The fence goes up, the fence comes down
More changes have been made at the Hill Tide Estates beach. The lattice fencing that was being erected on the pier pilings has been taken down completely, and the fence nearest to Boca Bay has been eased back a bit.
The fence that borders the state park land, however, stands where it was … and in the photo shown with this story you can see it appears that the end of it is on wet sand.
In other news regarding a similar situation in northern Florida, a Walton County circuit court judge issued a lengthy ruling earlier this week regarding his rejection of a challenge to the precedent of the public’s “customary use” of dry sand beach. Judge David Green countered a development company that owns property on the Gulf of Mexico after representatives claimed that customary use violates state and federal constitutions.
According to an article on The Capitolist website, the 10-page ruling explained that customary use also involves dry-sand areas of the beach, above the mean high water line. The judge referred to the well-known 1974 Florida Supreme Court issuance which stated that the public is allowed to use those areas of beaches, as people have throughout history, and said that he didn’t have the authority to issue a judgment that would usurp the Florida Supreme Court’s definition of customary use.
