| Guest
commentary: 8-point plan for improving beach access
By JOSEPH
P. BIANCO JR., Special to the Daily News June
26, 2005
In the spirit
of improving beach access along the entire 23-mile-long Collier
County beachfront for the benefit of all of our citizens, we
recommend the following key items for immediate implementation:.....See
______________________________________________________________________________
Battle
Of Beach Access Engulfs Ponte Vedra
By JANE COSTELLO
The New York Times
Published:
Jun 19, 2005
"The question is, what is a beach?"
said Graham Ginsburg, a resident of Naples and a beach access
advocate who is a member of the Collier County Coastal Advisory
Committee. "You can say you own a piece of sand, but sand
doesn't constitute a beach until it meets the ocean. And when it
does, that beach is mine." |
 Brent
Batten: All parts of county will have to accept inconveniences
By BRENT BATTEN, bebatten@naplesnews.com
June 9, 2005
It
would be a shame to let a good case of righteous indignation go to
waste.
And someone is going to live near beach access...................(see
full story)
The fairest thing is to spread it as evenly as
possible. If properly distributed, 54,000 people could comfortably
use Collier's beaches, according to a county report. But only 6,800
can find room within an easy walk of the existing 2,689 parking
spaces.
Shuttles are almost certain to be part of the
long-term equation, since the county can't possibly afford enough
beach-front land to guarantee everyone a parking space.
And each component of the solution takes time to
implement. The whole program can't be put into place overnight.
Something has to come first, something else
second. If those somethings turn out to be a new garage at
Vanderbilt Beach and shuttle stops in the same general area, so be
it. It will be incumbent on the County Commission to find ways to
accommodate people in other areas, including Pelican Bay.
Righteous
indignation over whose back yard beach access lands in no longer has
a place in the debate. |
Mogul Yields Beach Access to Public
By Kenneth R. Weiss, Times Staff Writer
Ending a long-running dispute over coastal access, music
producer David Geffen
gave up the key to locked wooden gates next to his Malibu home,
allowing the public to enter an exclusive stretch of beach
walled off by multimillion-dollar homes.
The announcement brought public applause at a California Coastal
Commission meeting Thursday as settlement talks continued over
how much the billionaire principal of DreamWorks SKG may owe in
attorneys fees and fines under the terms of the state's Coastal
Act.
"Mr. Geffen threw everything at us, including the kitchen
sink, and nothing stuck," Hoye said. "If we've been
through this, we feel we can withstand any challenges in the
future. I'm ecstatic that it took only three years."
‘I’M ECSTATIC’: Steve Hoye, who
fought for access, in front of David Geffen’s home.
|
Gulfshore Business Line
in the Sand by Jill Tyrer
“What concerns me more than anything else is what Theodore
Roosevelt said 100 years ago—that the most beautiful natural
resources of this country are going to be snapped up by the wealthy,
[who will deny access] to those who can’t afford—or don’t
choose to be in—their particular location,” says Graham
Ginsberg, a former member of Collier’s Coastal Advisory Committee
(CAC).
Ginsberg’s outspoken advocacy was not popular among other
members of the CAC, and he resigned in February after serving about
a year of a four-year term. Florida’s beaches, he says, are “our
Grand Canyon. And if we block the entrance to the Grand Canyon with
condominiums, and only 10 percent of our population has access
through those condominiums, we’re going to have a problem.”
Faced with growing pressure from development, the state launched
the Save Our Coast acquisition program in the 1980s to secure
beachfront lands for public use. “It’s a finite resource, and it
became apparent that demand was growing,” says Russell Schweiss,
spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection
(DEP). According to a 1995 report, of the 825 miles of sandy Florida
shoreline along the ocean and Gulf, 343.3 miles—41 percent—is
publicly owned. And there are areas where consecutive parcels of
private property severely limit public access, Schweiss says. “A
lot of that has been delegated to counties to deal with.”
Collier County has about 36 miles of beach, with plenty of public
access in some areas. In the City of Naples, just about every other
beachfront street has an access point. “[But] when you get north
of Naples or south of Naples into Marco Island, access gets very
difficult,” says county manager Jim Mudd.
On Marco, those points are Tigertail Beach Park and the South
Marco Beach Access. Between the two, the beach is lined with hotels,
condominiums and other private property where access is available
only to residents and their guests.
North of Naples is Pelican Bay, with nearly three
miles of beach that’s largely inaccessible to the public.
The county negotiated with WCI Communities to allow a parking garage
on the north end of Pelican Bay at Vanderbilt Beach, and there have
been discussions about a similar facility on the south end at Clam
Pass and increasing public access in other areas as well. Those
proposals have met with resistance from Pelican Bay Foundation, the
master homeowners’ association, fueling a movement to have the
City of Naples annex the community. The argument is that the two
coastal communities have more in common than Pelican Bay has with
the rest of the county, and that the city might better protect
private access to the beach.
From a tourism
standpoint, Collier County has adequate public access for now, says
Jack Wert, executive director of the Greater Naples Marco
Island Everglades Convention and Visitors Bureau. “As the county
grows and more visitors come to the area, access to the beaches is
an important aspect.” However, Wert says, “community goals are,
first of all, quality of life and a nice place for everyone to live.
You have to balance access with public need and also tourism
need.”
“As you look at [the] growing county—or counties, if you’re
going to do this in more of a regional brush—the population will
double probably in the next 15 to 20 years,” adds Mudd.
“That’s going to put a real strain on the access points we do
have if we can’t develop and broker additional access points.”
Ginsberg believes beachfront private property should be subject
to easements and rights-of-way for public access just as it is for
other public projects, such as road widening. Those who value
exclusivity shouldn’t build next to public lands, he adds. “When
you build on a huge valuable resource that is not reproducible, you
should expect problems in the future—and that’s what coastal
owners need to realize. This problem is not going away; it’s only
going to get bigger.”
The Florida DEP is partly
to blame, says Ginsberg. It has permitting powers over
structures built along the coast, but only considers public access
when it involves beach renourishment projects, under the auspices of
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. (Ginsberg has been a vocal
opponent of renourishing eroding areas of Hideaway Beach, arguing
that it doesn’t truly have public access.)
Providing public access
is not a DEP requirement. “We’d really be overstepping
our bounds to require people in their own private homes to allow the
public there,” says DEP
spokesman Schweiss. |
|
Michel Fortier/Staff
Towing a wagon full of supplies,
Debbie May carries her son, Joe May, along Vanderbilt
Beach Road for several blocks on her way to the public
access point at Vanderbilt Beach, the only public access
point between Wiggins Pass and Clam Pass. Like the
public access points, parking is scarce, often filling
up early in the morning and creating long lines of cars
waiting for parking spaces.
|
Experts:
Beaches hard to access, missing federal cash
By
CATHY ZOLLO, crzollo@naplesnews.com
March
20, 2005
Two
words can hardly upset people in Collier County more than
"beach access."
Coastal
folks are angrily protective of what some consider
"their" beaches and question why inlanders weren't
savvy or industrious enough to buy near the water.
Those
far from the shore, who have seen their access to the sand
dwindle as Collier County's population soars, are angry, too.
