Fight over beach access is rekindled

New state law will affect those in Walton County.

SANTA ROSA BEACH — Along a stretch of white, sandy shoreline in Florida’s Panhandle, a simple question has led to profanity-laden arguments, private security guards and calls to law enforcement: Who owns the beach?

In one coastal county, a new state law is set to rekindle that uproar just in time for the July 4th holiday.

As of July 1, Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson said his deputies will have to start arresting people who put their beach blankets down in front of private homes and refuse to leave.

“We will start enforcing private property rights, which is up to including removing people from the beach,” Adkinson said. “We are required by law to treat the beach as if it’s somebody’s front yard.”

To county residents like Dave Rauschkolb, a surfer and restaurant owner, that’s just wrong.

“Beach access should be sacrosanct for all. The notion of a private beach is an oxymoron,” he said. “After this goes into effect, people can be physically removed from specific beaches, like bouncers at a bar, and to me that’s despicable.”

Many Florida beachfront homes own the sand down to the average high-water line. Yet in some counties, like Walton, local ordinances allow the public to put out towels and umbrellas, fish and hang out if it’s shown that those beaches have been open to the public for decades.

A new state law establishes a process for counties to grant what’s called “customary use” access to otherwise privately owned beaches. It goes into effect July 1, when beaches will be crowded in this area between Pensacola and Panama City Beach. Long known as the “Redneck Riviera,” this stretch of the Gulf Coast has been an established tourist destination for working-class Southerners. More recently, however, it has captured the interest of wealthy visitors who have built multi-million dollar beach homes.

Democratic state Rep. Katie Edwards-Walpole said she sponsored the bill to end legal disputes between local governments and property owners — not restrict beach access.

“I love our state and travel quite extensively,” Edwards-Walpole said. “Beach access is a big part of that. The last thing I want to do is restrict my access to beachfront property.”

The new law won’t change the current rights people have to the beach — except in Walton County.