A bill to repeal a controversial 2018 law that limited public access to beaches in Walton County cleared its first legislative hurdle last Tuesday in the Florida Senate.
- The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 9-2 to advance SB1622, sponsored by District 2 Senator Jay Trumbull, which would eliminate a law that preempted Walton County’s customary use ordinance. Senators Don Gaetz and Kathleen Passidomo cast the only dissenting votes.
“Walton County was uniquely affected by this statute due to a narrow exception which recognized only ordinances before January 1st, 2016,” Trumbull told the committee. “The result was Walton County’s ordinance, which was adopted in October of 2016, was preempted, which afforded private beach owners, many of whom held deeds to the mean high waterline, the right to call out beachgoers for trespassing on dry sand behind their homes.”
Under Florida law, “customary use” refers to the public’s right to access and use the dry sand areas of privately-owned beaches if that use has been ancient, reasonable, without interruption, and free from dispute. While the state owns the wet sand area below the mean high-water line as public land, the dry sand areas above this line can be privately owned.
The 2018 law established stringent procedures that local governments must follow to claim customary use, including filing a lawsuit and proving customary use for each individual parcel. This effectively overturned Walton County’s 2016 ordinance that had declared customary use rights for the public across all county beaches.
- Following the 2018 law, Walton County filed a lawsuit seeking declaration of customary use for 1,194 private properties. After nearly five years of litigation, most property owners either obtained dismissals or negotiated limited 20-foot public access areas.
Walton County Commissioner Tony Anderson, who has lived in the county for 69 years, spoke passionately in support of the bill.
- “Walton County had customary use for years,” Anderson said. “I’ve walked every mile of that beach numerous times. I’ve crabbed there, I’ve fished there, I’ve sunbathed there. Until 2018, everybody that grew up in Walton County used those beaches publicly.”
Destin Mayor Bobby Wagner voiced support for neighboring Walton County, noting how beach access restrictions have created conflict. “We’re seeing fights break out. Sheriffs are getting involved, and it’s really making a black eye in the panhandle,” Wagner said. “For us, being a southern culture of hospitality, it’s turning into a political nightmare with literal lines in the sand.”
Private property advocates argued against the bill. John Howard, a Walton County resident and homeowner, contended that “forced occupation of unlimited people with unlimited beach equipment against the will of the property owner isn’t American. It is theft.”
The economic impact on the county has been significant, according to testimony at the hearing. One speaker noted that while tourism increased 1.8% statewide, Walton County has seen an 11% decline. Real estate professionals testified that residential sales volume is down 36% from its peak, with transactions down 47%, and the county now has a higher inventory of unsold homes than the state average.
Former State Representative Dr. Joel Rudman urged passage, noting severe economic concerns. “The economy in Walton County is entirely driven by tourism and real estate,” he said. “Only 5% of vacation homes are Gulf front, so we are effectively blocking beach access to 95% of the vacation homes in the area.”
- Former Santa Rosa County Commissioner James Calkins, now a Miramar Beach resident, said the 2018 law has made beaches “a disaster” with just “10 feet of public beach in some areas” and visitors being “harassed by beach chair people and security guards.”
Senator Passidomo, who sponsored the 2018 law, defended her legislation. “The bottom line is the original bill came as an amendment to a marketable record title act bill that I had filed in 2016,” she explained. “My feeling is customary use is something that the courts determine. The courts need to do that.”
Senator Don Gaetz, who voted against the bill, offered a more cautious assessment of the situation, drawing from his 40-plus years as a Walton County property owner.
“Whatever you do with this bill is not going to solve the problems in Walton County,” Gaetz warned the committee. “My fear is, in fact my hard prediction is that whatever you do with this bill is not going to solve the problems in Walton County of people who think they own property near the beach or on the beach because they bought it from being very upset when somebody else tries to use that property.”
Gaetz acknowledged the complexity of the issue, noting that there are “miles and miles of beaches in Walton County where nobody is trying to shoo you away.” However, he explained that many property owners have legal title to beachfront land and believe that “if you own property and someone wants it, they should buy it from you, or if they want to use it or walk across it, they ought to ask permission.”
He suggested that a better approach would be “a reasonable civil understanding, perhaps having to be dictated by the courts” rather than legislative action, allowing the courts to determine where customary use applies and where it does not based on evidence and established legal precedent.
- “I would hope that this bill will make a stop at the ‘Kathleen Passidomo Reconstructive Surgery Center’ before it gets to the floor,” Gaetz concluded, suggesting the legislation needed significant revision.
In the House, a companion bill (HB 6043) sponsored by Representative Alex Andrade was approved last Thursday by the House Civil Justice and Claims Committee and next faces the Natural Resources and Disasters Subcommittee.
The bill now moves to the Senate Community Affairs Committee, scheduled for March 31 at 4 p.m. EDT.
One Response
If Walton County was not so greedy and decided to “TAKE” what they wanted instead of “buying” it like other areas (Destin/Okaloosa County)have, this might have never been a problem. When we bought our place in 1999 we were told that it came with a private beach for our community. We never had any issues until the last 3 or 4 years. Now we have people threatening us on facebook and Next Door Neighbor very often. This was settled and we have the paperwork where is was settled. Why is it becoming a problem again. The biggest problem comes from people that live in Okaloosa County and Destin not even residents of Walton County. Also whomever your real estate “expert” is apparently really doesn’t know anything about the market there. Every 10 years the market either booms or bust. We are in the bust 10 years period now and because of the entire American economy rentals are down a little bit so far this year, but last year it was as crowded as ever. The problem with rentals being down this year (so far) has NOTHING to do with beach access. It has to do with people not having the money and ALSO the problem with OVERCROWDING on Miramar Beach, Destin and the 30 A corridor. The people I see that stay places with a private beach do so because it HAS a private beach!! They enjoy being able to have a place reserved ahead of time. If the greed had not hit the Walton County planning and commission and they would STOP OVERBUILDING Miramar Beach might just make it as a decent family vacation spot but my own kids don’t even want to come visit anymore because of the overcrowding and the caliber of vacationers that come from the cheap hotels and all the apartments built.. the wetlands and what little forest had survived have been STRIPPED now!! It is NO longer the nice place it once was. Now the market is being glutted with sales of condos and homes of people that are tired of not even being able to grocery shop because of the traffic. Why can’t you people look at the bigger picture ahead and then take a look back a few years and learn from the mistakes of previous politicians and commissioners. I had much rather own a rental that I can get top dollar for and not have to compete for pennies with 10,000 other rentals that aren’t getting the rentals they want because there are far too many already. People are posting on facebook that they won’t ever come back because of the crowding. I can’t blame them.