The
area's top attraction, which according to Florida statute
belongs to all, is often off limits because there are few places
to park a car or a towel on a beautiful day.
A
beach access activist who last month quit the
county's Coastal Advisory Council in protest over beach access,
said the county has squandered chances at federal money to widen
beaches that would have left more money to improve beach access.
Instead,
the county has used money from its tourist development tax to
pay for beach widening rather than for beach access, as is
allowed under state statute.
The
federal government will pay up to an 80 percent share of beach
renourishment costs as long as the efforts target storm
protection for developed shoreline and there is adequate public
access to the beaches, said Charlie Stevens, a project manager
with the Army Corps of Engineers' office in Jacksonville.
But
county government has to apply for that money and be found
eligible.
"Those
tourist funds are being used to fix beaches to attract tourists,
and the tourists are taking away more of the parking
spaces," he said. "In actuality, the tourists
are hurting beach access for the local folks. You would think
these tourist funds would be used to improve and enhance access
for the public in general."
Not
counting Keewaydin Island, the unincorporated area of Collier
County has 13 miles of sandy beaches, of which just more than
seven are accessible to the public.
Including
Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park, there are eight beach access
areas in unincorporated Collier that provide 1,449 parking
spaces for a county population that bounded past the 300,000
mark in the past year. That's one space for every 200 local
residents.
That
doesn't take into account more than a million visitors who each
winter escape the cold North to come share the sand with locals.
Beach
access within the city limits of Naples — population 21,000
— stands in sharp contrast, with a little more than eight
miles of beach, all of it accessible to the public, including
along the shore in Aqualane Shores and Port Royal.
The
city's eight-mile stretch of beach has 37 beach access points,
with parking for 1,122 cars.
Jack
Wert, executive director of the Greater Naples, Marco Island,
Everglades Convention and Visitors Bureau, acknowledged that
county government hadn't applied for federal money in years past
but that it has begun to do so.
"For
the most part, we didn't apply for it because there was tourist
tax money," Wert said. "We are beginning to apply for
that but it could take eight to 10 years."
Because
of Collier's popularity, there was a lot of tourist tax money to
spend. It amounted to $9.7 million in 2004, of which 85 percent
went to beach renourishment.
The
remaining 15 percent runs the Visitors Bureau and pays for
advertising for the area as a tourist destination.
He
argues that a big chunk of the 85 percent that went for beach
widening could have gone for beach access and drawn more money
from the feds and state for the widening projects. Greater
public beach access leads to more state and federal money, he
reasons.
The
state will kick in up to half of a local government's share for
beach renourishment, said Paden Woodruff, environmental
administrator for DEP's Bureau of Beaches and Coastal Systems.
Of
$17 million in recently approved projects in Collier County, the
state has forked over $4.5 million.
"If
there were (federal) cost-sharing, it would be different,"
Woodruff said. "Out of that $17 million, the federal
government would pick up about $10 million. Then the state and
local governments would be cost-sharing on the non-federal
share."
In
essence, federal cost sharing could have reduced the county's
share from $12.5 million for those projects to about $4 million.
Since
1995, the county has spent close to $20 million on beach
renourishment, with more money allocated but not yet spent, Wert
said. In the past four years, $468,000 from tourist taxes has
gone toward beach access projects such as parking lot paving and
landscaping.
Wert
said another $9.5 million will go toward beach access by way of
a 350-car parking garage that will replace the 150-space lot
near the Vanderbilt Beach turnaround. But critics say that beach
is already over capacity.
On
any fair-weather day, the popular turnaround is a busy place,
but on sunny weekends, it's a carnival of people trying to get
to the waves.
A
parade of cars, SUVs and shuttles from inland hotels and
developments crowd the turnaround for drop-offs. By 9 a.m.,
there are no parking spots left in that 150-space parking lot,
and lines of people are hoofing in from nearby hotels and
condos. The bike slots that fringe the sidewalk are nearly full.
So
is the beach.
Pick
through the staked-out claims of the lucky and the early risers
and look south about a hundred yards to a sea of deep blue
umbrellas pitched behind the Ritz-Carlton, Naples.
To
the north just a little way is LaPlaya Beach & Golf Resort,
with its umbrellas staking a claim to the beach.
In
between is a swarm of humanity trying to enjoy the day at the
beach.
To
the north and south of the hotels, the sands are virtually empty
of people until you reach Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park to the
north.
It's
nearly empty for almost two miles south through Pelican Bay
until you reach Clam Pass.
With
more than two miles of beach, Pelican Bay's lack of public
access keeps all but about two-tenths of a mile, about 1,300
feet, closed to the general public. County government owns a
three-quarter mile stretch of prime shoreline within the
development, but there is no public access point there.
The
story is similar on Marco Island, where a half-mile of a
2.5-mile beach is open to the public since decades-old pathways
were fenced off by beachfront condos in recent years.
Hoteliers,
on the other hand, say they sympathize with beach-goers but that
the number of beachside rooms hasn't climbed in many years.
"What
causes this (crowding) is a massive population boom," said
Scott Shoenberger, managing director of LaPlaya.
"Ultimately, what is the plan that the county's got in
terms of easing the congestion?"
Ed
Staros, managing director of both Ritz properties in Naples,
said the same and offered one idea for reducing the crowds that
pack the Vanderbilt Beach access point. He noted that many
people take shuttles to the beach, but there are few places for
shuttles to drop off beachgoers.
"If
there were just more of those dead ends," Staros said.
"Maybe there should be a big roundabout at (Delnor-)
Wiggins State Park."
The
county had a $134 million plan in 2003 that would have increased
public beach access, but commissioners shot it down.
Now
the county is seeking comment on ways to improve beach access
though a series of workshops, including one on March 31 with the
County Commission that is open to the public.
|
| Most
beaches not accessible to wheelchairs
NBC2 - Kathryn Simmons - Posted
on: Wednesday, March 02, 2005
|
|
COLLIER COUNTY—
Every day people in wheelchairs face challenges getting into
businesses and government buildings, even though there is a federal
civil rights act to protect the disabled. The Americans with
Disabilities Act doesn't extend to the beach and one local man is
ready to rally for his rights to get to the water's edge on his own.
"It's very
frustrating," said Scott Straub SEE
THE VIDEO
|
___________________________________________________________________
By Daily News
March 3, 2005
What I think Naples needs is an elevated monorail from the affordable
housing of Bonita Bay, Fifth Avenue South, then on to the big, expensive
houses in Port Royal.
It could run along the coast to Gulf Shore Boulevard with stops
at beach access points every mile (including exclusive Pelican Bay)
and end in front of that huge house on Gordon Drive.
Nitsua
Seton/Grosse Pointe, Mich
______________________________________________________________
By
The Naples Daily News
- February 26, 2005
Coletta, the Collier County commissioner for District 5 — mostly
Golden Gate Estates and Immokalee — argues for
a beach advisory committee to include inland members as well as coastal
residents. He also wants that panel to scout additional beach
access opportunities.
He does not buy into a parochial, narrow vision — one embraced by
most of his colleagues, unfortunately — that a county parks board should
advise on access and that coastal residents have the right to dominate
coastal oversight.
