing the same on their streets
Looking at Holmes Beach street design records, she said 78th Street, which was platted in 1946, was shown on the plans to end at the western edge of the beachfront properties at 100 and 101 78th St. For some reason, she said the street was stopped at the eastern edge of the properties, resulting in the beach access path being on private property instead of located in a city right of way.
Gilchrist also questioned the ownership of two westward platted lots, 98 and 99 78th St. She said she was unable to locate any records identifying who owns those lots, located fully on the sand on the beach, and asked commissioners to look into the issue.
Commissioner Carol Soustek agreed to have Augello look into the ownership of those two properties as well as the right of way issue.
While Gilchrist acknowledged that Raub and Resmond, who are not full-time residents of Holmes Beach, have issues with vagrants and the public trespassing on their property, she said she doesn’t feel that those issues are substantial enough to warrant closing the beach access path to everyone.
Augello maintained that the city “has no dog in this fight. This truly is a dispute between private property owners.”
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