The Beach Issue — Access

The law in Florida is simple: The public has an absolute right to be on the beach. All the sand below the mean high-tide line is state-owned land held in the public trust, says professor Donna Christie of the Florida State University law school.

But it's also true that rights and actual access are two different matters -- all it takes to keep the public off the beach near many condos, resorts and luxury homes is a long walk to an access point from the nearest public parking and restrooms.

The state uses beach renourishment funds to try to goad communities to add and maintain access points.

But access is in the eye of the beholder. State rules for funding renourishment projects treat hotel properties as publicly accessible beaches -- even if they stop nonguests from getting to the beach. While inaccessible beaches rankle, says Paden Woodruff, state beaches and wetlands administrator, a public beach is just a short drive away for most Floridians. His stat: 42% of Florida's 825 miles of beaches front publicly owned land.

5 of the Toughest To Get On

Longboat Key
Read this enticement on a Longboat Key hotel website: "Since public beach access is extremely limited, with only a couple beach-related public parking spaces on the whole island, the beaches are essentially private and never crowded."

The town of Longboat Key, in fact, says it has 14 access points and 439 beach parking spaces. That's good for a small town, says Town Manager Bruce St. Denis. He also says the town foots much of the bill for beach renourishment itself. Still, Longboat is known as a tough beach to reach.

Ponte Vedra Boulevard Beach
The seven-mile stretch of beach along Ponte Vedra Boulevard has pricey homes and few public access points, which are blocked by hedges and other obstacles. Activist Scott Shine, of the Surfrider Foundation's Jacksonville chapter, pushed the county to expand access. But rather than allowing parking on excess right of way on the boulevard as he suggested, the county moved to turn the right of way over to wealthy homeowners.

County beach management supervisor Dave Williams says there's a greater need for access elsewhere in St. Johns. Example: A nine-mile stretch closer to St. Augustine. The county is finalizing a plan for developing beach amenities. Shine isn't giving up on Ponte Vedra, though for now, he says of the public: "The only way they'll see that beach is if someone gives them a handful of it."

Palm Beach
Palm Beach County has great parks in the south and north. Between the two, though, is the town of Palm Beach. Its 12 miles of oceanfront feature just two town beaches. One has under 200 parking spaces and no restrooms.

While there are other public access points, good luck finding a place to park. Rich Kahn, a local surfer, says he once parked his car on a shoulder and wound up with points on his license for obstructing traffic.

Hillsboro Beach
Slightly more than three miles of oceanfront and not a single public park, public beach access or public parking space. Consequently, residents footed the $3.5-million bill themselves for the last beach renourishment.

The options? Walk south from Deerfield Beach. Retired Florida Atlantic University professor Ray McAllister did just that one day, only to face a law officer summoned to run him off. He says he and the officer quickly agreed on his legal right to use the beach.

Jupiter Island
Described by Worth magazine as the richest town in America, Jupiter Island had to pay all but $1.5 million of the $9 million tab for its last beach renourishment itself. The reason: Its nine miles of beachfront have only three public access and parking points -- owned by the Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge, Martin County and The Nature Conservancy, respectively. The town itself has none. Town Manager Jim Spurgeon notes that the conservancy and state lands were donated by town residents.

There's a problem ahead for the town of 500 homes. The last empty lots, which the town itself used as access for renourishment equipment, are disappearing. Next time the town wants to get renourishment equipment on the sand, it may have to resort to what mainland dwellers must do now with their coolers and beach chairs -- land them from the sea.