Coletta's stand marks an ideal confluence of politics and public
policy. The tide he fights — one that bows to cronyism and red tape —
will assure the county gets nowhere. Scenes encountered daily on our roads
will be repeated on our beaches — if beachgoers can get there and park.
One solution — parking inland with shuttle service to the beach —
is right under our noses.
_______________________________________________________________
Daily
News
- February 24, 2005
I have just returned from a beautiful day at Vanderbilt
Beach at the peak of season, where my beach of choice, Delnor-Wiggins
State Park, is closed at capacity by 11 a.m. every day of the week.
I ponder in return, after possible annexation, will
Pelican Bay share in the social commonality of the city of Naples open
beach policy? If so, I fully support your annexation initiative and will
look forward to sharing your three to four miles of pristine beach.—
Alicia M. Astorga/Naples
_______________________________________________________________
Editor,
Naples Daily News: February
23, 2005
Collier County will not change
the makeup of the Coastal Advisory Committee in an effort to improve
public beach access in the county.
On Tuesday, Commissioner Jim Coletta advocated shaking
up the CAC, but the other commissioners voted down that proposal.
Ginsberg, who joined the committee about a year ago,
said he quit because other members were working to silence him about beach
issues, particularly beach access issues and renourishment of beaches that
don't have easy public access.
See
AUDIO on CAC meetings
__________________________________________________________
By
The Naples Daily News-February
20, 2005
A member of Collier County's
Coastal Advisory Committee felt muzzled. Graham Ginsberg of North Naples
resented colleagues' efforts to punish him when he would speak out on
public beach access and focusing public spending on beaches with the most
public access. He even complained that official records of meetings would
alter what he had said.
See
AUDIO on CAC meetings
__________________________________________________________
Editor,
Naples Daily News:
On Valentine's Day my wife and
I walked to Cape Marco near the
end of South Collier Boulevard on
Marco Island to view the setting
sun from the rocks on the shore.
Much to our surprise, the access
by the seawall was blocked, and a
"no trespassing" sign
was posted.
We knew it was just a matter of
time, after the construction of
two new and incredibly ugly
concrete high-rise buildings,
before the "peasants"
would be banned from the beach.
Public access to the beach on
Marco Island continues to be a
disgrace.
It is obvious that those with
"big bucks" on Marco
Island have buried public
interests by blocking free access
to the shores of the Gulf.
— Jim
Kelley/Marco Island
__________________________________________________________________
Editor,
Naples Daily News:
Collier County's Coastal
Advisory Committee (CAC), a group
that votes on how tax dollars are
spent, has run off an advocate of
beach access, a person who
questioned why public funds
renourish beaches advertised as
private and without public access.
CAC should be comprised of
members of the community at large,
not just coastal residents who
couldn't care less about beach
access.
CAC Chairman Ron Pennington
maneuvered to give Graham Ginsberg
a hard time before Ginsberg
finally threw in the towel and
quit anyway.
Pennington had the
audacity to declare that people
paying big bucks to live on or
near waterfront property should
have more of a say in what's
happening to these beaches than
people living inland.
In fact, with so little beach
access in Collier County, and no
representation of public
interests, maybe the entire board
should be made up of people living
inland.
All residential real estate in
Collier County is sold with the
promise of quality beaches that
are unavailable to most citizens.
Over the years, commissioners'
deals with developers — most
notable transaction, Pelican Bay
— have whittled away available
access to wedges of sand with
little parking. As the county
nears build-out, the situation in
North Naples is appalling.
A rally to measure interest in
access issues will be held on Vanderbilt
Beach in North Naples, on March 5
at 9 a.m. Thanks to poor
planning, parking is limited to a
minuscule county lot and just
about no street parking.
Everyone in Collier County is
welcome.
____________________________________________
HAVENS; Beach
Access: Where Do You Draw the Line
in the Sand?
By JANE COSTELLO
- Published:
January 21, 2005, Friday
According to the Florida
Department of Environmental
Protection, at least 60 percent of
beaches in the state are private
and offer little or no access to
the public, enabling both
developers and homeowners to claim
those beaches as their own. But
many contend that there is no such
thing as a private beach: as in
other states, the constitution of
Florida recognizes that the beach
is publicly owned up to the
high-tide mark. In addition,
Florida law requires the state to
ensure ''the public's right to
reasonable access to beaches,''
and various court rulings have
affirmed that principle.
Nevertheless, over the last 20
years local governments in Florida
have routinely ceded access points
to developers. Along both the
Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of
Mexico, developers have been
granted the right to stake claim
on dry sand and build waterfront
communities, which then bring in
hefty tax revenues to local
jurisdictions.
''The question is, what is a
beach?'' said Graham Ginsburg, a
resident of Naples on Florida's
gulf coast and a beach access
advocate who is also a member of
the Collier County Coastal
Advisory Committee. ''You can say
you own a piece of sand, but sand
doesn't constitute a beach until
it meets the ocean. And when it
does, that beach is mine.''
_________________________________________________________________
Most
CAC members oppose Tigertail
boardwalk proposal:
By
BILLY BRUCE, Staff Writer January
19, 2005
CAC members John
Arceri, a Marco Island city
councilman, and Paul
Sullivan, a Marco Island
resident, both suggested that the
county kill
any proposal to build a boardwalk
over the lagoon.
"We're
risking huge costs of destroying
the view of the beach with
a huge boardwalk structure, and
hurting the wildlife habitats,
just to gain three minutes of
walking time for beachgoers,"
Arceri said.
_________________________________________________________________
Should
Pelican Bay citizens truly want to
become a part of Naples they first
need to provide equal public
facilities meeting the same, or
greater, standards as the city!
The city of Naples, mayor and
City Council should not entertain
any thought of annexation until
the citizens
of Pelican Bay deprivatize and
open their community to the public
on, at least, the same level the
city operates.
Plus: 1. All facilities
need to be brought up to the
minimum standard of the city.2.
Construct and dedicate to public
use at least four additional,
suitable public beach accesses
approximately equally spaced
between Seagate and Vanderbilt
Beach Road, with each providing
not less than 30 public parking
spaces immediately adjacent
thereto.3. Provide a public
beachside park with standards
meeting at least that of our
Lowdermilk Park in size and with
access, amenities and parking.4.
Provide a 1,000-foot-long public
fishing pier with equal quality
access and parking as exists at
Naples Pier.
Once the above is completed,
without cost to the citizens of
the city of Naples, Pelican Bay's
true desire to become a part of
the city and its public-spirited
annual operations will be shown in
earnest — currently lacking in
the Pelican Bay community in both
attitudes and facilities for the
general
public! Bill Boggess/Old
Naples
_________________________________________________________________
DESTIN FLORIDA - LETTER TO
EDITOR
After
I attended the Planning
Commission Meeting on Dec. 2,
2004 I was amazed of how easily
the staff
was willing to give up a public
beach access.
The
lawyers stated that even though
there is a sign indicating
public beach access and that
there is a parking lot in which
local tax payers have paid for ,
it really isn't a public beach
access.
There
is a sign there and hundreds of
us have used Norriego Point as
public property. Even the city
maps indicate this area as
public beach access,
but the lawyers say it is
private property.
