Who the heck is Bert Harris?
There is a new name that many of us have only just started hearing about within the past year, but he has made a big impression leaving everyone to ask, “Who the heck is Bert Harris?” I thought it was high time to find out who and what Bert Harris is and how it affects property owners.
First of all, although surely Bert Harris is or was a real person, what everyone is really referring to is the Bert J. Harris, Jr. Private Property Rights Protection Act of 1995. The Bert Harris Act was presumably created to restore balance to the regulatory process by providing citizens with a mechanism for seeing compensation when government regulations or policy actions inordinately burdened their property rights.
As stated within the wording of the act, “The term inordinate burden means that an action of one or more governmental entities has directly restricted or limited the use of real property such that the property owner is permanently unable to attain the reasonable, investment-backed expectation for the existing use of the real property or a vested right to a specific use of the real property with respect to the real property as a whole, or that the property owner is left with existing or vested uses that are unreasonable.”
When the act was drafted in 1995 the strongest critics of it were primarily city and county governments that frequently, in passing regulations, impacted the freedom of the use of private property and property values without compensation. We are now seeing the Bert Harris Act being used to sue local governments on Anna Maria and in Manatee County.
On Anna Maria, homeowners and developers are suing over use of their private property specifically as it relates to the Island cities attempting to restrict usage so as not to be attractive as rental property. The city of Anna Maria has a moratorium on permits for homes with more than three bedrooms or rooms that could be used as bedrooms currently in place while it weighs its options.
Manatee County is also doing battle with the developers of Long Bar Pointe, who claim their riparian rights were taken away when the county denied creation of a channel to access their land. Medallion Homes, the developer of Long Bar Pointe, says it is being restricted from building waterfront retail, a hotel and a marina by the county by not giving it a permit for a channel to access these potential facilities. The attorneys for Medallion Homes state that if the use of the bayfront is not restored, their clients should be paid by the county for the full value of that loss.
The growing popularity of Anna Maria Island and the coastal regions of Manatee County have placed both residents and local government in the position of having to face the downside of development. How do you protect the rights of property owners while at the same time protect the lifestyle of individuals and maintain an ecological balance?
No matter what the outcome and no matter how much money is spent on attorneys to litigate the issues, you will never make everyone happy. Living in such a beautiful place is both a blessing and a curse, and, unfortunately, those of us who go back as little as 10 years have seen changes we never dreamed of. At least now we know who Bert Harris is and why we keep reading about him.