Rarely does the U.S. Supreme Court hear arguments related to the property rights of beach property owners, but such a case is now pending before the Court. At issue is whether a ruling by the Florida Supreme Court had determined that the essential right for waterfront property owners was access to the water, not physical contact with it:
“The position prompted a response from Justice Antonin Scalia. “It would be very strange to have a principle that all a littoral owner gets is a right to access the water, not a right to be on the water,” he said.
The question in the Florida case arose during a 2003 state project aimed at pumping thousands of tons of new sand onto an eroded beach on Florida’s Panhandle. Under a beach-restoration law, officials announced, the new sand would become state-owned land.
While some beachfront property owners hard hit by storms welcomed the restoration project, others opposed it, saying they were well protected behind an existing 200-foot-wide beach.”
This case could have implications for all waterfront landowners, including those in the Ocean City Maryland area. The full article is at–