Once
again the beach is slowly being
taken away from all of us. If
you walk from Henderson
Beach to the Jetty's along the
water line you probably have
trespassed on someone's
property, (come on give me a
break)!
My
last thought is that only ten
percent of the people own
property along the beach in the
state of Florida, so that means
the other ninety percent will
just have to do without.
__________________________________________________________________
Tension
mounts between Pelican Bay, Mudd
By
I.M. STACKEL,
imstackel@naplesnews.com
December
6, 2004
According to Domenie, Mudd said
that Pelican
Bay "is due for a rude
awakening. (PB) may restrict beach
access for a while, but if he
"has anything to say about,
'Watch out!'" Domenie
wrote.
__________________________________________________________________
Editor,
Naples Daily News: James
Ahearn/Naples
I feel truly sorry for
letter-writer Martha
Dykman and her fellow
residents of the waterfront.
Imagine the gall of Collier County
Manager Jim Mudd and the county
commissioners daring to provide
more beach access! I can imagine
how distressing it must be for her
and her friends to have to share
the beach with local riffraff or
— even worse — transients from
a hotel!
What were they thinking when
they allowed the Registry Resort
to sell $10 hamburgers and $3
sodas right on the beach?! Didn't
they know what kind of people that
would attract?!
The obvious solution for county
government to regain the trust of
the residents of Naples Cay,
Pelican Bay and the Seagate
neighborhoods is to restrict
access to the beaches to just the
"right" people. In an
ideal world it would be nice to
eliminate beach access entirely,
but of course some people of
quality prefer to live in golf
communities away from the ocean
and the county should provide
access for them.
So perhaps Mr. Mudd could
introduce a policy that no beach
sticker will be issued to anyone
with a net worth less than $2
million.
And where would county
taxpayers who don't have $2
million go for a day at the beach?
Well, Coney Island is only 1,200
miles away.
__________________________________________________________________
Editor,
Naples Daily News: Martha
Dykman/Naples
When Jim Mudd was assistant
Collier County manager and even in
his first few years of being
manager, he was a hard-working,
thoughtful, service-oriented
employee. Now we are seeing an
egomaniac who is threatening
citizens and other county
department heads and rolling right
over the county commissioners.
Last week, a letter writer gave
Mudd accolades. Obviously she does
not live in Pelican Bay, Seagate
or Naples Cay where he has been
threatening and misstating the
county's rights! He and his staff
have refused to meet with
homeowners in Seagate and Naples
Cay, where he has proposed a huge,
three-story, parking garage right
across from our homes. If we had
not seen the proposal in the Daily
News, we would not even know this
is in the works.
He wants to triple the number
of beachgoers at Clam Pass Park
and allow the Registry Resort
& Club to use the park and
parking garage after hours. He and
his staff have refused to meet
with us even though this intensity
will disturb our peace and ruin
our property values.
The Registry is a cash cow for
the county since a portion of
beach concessions goes into county
coffers. Tourist-tax revenue also
aids the county. Now
the money that was suppose to go
for beach nourishing is going to
build ugly parking garages, so our
beaches will be crowded like Coney
Island.
Jim Mudd is acting like a thug
and the commissioners need to rein
him in now!
________________________________________________________________
ADA
COMPLAINT - TEXAS
US
Dept of Interior - ADA complaint
filed for beach access in Texas
(ADA Dept of Justice, American
with Disabilities Act)
|
Victory
for Beach Access
- CAPE HATTERAS
Cape
Hatteras Access Preservation
Alliance wins suit over US
Dept of Fish & Wildlife
|
|
Click
on either the OPINION
or the ORDER,
to download
|
__________________________________________________________________
Hollywood
superstar GOLDIE HAWN is
fighting with local authorities in
LOS ANGELES because she wants to ban
the public from using the beach near
her Malibu mansion, and she has
appealed for help from her A-list
neighbors.
The FIRST WIVES CLUB actress is
seething over her local council's
decision to open up the strip of
sand outside her home and has
asked neighbors like STEPHEN
SPIELBERG and DUSTIN HOFFMAN to
sign a petition.
California governor ARNOLD
SCHWARZENEGGER is also among her
neighbors.
A source says, "This strip
of land has been private for as
long as Golide has lived there and
it was one of the things that
attracted her to the house.
"Now
anyone can go down and sunbathe or
surf and apart from the noise,
rubbish and crowds, there is a
security issue. Goldie and
the other residents feel they
should have been consulted and
that their rights have been
breached."
_______________________________________________________________
Sands
of time - Editor,
Naples Daily News:
Someone
coined the phrase "Greed is
good."
Then there are:
"I was here first, it's
mine."
"If you want it, you can
pay for it."
"You're a communist to
think you can have something for
nothing."
And so on.
We give so much of ourselves
and you ask:
Are you a communist to give
blood to help someone in need, or
to give of your life for your
country, or to give your time to
have a better community, all for
no personal financial gain?
I thought that being a good
person and being a good citizen
was giving of yourself.
Sure we all want to make a
living, but when it comes to the
detriment of the masses, your
actions are one of selfishness and
greed.
One sad example is the slow
taking of public beach access by
blocking public paths to the beach
by a line of condominiums and
through misinformation on
inappropriate signage such as
"Private Beach" or
"Residents Beach" and
real-estate advertising.
Marco
Island has such a sign, which
reads "Residents Beach."
The beach isn't privately owned
— none of Florida's beaches are
— but the parking lot is, and
through the use of this sign it
gives an added sense of value to
their facility and takes that
value away from the public.
It's not about money; it's
about community and being
community conscious.
___________________________________________________________
Name:
Randy Egan
- Date: Oct, 09
2004 - Never
have I seen a public official show
such disdain for the public. I may
not be able to vote for the Mr.
Tucker's opponents because
I'm not a resident, but I can
still have a voice. Mr. Tucker,
the city funds that you allocate
are provided by many of us
non-resident Marco property owners
who have a stronger interest in
the City of Marco Island than they
do for their own "Cities of
Residency".
More beach access for all of
those whose feet are on Marco soil
is a good thing.
Resident's beach is a misnomer.
Resident's beach is actually a
private park and parking lot. The
beach belongs to the public. When
I want to drive to the beach, I
will park at the Resident's Park
and parking lot.
Perhaps, this latest legal
maneuver won't bear fruit, but
give it a chance.
Also, let's get hopping on the
10 ft of right of way the City has
already been granted to the beach
on Marriott property. The city
needs access for pedestrians and
bicycles. We don't need pedestrian
and bicycle access to
"Resident's Parking
Lot". Also, now that Marco
Island has a CAT bus, a bus route
dropping off at the new Marriott
beach path would make a lot of
sense!
Let's not get in the way of Mr.
Ciolino, but let's get the
planning completed for the
Marriott Pedestrian/Bike Path.
If it would help its progress,
let's name it Tucker's Trail.
Randy Egan
Marco properties owner and
taxpayer.
329 Nassau Ct
181 Bonita Ct
______________________________________________________
Name: Graham Ginsberg - Date:
Oct, 07 2004
It is unfortunate that we have
a council member on Marco who
presents his own opinion instead
of those of his constituents.
