Supreme Court to hear Florida beach property rights dispute

Homeowners with private beachfronts on the Gulf Coast have sued over a government program that added sand to eroded beaches and made the new strip of land public property.

By David G. Savage
LA Times
December 2, 2009

Reporting from Washington - With climatologists predicting an era of rising seas, the Supreme Court today will take up a property rights claim from Florida's Gulf Coast to decide whether private land owners or the public gain the benefits of restoring beaches eroded by hurricanes or high waters.

The case is the first property rights dispute before the Roberts court, and it renews the clash between the public's wish for open beaches and the rights of property owners to keep out unwanted guests.

The Constitution says private property may not be "taken for public use" without the government paying for it, but it is not entirely clear what is private property when the state is adding new sand to an eroded private beach.

The Florida case began in 2004 when five property owners objected to a state-funded beach restoration project east of Pensacola. More than six miles of white sandy beaches had been eroded by several hurricanes, and the project called for adding up to 75 feet of new sand to the shoreline.