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Anna Maria Beach Survey

Survey stakes on Anna Maria beach explained

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Anna Maria, Community News.

ANNA MARIA – The wooden survey stakes recently spotted along the beach north of the Sandbar restaurant pertain to storm erosion monitoring and not to any disputes over private beach rights, according to Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy.

The survey stakes designate the mean high-water line along that area of beach. Murphy said the survey information will help the city monitor storm erosion. The beaches in that vicinity, near the Coconut Avenue beach access, sustained significant erosion during Subtropical Storm Alberto.

Anna Maria Beach Stake
As seen on Saturday, June 9, this survey stake marked the mean high-water line looking toward Bean Point. – Chantelle Lewin | Sun

Anna Maria resident and Sun Advertising Director Chantelle Lewin spotted five survey stakes north of the Sandbar restaurant during her daily beach walk on Saturday, June 9.

Lewin said the stakes raised concerns as to whether they pertained to beach access disputes. One such dispute arose in April along the 500 block of South Bay Boulevard, where the strip of sand between the beachfront homes and Tampa Bay is very narrow.

The mean high-water line establishes property lines along beaches that have not been renourished, including most of the bay side of the Island. The erosion control line (ECL) establishes property lines in areas where beach renourishment has occurred, including most of the Gulf side of the Island.

A walk along the beach Wednesday afternoon from Palm Avenue to Bean Point revealed only one remaining survey stake. It was near the Elm Avenue beach access and stood far from any residences, with dunes and vegetation in between.

The handwritten inscription on the remaining stake said, “MHW 6-6-18,” in reference to the mean high-water line and the survey date. The city was also provided with the GPS coordinates of the mean high-water line.

Anna Maria Beach Survey Stake II
On Wednesday, this survey stake stood on the beach near Elm Avenue. The beach behind the stake is private property, but there have been no known disputes about the beach’s continued use by the public. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

Lines in the sand

Manatee County Parks and Natural Resources Department Director Charlie Hunsicker said beach property landward of the mean high-water line or the erosion control line is private property – unless it’s in front of a public park or a designated public beach. Land seaward of those lines is state-owned public land, he said.

Hunsicker said the erosion control line proposed for the city of Anna Maria in 2001 for beach renourishment in 2002 begins between Sycamore and Elm avenues and extends to the south, terminating between Oak and Maple avenues.

“At the time we had the hearings, while water was hitting the windows of the Sandbar restaurant, the properties to the north said, ‘We’ve got plenty of beach. We’re not worried about it so we don’t want to enroll.’ You couldn’t force them,” he said.

“The erosion control line is recorded on the deeds of the properties with the Clerk of the Court and is a line established by state and local governments working together, following a public hearing. Wider beaches created by that renourishment would then be in the public domain,” Hunsicker said.

Beaches outside of the ECL boundaries are not eligible for beach renourishment projects funded by various county, state and federal agencies, he said.

The Anna Maria beach area washed away during Subtropical Storm Alberto “…will not be renourished until there’s a formal ECL and a state declaration that it’s eroded,” Hunsicker said.

Bay side dispute

In early May, Murphy requested city-funded surveys of the mean high-water line at a beach access along the 500 block of South Bay Boulevard. He also requested a survey in front of a beachfront home on that block where disputes had occurred between the property owners and those walking on the residential beach not far from the Anna Maria City Pier.

Beach No Trespassing signs
These no trespassing signs on the 500 block of South Bay Boulevard are the only such signs seen on the beaches from the Sandbar restaurant to Galati Yacht Sales. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

On Wednesday, visits to the beach at Bayfront Park and along the entire stretch of beach on South Bay Boulevard revealed no existing mean high-water line survey stakes. Only the pre-existing no trespassing signs in front of the home in the 500 block were visible.

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Commission jettisons customary use ordinance

Beach dispute predates new law

Holmes Beach beach access

Beach access not a problem in Holmes Beach

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – City leaders don’t think a new Florida law regarding ownership of the beach will be an issue in Holmes Beach.

That’s because Anna Maria Island beaches have been renourished, paid for by tax dollars.

Beachfront property owners had to give up some of their rights to the sand in front of their homes to participate in beach renourishment programs to combat erosion. In renourishment projects, property lines are pushed up to the erosion control line. The erosion control line is located near the dune and vegetation line on the landward side of the beach sand.

City Attorney Patricia Petruff said the number of property owners who opted out of the beach renourishment program is very few, if any, in the city. With the erosion control line so far up the landward side of the sand, she said it’s unlikely beachfront property owners will be able to block off sections of the beach to prevent public access and establish private beaches.

Commissioner Jim Kihm said he thinks the city should consider putting an ordinance into effect establishing customary use on Island beaches in Holmes Beach’s jurisdiction and preventing sectioning off of the sand. Petruff agreed that city leaders should fight back if public use of the beach is challenged, but only if a property owner legally challenges the public’s right to use the beach in front of their home.