It's Mr.
Tuckers opinion that an increase
in access will cause congestion and
a loss of value on Marco. A local
vote should be taken to disprove
his opinion and convince others
that there is definitely a
problem, regardless of the
legality, but of Marco's image.
This island with it's
'Residents Beach' and history of
ousting tourists from it's shores
is aligning itself with snobville
(unfortunately with a low budget)
and is willing to go to court over
it.
That could make land lawyers
like Mr.
Tucker very happy,
regardless who comes out ahead,
they surely will!
______________________________________________________________
EMAILS : CITY OF MARCO
ISLAND REGARDING 'RESIDENTS
BEACH' SIGN
EMAIL FROM MARCO CITY
Oh, I am sorry that I
misunderstood your question. The
sign is legal
under our city codes, therefore
no code violation exists for our
code
enforcement department to
address. My suggestion to rename
Resident's
Beach was made in jest and to
make the point that you cannot
judge a book
by its cover...oops there I go
again.
Laura
Litzan
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Thursday, September
30, 2004 12:59 PM
To: Laura Litzan (CITY OF MARCO ISLAND)
Subject: RE: RESIDENTS BEACH
: City of Marco Island -
'RESIDENTS BEACH'
sign on Marco
Dear Laura Litzan;
Thank you for the information.
However, the information
provided does not address the
issue of a 'RESIDENTS
BEACH' sign on Marco Island and
how your code enforcement has
allowed such a
sign to remain.
Signs of this nature advertise
privacy of what is a public area,
our
beaches. It is false and
misleading and should be changed
to reflect, as you
stated in your email, the
private property that consists of
a parking lot,
playground, bathroom
facilities, and a walkway to the
beach.
Please reply to my concerns.
-----Original Message-----
From: Laura
Litzan [mailto:llitzan@cityofmarcoisland.com]
Sent: Thursday, September
30, 2004 12:15 PM
To: nfn01552@naples.net
Cc: bmoss@cityofmarcoisland.com;
gniles@cityofmarcoisland.com
Subject: Re: RESIDENTS BEACH
: City of Marco Island
Thank you for your inquiry. As
you may know, all Florida beaches
are
public beaches. The area that
you are describing, which is
called
Resident's Beach, is actually
private property that consists of
a parking
lot, playground, bathroom
facilities, and a walkway to the
beach. The
owners of the property, the
Marco Island Civic Association
(MICA), have
property rights similar to any
other private property owner that
owns
property along the beach here,
or in Naples, or elsewhere in
Florida.
Private property owners,
regardless if the property is a
single family
home, a condominium, a vacant
lot, a hotel, or other developed
property
along the beach, have exclusive
rights of access. If you owned a
condo
in a beach front building, for
example, you would have the legal
right to
use utilize the private land
(the condo property) in order to
access the
public beach. Others without
legal rights of access who may
attempt to
use the property without the
permission of the owner would be
trespassing
upon private property. In the
case of Resident's Beach, the
legal right
to use the private land (the
parking lot, facilities and
walkway) to
access the public beach is
limited to those individuals who
have the
permission of the owners
(MICA). Those individuals who have
the
permission of the owners to use
the property are called
"members", and
membership is defined by MICA,
the owners . The ability to access
the
beach on Marco Island is really
no different than in Naples and
elsewhere
in the State. There are posted
public areas to access the beach,
as well
as private development (condos
and homes) where beach access is
limited.
On Marco Island, anyone can
access the beach by utilizing
Tigertail Beach
public access, the South Beach
public access and Caxambas Park. I
hope
this helps to clarify the
issues, although I suspect if MICA
renamed their
property something else ("Margueritaville"
sounds nice but I this it is
already taken) than it may be a
less confusing matter.
Laura Litzan
__________________________________________________________
Editor, Naples Daily News:
With all of the big problems
confronting the world, my request
of the Naples City Council will
seem small. As a Naples city
resident, I think it is an
important issue.
The design of Park Shore has
made the beach in that area a
private beach for the residents of
the beach-front condominiums or
those that are members of the Park
Shore Property Owners Association
only. There is no public access to
the beach in that area except
through the Moorings on the south
and Seagate on the north. If a
visitor wishes to swim on the
beach in the Park Shore Drive
area, he must hike almost a mile
from either the Moorings or the
Seagate entrance.
Since the city advertises that
the beaches belong to everyone, it
is time that the City Council find
a way to have a couple of sidewalk
accesses for those of us wishing
to take advantage of the beach. If
the residents of the condominiums
on the beach are concerned about
protecting their property, a
10-foot, chain-link fence with
Vietnam wire at the top that is
positioned along the walkway would
keep us off of their property.
I will anxiously await the
comments of the City Council.
________________________________________________________________
Activist
continues fight to win back
public beach access
By
By BILLY BRUCE, Staff Writer
- September
28, 2004
The 59-year-old
retired insurance agent and
Realtor from Long Island, N.Y.,
won a tiny first skirmish in his
battle when the Collier County
Commission on Sept. 21 directed
county attorneys to review a
44-page packet of documents
Ciolino claims proves his case.
If the county doesn’t take
the pathways back from current
landowners, including condominium
companies and the MICA-run
Residents Beach, Ciolino will head
for county circuit court.
If that doesn’t work, he’ll
try the Florida Supreme Court.
The only alternative after that
is the U.S. Supreme Court — and
Ciolino says he’s willing to go
to the highest court in the land.
If that happens, Ciolino said
he’ll invoke a legal provision
that enables a citizen to take an
issue to the high court on the
public’s dime if local
governments have refused to
officially review the matter.
How can two little coastal
towns so far apart have so much in
common?
Wealthy beachfront property
owners who consider the beach
theirs are suing the city of
Destin, in the Florida Panhandle,
over property rights.
About a year ago I received a
picture of a sign on Destin's
beach that read "Private
Beach" or something of that
nature. The city of Destin
code-enforcement department
allowed the homeowners' sign to
remain on the beach, to avoid
"causing waves" and, as
if it sprouted roots, several more
signs surfaced.
_____________________________________________________________________
Too little too late on Destin's
part sealed its fate.
Fortunately for Collier County
we don't have this predicament,
but we may be heading for the same
fate.
Several hotels, condominiums,
real estate companies and
individuals are advertising
"private beaches" in
Collier County while the Naples
city manager and county manager
have both stated that no private
beaches exist.
By leading visitors and
homeowners down the privacy road
through advertising, and giving a
false sense of value to these
properties, these professionals
are digging a legal hole that
coastal communities will surely
fall into.
The solution to a healthy
balance between individual
property rights and public rights
of access is education and
enforcement by local and state
government.
We have no private beaches and
signs indicating this should be
removed and those advertising them
as such should be stopped.
___________________________________________________
This
spending is OK: Editor, Naples
Daily News:
The voters have
spoken and the message is clear!
According to the
Collier
Building Industry Association's
2004 public opinion survey
results, when voters were asked
about using county tax dollars to
purchase waterfront land for
public access to beaches and boat
ramps, 68
percent were
in favor of the idea.
Give the voters
what they want and their support
will surely follow.
