South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Expert: Surfing ban may be illegal
Landmark ruling prohibits cities from outlawing the sport
HALLANDALE BEACH – Surfers who dare to catch waves off Hallandale Beach are breaking a town law that bans the sport.
But the ban itself may be illegal, experts say.
A landmark ruling handed down 48 years ago prohibits cities from outlawing surfing.
“That could be taken to court,” said Tom Warnke, executive director of the Florida Surfing Museum in West Palm Beach. “The [Florida] Supreme Court ruled you could regulate it, but you can’t ban it.”
Hallandale’s ban has been on the books for at least a decade.
Back in 1964, the town of Palm Beach banned surfing. Soon Riviera Beach and Palm Beach Shores outlawed the sport too.
The Florida Supreme Court
struck down those bans in 1970, citing them as arbitrary and unreasonable.
City Attorney Jennifer Merino says Hallandale’s long-standing ban needs to be changed. Merino, who joined the city in 2017 after the ban was put in place, says she’s working on a revised law that could be voted on by the commission as soon as next month.
Bob Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University, says the legal precedent regarding a ban on surfing is clear.
“A city can ban surfing in an area where it might be dangerous because of rocks or ships coming out or where they might be colliding with swimmers,” Jarvis said. “But you can’t do a blanket ban.”
Jarvis said Hallandale is likely not the only city to run afoul of a landmark case.
“This happens all the time,” he said. “Think of how many ordinances a town has. And a lot of ordinances are on the books and never get enforced.”
Hallandale Beach has not cited anyone for violating its ban, city officials say. And if the lifeguard gives them a verbal warning, most people comply.
In Hallandale, surfing isn’t the only forbidden sport.
Scuba diving, spear fishing and skim boarding are also prohibited.
And four years ago, Hallandale outlawed the use of watercraft along its 1.7-mile beach.
Hallandale’s law defines watercraft as any vehicle, vessel or craft designed to move across or through water. And that includes kayaks, paddleboards and personal watercraft like Jet Skis, city officials say.
The law says watercraft can be used in designated areas but fails to identify a launch area.
Merino says she’s reviewing that ban as well.
Vice Mayor Sabrina Javellana said she didn’t realize the city had run afoul of a landmark ruling.
“That changes everything,” she said. “I did not know about that Supreme Court decision.”
Javellana says she’d like to see the city set up a safe launching area for surfers, kayakers and paddleboarders.
“I think we need to open our beach up to kayakers and other water sports,” she said. “I’d like to give the lifeguards discretion to decide when it’s safe or not, de- pending on the weather or how many people are in the water.”
Fire Chief Mark Ellis, who oversees Hallandale’s lifeguards, could not say what prompted the surfing ban.
But for lifeguards, the biggest concern is making sure no one gets hurt, he said.
“You get amateur people surfing and paddleboarding,” Ellis said. “If someone falls and the board flies out from under them, it can hit a bather.”
Lifeguards are enforcing the ban on personal watercraft and motorized kayaks, Ellis said. And they won’t allow surfing when there’s a crowd of swimmers.
“We have been lenient with stand-up paddleboards,” he said. “It’s more of a live and let live approach.”
That laid-back approach may be why so many people have no clue about the ban.
That includes Bruce Gipson, a retired Miami Beach firefighter who used to surf off the coast of Hallandale until he moved to Boca Raton.
In late 2015, Gipson and a friend set out from Bimini on a kayak intent on breaking a record.
They traveled 54 miles in record-breaking time — eight hours and seven minutes — and landed exhausted on Hallandale’s sandy beach.
He had no clue they were breaking any rules by landing there, he said this week.
“We landed in front of the lifeguards,” he said. “And they didn’t say anything.”
He’s glad they weren’t told to keep on going.
“I think my friend would have lost it,” Gipson said.