A case argued before the US Supreme Court last week will have lasting implications for the practice of beach renourishment. A common practice in Florida and some other states to repair eroding shorelines, renourishment has always been controversial for a number of different reasons: some people contend, for example, that the expensive practice must be repeated indefinitely to keep erosion at bay.
The question before the court, however, deals with property rights. Landowners in Destin, Florida, have challenged the state’s current policy because, once the state pays to add sand to the beach in front of their homes, that newly created beach is considered public property. The owners say this amounts to taking their beachfront property and that the state should reimburse them for it—either that, or declare the new beach to be private property right down to the water, even though public funds have been used for the renourishment. Arguments centered on whether the practice violates the regulatory takings clause in the US Constitution.
A district court ruled in 2006 that the state’s practice amounted to an “uncompensated taking” because it separated the landowners from their contact with the water and also deprived them of sand that might naturally accrete and add to their beachfront property. The Florida Supreme Court earlier this year overturned the district court ruling, and the landowners appealed. Arguments took place before the US Supreme Court last Wednesday. No date has been set for a ruling.
Texas, unlike most states, has an “open-beach policy” and considers everything from the vegetation line to the ocean to be public property, to be maintained by the state. Florida and most other coastal states have considered land to the waterline to be private property.
An article in the St. Petersburg Times notes that this year in Florida, $93 million will be spent on beach renourishment—$42 million in federal funds and the rest coming in about equal parts from the state and from local governments. Florida has more renourishment projects than any other state.