__________________________________________________
Editorial:
Naples, Barefoot Beach
At Barefoot
Beach, the guardhouse will remain
where it does not belong — in
the middle of a public road at the
entrance to an elegant subdivision
that also stands
between the public and a public
beach park at the southern
end.
Granted, other
public beach parks have
gatehouses, but not like the one
at Barefoot Beach — big enough
for a guard, like at other gated
communities where the public is
not invited. Though the point of
contention did not waver through
the years, Barefoot Beach was able
to assume the mantle of the
oppressed victim of the persistent
clamor for unfettered public
access to the public's beach.
The moral of the
story for today's Collier County
commissioners is two-fold: Think
long and hard about even the
perception of limiting public
access to public areas; and take
note of how hard it is, if it is
possible at all, to pour spilled
milk back into the bottle.
Commissioners
allowed the gatehouse, then years
later decided it had to go.
__________________________________________
Pelican
Bay marriage proposal
By
DENISE ZOLDAN, dczoldan@naplesnews.com
March
7, 2004
The major
conflict between those groups of
communities is beach access.
As the county
population grows, some 300,000
people are vying for a spot on the
beach. Naples was designed in the
early 1940s with public beach
access every few blocks. Today
there are 37 public beach access
points in the city.
On the other
hand, when Pelican Bay was created
in the 1970s, the developer,
Westinghouse Communities Inc.,
which later became WCI, donated
public beach access at Vanderbilt
Beach and Clam Pass Park. It also
donated a 1.2-mile stretch of
conservation land directly on the
beach in Pelican Bay, but that
property has no public access.
In recent
months, county staff has been
considering ways to get the public
to that county-owned beach, just
north of Clam Pass Park.
And that has
Pelican Bay residents worried.
"The
people in Pelican Bay paid a
premium to move into a planned
development where the
understanding was that access to
the beaches was for the
residents," said Lou Vlasho,
chairman of the Naples Better
Government Committee, which is a
powerful political action
committee in city elections.
A recent
city-county study shows there are
2,100 beach parking spaces in all
of Collier County; more than 1,000
of them are in Naples.
In linear
footage, the city's seven miles of
beaches make up about one-third of
beach coastline in Collier County.
"Basically
the city has about one-third of
the beach, the unincorporated
county has one-third and Marco
Island has one-third," said
John Dunnuck, the county's public
services administrator, pointing
out that few of Marco's beaches
are public.
Pelican Bay
residents needn't fear that the
public will traipse over their
property to get to the yet-to-be
accessed county conservation area
in Pelican Bay, said Frank Halas,
the Collier commissioner who
represents Pelican Bay.
"We're sure
not going to tear through any
Pelican Bay property," Halas
said. "There may be other
ways to get to that beach. But I
don't believe we are going to
force easements."
Herms asks about
fairness: "Pelican Bay gets
to use the city beaches. Will the
city get to use private beaches in
Pelican Bay?"
____________________________________________________
Letters
to the Editor: June 2, 2004
Let's not allow
Naples to become the pawn for
maintaining existing private beach
restrictions at Pelican Bay
allowed by Collier County
commissioners, at the expense of
inland residential property
owners, placing a burden on Naples
with its world-renowned public
access to beach, parks, pier and
inland waterways!
All land annexed
should conform to the established
level of service imposed upon
ourselves, including public
parking, beach access, beach
parks, fishing piers, etc.!
Pelican Bay
boasts of providing beach access
facilities at its southern and
northern borders. In truth, these
are self-serving facilities
allowing developers enhanced value
and less costs, with a boardwalk
and the county picking up most
costs of construction and
maintenance via "beach"
tourist tax funds, thus increasing
the value of hotel property.
North beach
access has always been the
Vanderbilt Beach Road right of
way.
Naples officials
should require Pelican Bay and
others to comply with the city's
own rules — namely public
parking and access to the
shoreline.
— Bill Boggess/Old Naples
____________________________________________________
Have
you even been kept away from a
local public beach?
Letters
to the editor: May 25, 2004
Trespassing on
private property is a serious
offense and misunderstandings as
to the boundaries on our beaches
can be confusing.
If you have had
the unfortunate experience of
being asked to leave a beach in
Collier County, this may be your
chance to be heard.
Anyone, be they
resident or tourist, who has had
an unpleasant experience either
getting to a beach or while
recreating on a beach, is
encouraged to contact the county
Parks and Recreation Department at
353-0404 or e-mail me at collierwatchdog@yahoo.com
describing the event. Make it
clear whether you would like to go
on record or not.
Any additional
information like the year and
location would be appreciated.
We hope in the
future to clarify the rights of
all citizens to enjoy the
"dry white sand" areas
of Florida's beaches
____________________________________________________
Parks
plan would open Keewaydin
By
BRENT BATTEN, bebatten@naplesnews.com
May
18, 2004
John Dunnuck,
head of the county's public
services division, said the
parks master plan completed last
year included the possibility of
a ferry to Keewaydin.
Dunnuck said the
county would have to acquire
several adjoining lots to consider
creating temporary trailer parking
before the master plan for the
area comes together.
So until
Keewaydin Island is opened to the
broader public, it will be all the
more exclusive.
____________________________________________________
Bayview
Park land offers more beach,
boat access
By
LARRY HANNAN, ljhannan@naplesnews.com
May
17, 2004
"We are
going to purchase as much land
as we can as soon as we
can," county Public
Services Administrator John
Dunnuck said. "We want to
buy the land now because we know
the price is only going to go
up. This area is primed for
redevelopment."
Bob Murray, vice
president of the East Naples Civic
Association, said county
government needs to be creative
when it comes to getting more
public boat and beach access.
"If we
don't get beach access and hold
onto it, I'm afraid beaches will
only be available to the
wealthy," Murray said.
There are no
public beaches in the East Naples
area and Murray doesn't expect
that to change. But he does want
to see more boat access and more
public transportation to beaches
in Naples and Marco Island.
____________________________________________________
Letters
to the Editor: May 12, 2004
By
Daily News - May
12, 2004
I wonder if the
annexation of Pelican Bay will
just bring on more gated, private
communities for our area. Just
about everything up there is
private and off limits to
outsiders.
Perhaps as a
requirement for becoming part of
the city of Naples, Pelican Bay
should be required to open its
boardwalk and beach to the public.
That would at
least ease the burden of taking on
so many private communities.
____________________________________________________
Editorial:
Beach/marina impact fees
$40,000
question is not 'if'
By The
Naples Daily News - May
11, 2004
Collier
County commissioners are being
asked for $40,000 for a
feasibility study for a new impact
fee — for public beach and boat
access.
We trust that
the money is for studying how much
to charge buyers of new homes
because not much else is in doubt:
Collier will continue to grow and
will continue to need to assure
public access to fundamental
water-related resources.
The county needs
to start accumulating a fund for
acquiring waterfront properties
such as Wiggins Pass Marina when
they become available. Also needed
is a broader, more realistic
definition of access to the beach.
That ought to mean more than
pathways and boardwalks; parking
belongs in the mix.
Feasibility? The
need is clear for all to see. What
is unfeasible is more growth
without better planning and
funding.