Under the new law, the city can’t create a new ordinance to prevent privatizing the beach and any ordinances put into effect in 2016 or later are preempted by the state law which goes into effect July 1. If a challenge does arise, it’s up to city leaders to demonstrate continuous, ordinary use of the beach in question by the public. To designate a private beach as public, city leaders also would have to go through the courts and prove customary historic public use of the space. However, due to participation in beach renourishment projects, Petruff said the likelihood that a property owner will challenge the public’s right to the sand is very small.

A challenge for the city, if a legal case is filed, is the time and research needed to establish an updated map of the erosion control line and make sure that any properties not participating in the beach renourishment program are identified. Building Official Jim McGuinness said building department workers would have to go out and physically measure boundary lines to create an exact, updated map.

In an April 3 email to city administration, Commissioner Rick Hurst said he feels city leaders need to make a public statement on the issue to explain what the new state law means for Holmes Beach residents and visitors, potentially at an upcoming public meeting. While he said he expects the regulations to have little to no effect on beachgoers because of how far up the erosion control line is, he feels it’s important to determine the boundaries for visitors and property owners.

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New beach law has little effect on AMI

Coquina Beach

New beach law has little effect on AMI

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Community News, Featured.

Updated April 6, 2018

TALLAHASSEE – A new Florida statute has some beachfront property owners around the state jumping at the prospect of keeping the sand all to themselves, and some beachgoers are hopping mad.

But on Anna Maria Island and many other beaches in the state, everyone might as well sit back down in their beach chairs and relax.

Despite misleading news accounts statewide, Florida Statute 163.035, which goes into effect July 1, requires cities and counties to go to court – instead of simply passing an ordinance – if they want to designate a privately-owned beach as public under the “recreational customary use” doctrine.

When beachgoers have historically surfed, fished, sunbathed, picnicked, walked or otherwise used a private beach, that beach may be considered public under the customary use doctrine if the use has been “ancient, reasonable, without interruption, and free from dispute,” according to state law.

However, “The statute is going to have a very limited application and impact given that most beaches are publicly held or subject to renourishment projects,” said Florida environmental attorney Patrick Krechowski, with the Florida-wide law firm of GrayRobinson, which is getting calls on the new law. “The lines have already been set.”

Lines in the sand

The lines – mean high water lines and erosion control lines – have vastly different implications on beaches.

Erosion Control Line
Part of the erosion control line on Anna Maria Island in 2017, from north of Manatee Avenue to south of Cortez Road. – Manatee County Property Appraiser’s Office | Submitted

In some counties without beach renourishment, the beach seaward of the mean high water line, sometimes called “wet sand,” is public, while the beach landward of the line – “dry sand” – is private, owned by whoever owns the upland property.

“It’s different everywhere you go,” said Krechowski, formerly with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Office of Beach and Coastal Systems. For example, “In Duval County, private property lines don’t go to the mean high water line,” he said.

In Manatee County on Anna Maria Island, private property ends at the erosion control line (ECL) that was established by engineers during state- and federally-funded beach renourishment projects, leaving most of the beach open to the public.

Erosion control lines replace the mean high water lines on renourished beaches, and “supercede state legislation to the contrary,” said Charlie Hunsicker, director of Manatee County’s Parks and Natural Resources Department, who is in charge of local beach renourishment. Hunsicker referenced a memo from Deborah Flack, president of the Florida Shore and Beach Preservation Association, who wrote beach managers across the state on Wednesday that “Once the ECL has been set, common law no longer applies.”

Charlie Hunsicker
Charlie Hunsicker, Manatee County’s Director of Parks and Natural Resources, on Anna Maria Island during a beach renourishment. – Cindy Lane | Sun

“Where renourishment has taken place, the public has reasonable access to those beaches seaward of the ECL,” Hunsicker said.

On the Island, the ECL “meanders roughly along the dune vegetation line,” he said, not leaving much beach for municipal officials to talk about, except for one patch of sand in Anna Maria south of Pine Avenue where the ECL is not as close to the dune line due to the natural accretion of sand deposits there.

“The city could be exclusionary there, but our Island and its economy is based on abundant public access coupled with adequate public parking,” he said. “We should celebrate the fact that we have a welcoming community and not an exclusive community.”

Municipalities that decide to press the private-public issue must, under the new law, adopt a notice at a public hearing stating their intent to designate a private beach as public, then file a “Complaint for Declaration of Recreational Customary Use” with the circuit court in the county in which the beach is located within 60 days, providing notice to the property owner.

The municipality has the burden of proving that a recreational customary use exists, such as calling witnesses who have long used that beach, or producing historic photographs of public use.

In addition to prohibiting new ordinances on the issue, the law also invalidates existing ordinances passed after Jan. 1, 2016.

Other than in Walton County, which has such an ordinance, the law should not have much effect on beach access in the state, according to the Surfrider Foundation, which champions public access for surfers and other beachgoers around the world.

However, the organization opposed the law with the Sierra Club of Florida and the Florida Wildlife Federation, contending that the law makes it harder for local governments to protect beach access since they now have to go to court to pass local customary use ordinances, according to the Surfrider website.

Local state legislators Sen. Bill Galvano and Rep. Jim Boyd both voted in favor of the bill, according to state legislative records.

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Beach access not a problem in Holmes Beach