Seawall Decision in Today's Paper

[yippie]

In today's paper: (10-11-06)

SANTA ROSA BEACH ? Walton County commissioners took no action Tuesday night to allow sea walls and reconstructed dunes built on county land to remain, saying they need more information.
The structures in Seagrove Beach encroach onto land deeded to the county in the 1950?s for public swimming access.
After Hurricane Dennis, the county allowed property owners to erect temporary sea walls and structures to shore up their homes.
At least a dozen property owners need the county?s blessing so they can get permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection to make the structures permanent.
Commissioner Cindy Meadows wants to know if the county could be held responsible for the upkeep of the structures.
She said that allowing the structures to stay on county property goes against the role of the commission to protect the public interest. She added that she doesn?t like the idea of the commission giving public land to private property owners for any use.
?It?s on county property,? she said. ?It?s on public beach.?
The property owners could be forced to destroy their sea walls and reconstructed dunes if they do not get DEP permits for permanent structures.
Many of them are facing a DEP application deadline for the permits.
Commissioners suggested that the property owners ask the DEP for deadline extensions while the county works with them and the state on the issue.
The sea walls and reconstructed dunes reach anywhere from 20 to about 30 feet onto county land.
Attorney Patrick Krechowski, who represents three of the affected property owners, said that his clients and the others ?inadvertently? built on county property.
The owners learned during the application process with the DEP that the property belongs to the county.
?This is not a conveyance of property to my clients,? he said. ?It?s simply granted permission for the (seawalls) to remain.?
Engineer Terry Anderson, who represents several other property owners, said his clients assumed that they owned the beach to the mean high water line as do most beachfront property owners in South Walton County.
?Some of these houses were literally falling into the beach,? Anderson said.
Commissioner Larry Jones echoed Meadows? sentiments. He said he was not comfortable with giving the property owners permission to keep their structures on the beach.
?It?s going to take some very compelling evidence that this is in the best interests of the county and its citizens,? he said.
Daily News Staff Writer Heather Civil can be reached at 267-8300.

 

[John R]

and so it begins(continues). this really comes as no surprise. the county, afraid to take a stand, shuffles it's feet, while the offending parties have more time to whine and make noise.

of course they need to be removed. of course private landowners encroached on public property. "ignorance is no defense" has been around as long as humans have been walking. if this was between private landowners, 1 foot would have been an issue. this is such BS.

i unfortunantly was unable to make the meeting. was anyone there who can shed some light on what actually went down?

 

[Smiling JOe]

So, here is my idea. Let's go set up beach chairs and coolers on the public property in these homeowners back yards and have ourselves some sunset gatherings. I think it will be one of the nicest public sunset views around;-), except for the illegal black dirt which they used for replacement beach sand. I would love to see them call the cops on me after they did this crap. They don't know how much pudding they stirred with this one. We can legally access the properties from the public access adjacent to the eastern-most house. What do you say?

 

[rapunzel]

I'm in!

 

[BeachSteelers]

Am I wrong or isn't these the same County Commissioners who gave permission for these "Temporary" seawalls to be put in by gulf front homeowners. And now they're saying they don't like them after they've allowed them to be built on Public Property? Where was the oversite by the County during contrustion! I feel for the homeowners stuck in the middle. But I personnally contact all our commissioners/DEP with pictures of the big dig in Seagrove on Public Property while it was going on yet no oversite by the county. Code Enforcement made them install a silt fence so all the dirt wouldn't foul the water but little else was ever done. Seems to me since a Commissioner stood to gave finacially from these projects so the County didn't care. But now that DEP is being rightfully hard on these things the Commissioners want to backpedal out of the blame for allowing them in the first place. Looks like our tax dollars are being utilized to their fullest!

 

[For The Health Of It]

So, here is my idea. Let's go set up beach chairs and coolers on the public property in these homeowners back yards and have ourselves some sunset gatherings. I think it will be one of the nicest public sunset views around;-), except for the illegal black dirt which they used for replacement beach sand. I would love to see them call the cops on me after they did this crap. They don't know how much pudding they stirred with this one. We can legally access the properties from the public access adjacent to the eastern-most house. What do you say?

Im in. Let me know the time,date and location, and i will have a whole slew of good local folk there.

 

[Smiling JOe]

Im in. Let me know the time,date and location, and i will have a whole slew of good local folk there.

What if we just meet there every evening for sunset (we could even meet for morning coffee over there), until something is done? We could give some interviews to the news reporters, too. I think this could make national news, because it is so uncommon for people to attempt to steal public land.

 

[goofer]

I am definitely in !!! Please post where and when. Reminds me of my old protest days in the early 70's.

 

[ecopal]

So, here is my idea. Let's go set up beach chairs and coolers on the public property in these homeowners back yards and have ourselves some sunset gatherings. I think it will be one of the nicest public sunset views around;-), except for the illegal black dirt which they used for replacement beach sand. I would love to see them call the cops on me after they did this crap. They don't know how much pudding they stirred with this one. We can legally access the properties from the public access adjacent to the eastern-most house. What do you say?

:clap_1:

There were so many misleading statements by the Montgomery Street seawall/geotube owner representatives at the 10 October BCC meeting that I won?t even attempt to list them all.

One assertion was that the sand used to cover the installations was beach compatible sand.

Attached are 2 sand samples taken from the sand covering the geotubes compared to actual beach sand. The center sample is the real beach sand.

Why weren?t these ?misrepresentatives? put under oath?

 

[Smiling JOe]

I am definitely in !!! Please post where and when. Reminds me of my old protest days in the early 70's.

Location: Seagrove - The five Gulf Front properties adjacent to and east of Seagrove Villas. Access the "improved" public property via the public access (Greenwood St) on the adjacent and east side of the properties. I don't know about the view in front of the couple of vacant homes. I bet the other homes will have much better views of the sunset. Be sure to take some leather skin with you.