A beach-and-boat
impact fee — separate or tacked
onto the existing parks impact fee
— is a proactive example of
growth helping pay for growth
where water is a way of life.
________________________________________________
Letters
to the Editor: May 5, 2004
By
Daily News May
5, 2004
West
and best
Happy to hear
that someone is bringing up the
issue of beach access. I worked in
California for a short time.
Malibu Beach and all the elite
that live there put fences up
between their houses and huge
"no trespassing" signs
at each end of their beach area.
If you happen to
ignore this and walk on their
beach, someone would give you the
third degree on how you got there,
what were you doing there and
threaten to call the police. This
had been done for so long that
people (the common folk) thought
this was the law and it was indeed
a private beach.
Guess what? No
such thing existed. The law read
that it was all public beach and
everyone was to have access to it.
However, the law was to be renewed
at the 20-year mark and that was
coming up. If no one brought up
the subject, then just the fact
that these fences had been there
for 20 years gave the Malibu Beach
residents the right to keep those
fences up and it would indeed be a
private beach.
Sort of a
squatters rights thing, I presume.
Amazing what
ignorance can do to all of us. I
left California at that time and
do not know what the final outcome
was.
Next time I go
to Los Angeles, I'll have to check
it out.
Let's not let
this happen to Naples.
________________________________________________
Letters
to the Editor: May 4, 2004
Get
ready, Pelican Bay
If the Pelican
Bay community is serious about
becoming a part of the city of
Naples, then its residents should
be required to provide similar
public amenities before
annexation!
At minimum,
Naples' mayor and City Council
should require, before further
discussions, the following without
cost to the general public or the
citizens of city of Naples:
1. All public
facilities brought within city of
Naples minimum standards.
2. Construction
and public dedication of at least
four additional suitable public
beach accesses, spaced
approximately equally between
Seagate Drive and Vanderbilt Beach
Road, each with a minimum of 20
public parking spaces, immediately
adjacent thereto.
3. A public
beachfront park somewhat similar
to Lowdermilk Park, with not less
than 100 accessible public parking
spaces.
4. Possibly a
1,000-foot fishing pier, with not
less than 60 public accessible
parking spaces.
Our Collier
County commissioners have refused
to provide such public facilities
for its growing population at
Vanderbilt Beach, or anywhere
along its 20-plus miles of Gulf
frontage — relying solely upon
the city of Naples to provide such
amenities for all of the county's
residents. Bill Boggess/Old
Naples
______________________________________________________
Commissioners
approve $106M beach spending
plan
The
money for the 10-year plan comes
from a 3 percent tax on hotel
stays and short-term rentals.
By
ERIC STAATS,April 28, 2004
County
commissioners voted 4-1 on Tuesday
to approve the $106 million plan
for dredging the county's passes,
widening its beaches and providing
access to them for the next 10
years.
Commissioner Tom
Henning voted against the plan,
saying he objected to spending
tourist tax money to build
T-shaped groins to hold sand on
Hideaway Beach on Marco Island.
Henning said the beach is not
accessible by the public and so
shouldn't get public money.
Public Services
Administrator John Dunnuck said
Tuesday that the money is a
"good start."
"This $2
million is nice, but it won't
solve the issue of beach
access," he said.
The chairman of
the county's Parks and Recreation
Advisory Board said the tourist
tax funding formula eventually
will fall short.
___________________________________________________
COMMISSIONERS RESPONSE TO
THE EMAIL...
Click
on this to view the PDF file
Email
to Collier County Commissioners
- 14 Apr 04
(See
full Email on this page)
____________________________________________________
Editorial:
Hideaway Beach ... what's the
public benefit?
By
The Naples Daily News-
April
25, 2004
They
can cite the rules.
They can cite
the precedent and say they want to
finish what they started.
They can insist
this is the last time.
But they cannot
make a case that resonates with
taxpayers, who are forced to
prioritize and economize in their
own household budgets to get the
most bang from limited bucks.
Yet the deal is
done by Collier County
commissioners to spend more public
money on bolstering the
effectively private shoreline at
Marco Island's Hideaway Beach.
There is no
public parking for citizens other
than Hideaway neighbors to use
that beach. The walk is too far
and obstructed from even the
closest public parking at
Tigertail Beach.
Commissioners
got worn down by persistent
Hideaway lobbying despite a
so-called policy they approved
last year that appeared to link
availability of public access to
eligibility for public funds.
The compromise
calls for Collier to pay about
$2.5 million to build permanent
T-shaped groins to hold sand on
Hideaway Beach, and requires
Hideaway Beach to pay about $2.1
million.
For an example
of public funds far better spent,
check the $50,000 for repaving
parking lots at Tigertail and
South Beach.
It seems too
convenient for commissioners to
talk of the Hideaway deal as a
benefit to beach access elsewhere.
Why, Frank Halas says, the money
saved at Hideaway can be put
toward parking decks at Vanderbilt
Beach. The latter is a needed
project, but please — spare the
spin. Dumping public funds on a
private beach is a public
boondoggle and special-interest
bonanza.
________________________________________________________
Activists
launch campaign to increase
public beach access
Despite
its link to the tourism driven
economy of the state, there is
only one beach access point for
every five miles of coast,
roughly one point for every
10,000 residents.
By
CATHY ZOLLO, crzollo@naplesnews.com
- April 18, 2004
Ginsberg and others
around the state began noticing in
recent years that beach access,
once abundant in Florida, is going
away fast.
Florida's 16
million residents have a right to
be on the state's beaches, said
Scott Shine, chairman of the
Surfriders Foundation in Florida
and recent founder of the Florida
Open Beaches Foundation.
Having a way to get there is
another story.
Shine
and Ginsberg are teaming up with
others in Florida to push for
guaranteeing beach access by
Florida law. The Florida Open
Beaches Act guarantees that the
wet sand and dry sand beaches
belong to the public and tells how
state officials and agencies would
be required to protect access to
them.
_____________________________________________________
By
Daily News -
April
18, 2004
But the ultimate
in excess is a guarded, walled,
private home on the beach with
roving golf-cart guards.
Now did I say
"private beach," or
private home, on a public beach?
Florida's
coastline has been sold out to the
highest bidder — and it wasn't
to the parks and recreation
department.
For 25 years,
numerous attempts for legislation
at the state level to protect the
public's right to utilize
Florida's beaches have failed.
Without state
legislation, local governments
have had to set their own policies
regarding public access to the
beaches. Unfortunately, all too
often, big money has had the upper
hand and has dominated local
policies and steered public access
away from our beaches.
Today's
Floridians are determined, more
than ever, to fight for their
rights and take back their coastal
access.
Keep up to date
at www.geocities.com/
collierwatchdog and help reclaim
stolen property — our Florida.
______________________________________________________
By
Daily News -
April
17, 2004
Beachgoing
barbarians- I
have been listening to all the
snobbish and elitist rhetoric from
people of Pelican Bay wanting to
become part of the city of Naples.
They don't care that the level of
service in some areas will go down
or that their property taxes might
go up. What is most important to
them is that they keep the common
riffraff off "their"
beach.
Well, here is a
little news for you folks.
Port Royal has
public access to downtown beaches.
If you think you won't, you are
dreaming. I have a city beach
parking sticker and will expect
the city to provide me parking if
I decide to go to the beach in
Pelican Bay.
Watch out,
Pelican Bay. The barbarians are at
the gates and they want to go to
the beach.
_______________________________________________________
Letter
to Collier County Clerk of Courts
- 13 April 2004
Dear Mr. Dwight Brock:
The purpose and intent of
section 125.0104, Florida
Statutes, the "Local Option
Tourist Development Act,"
authorizes any county in Florida
to levy and impose a tax to
provide for the advancement,
growth and promotion of tourism
and more.
The determination as to whether
a particular project is tourist
related is a determination, which
must be made by the legislative
and governing body of the county
and not by the Attorney General’s
Office.
However, in the past the
Attorney General’s Opinion has
been requested.
In one case the Attorney
General’s Office chose to use a
definition of a beach:
(AGO 87-16) The word
"beach" has been defined
as a "strip of land above the
usual high-water line, more or
less well defined by natural
boundary, or in the rear by a sea
wall, providing a convenient and
safe access to the water for
bathing or for sun baths either
before or after going into the
water; the coast, the seashore,
the strand; the land, or lands,
washed by the sea; the sandy shore
above high-watermark; the shore of
the sea, or of a lake, which is
washed by tidewaters and waves;
the strip of shore lying above
high water." Thus defined and
understood, the word
"beach" includes the
shoreline of both fresh and salt
bodies of water.
Our Board of County
Commissioners has authorized
tourist development tax revenues
for Hideaway Beach on Marco
Island.
This ‘beach’ is extremely
inconvenient (having to walk a
mile and cross over Little Clam
Pass) and unsafe (walking through
several sections of water knee
deep) to access by land and
requires the use of a private boat
for access by water.
It is my belief that the use of
tourist development tax revenues
at this location is not tourist
related and does not provide for
the advancement, growth and
promotion of tourism.
I request that your office take
the necessary action to ensure
that the public’s funds are
being spent appropriately.
______________________________________________________
Email
to Collier County Commissioners -
14 Apr 04
Dear
Commissioner:
With relation to the decisions
made by the BCC on 13 April 14
2004 regarding the T-groins at
Hideaway Beach, could you please
answer the following questions?
The T-groins are known to be
experimental. The original
T-groins have been modified in
length and several have been added
to a total of 10.
Question: Who
will pay for any additional
T-groins (possibly 10 additional)
if the existing proposed T-groins
do not significantly protect the
shoreline?
The T-groins require maintenance
and have a 'shelf life'.
Question: Who
will pay for the maintenance and
possible replacement of our
T-groins?
Keeping in mind that we are
providing these structures to
protect a beach.
Question: Should
these T-groins fail to
significantly protect the
shoreline, who will be responsible
for the cost of an alternative
solution, such as a seawall?
Question: Should
these T-groins fail to
significantly protect the
shoreline, would the county be
responsible for the loss of sand
and therefore the cost to
renourish the beach?
The idea of a one-off deal
to end an old dispute is
a noble one.
However, the purpose and intent of
section 125.0104, Florida
Statutes, the "Local Option
Tourist Development Act," is
to provide for the advancement,
growth and promotion of tourism
and more.
Question: How can
you justify the use of these funds
here, where clearly tourists will
not benefit?
Four years from
now, many of you will not be in
office, but a precedence of
responsibility for these
structures has been set at
this beach.
Question:
Do you think you have made it
easier or more difficult for
your predecessors to handle
Hideaway Beach issues?
____________________________________________________
Barefoot
Beach
- Gatehouse
fight not over
By
Naples Daily News - April
16, 2004
As long as a
public beach park sits at the
south boundary of the subdivision,
the gatehouse at the north
boundary at Bonita Beach Road has
to go.
Collier County
has allowed itself to get dragged
into a protracted, litigious mess
that belongs between the developer
and the residents who bought into
the promise of a gate.
_____________________________________________________
County
offers Hideaway residents a
50-50
split on cost of beach
restoration
By
BILLY BRUCE, Staff Writer
- April
14, 2004
In a 4-1 vote
that came after a two-hour debate
during which everyone from bird
lovers to legal eagles spread
their wings, the County Commission
agreed to use $2.5 million of
tourist tax money to install
permanent T- groin structures on
Hideaway to stop erosion.
The County
Commission also approved splitting
the annual cost of a monitoring
study that's required by the
Florida Department of
Environmental Protection and other
state permitting agencies. The
study is used to determine whether
the T-groins — large
sandbag-like structures — are
doing their job, and whether the
restored sand is holding its own.
Commissioner Tom
Henning opposed the motion by
fellow Commissioner Fred Coyle to
split the costs. Commissioners
Donna Fiala, Jim Coletta and Frank
Halas supported Coyle's motion.
"When is a
deal a deal? When you make a
commitment, you should be willing
to stand by it, even if it's a bad
deal," Coyle said.
"It came
out OK," said Jim Snediker, a
member of the Hideaway Beach
Homeowners Association board of
directors.
_____________________________________________________
Coastal
advisers OK Marco public beach
access plan
By
ERIC STAATS, emstaats@naplesnews.com
April
9, 2004
A
proposed new public beach access
on Marco Island passed muster
with county coastal advisers
Thursday, but it faces another
test next week with county
commissioners.
Ginsberg
questioned whether the Spinnaker
Drive proposal really would
provide public access to
Hideaway Beach.
The reality is
this is not going to be
used," Sorey said.
CAC member Tony
Pires questioned whether the
boardwalk would get permits from
environmental agencies.
He said the
Spinnaker Drive proposal should
not be considered public access
until it is permitted and built.
_______________________________________________________
Florida
Attorney Generals
Advisory
Legal Opinions
Number:
AGO 87-16
Date: February 18, 1987
At
10 C.J.S. p. 217, it is stated
that in common parlance the
word "beach"
has been defined as a "strip
of land above the usual high-water
line, more or less well defined by
natural boundary, or in the rear
by a sea wall, providing a convenient
and safe access to the water
for bathing
or for sun baths either before or
after going into the water; the
coast, the seashore, the strand;
the land, or lands, washed by the
sea; the sandy shore above
high-watermark; the shore of the
sea, or of a lake, which is washed
by tidewaters and waves; the strip
of shore lying above high
water." Thus defined and
understood, the word
"beach" includes the
shoreline of both fresh and salt
bodies of water.
****************************
Number:
AGO 74-279
Date: September 18, 1974
Our dramatic population increases,
concentrated heavily within
coastal areas, have resulted in a
situation tinged with irony.
The
Florida Constitution, statutes,
and decisional law confirm the
right of its citizens to the use
of the sovereign beaches and
waters of this state. However,
the line of condominiums, resort
hotels, and other tourist
facilities constructed along our
coasts is rapidly forming a
barrier which denies to many
Floridians reasonable access
to the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf
of Mexico. The result is that more
and more Floridians are being
afforded less and less beach
access as coastal development
continues.
A
consideration of your inquiry must
start with the proposition that
public beaches and parks are held
not for the sole use of the people
of a particular community, but
for the use of the general p
