Opinion ID: 2829231
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Defining Public Beaches in Texas

Text: The Open Beaches Act states the policy of the State of Texas for enjoyment of public beaches along the Gulf of Mexico. The OBA declares the State’s public policy to be “free and unrestricted right of ingress and egress” to State-owned beaches and to private beach property to which the public “has acquired” an easement or other right of use to that property. Tex. Nat. Res. Code § 61.011(a). It defines public beaches as: any beach area, whether publicly or privately owned, extending inland from the line of mean low tide to the line of vegetation bordering on the Gulf of Mexico to which the public has acquired the right of use or easement to or over the area by prescription, dedication, presumption, or has retained a right by virtue of continuous right in the public since time immemorial, as recognized in law and custom. This definition does not include a beach that is not accessible by a public road or public ferry as provided in Section 61.021 of this code. Id. § 61.001(8). 3 Privately owned beaches may be included in the definition of public beaches. Id. The Legislature defined public beach by two criteria: physical location and right of use. A public beach under the OBA must border on the Gulf of Mexico. Id. The OBA does not specifically refer to inland bodies of water. Along the Gulf, public beaches are located on the ocean shore from the line of mean low tide to the line of vegetation, subject to the second statutory requirement explained below. Id. The area from mean low tide to mean high tide is called the “wet beach,” because it is under the tidal waters some time during each day. The area from mean high tide to the vegetation line is known as the “dry beach.” The second requirement for a Gulf-shore beach to fall within the definition of “public beach” is the public must have a right to use the beach. This right may be “acquired” through a “right of use or easement” or it may be “retained” in the public by virtue of continuous “right in the public since time immemorial.” Id . The wet beaches are all owned by the State of Texas , 4 which leaves no dispute over the public’s right of use. See Luttes v. State, 324 S.W.2d 167, 169, 191–92 (Tex. 1958); Tex. Nat. Res. Code §§ 61.011, .161 (recognizing the public policies of the public’s right to use public beaches and the public’s right to ingress and egress to the sea). However, the dry beach often is privately owned and the right to use it is not presumed under the OBA. 5 The Legislature recognized that the existence of a public right to an easement in privately owned dry beach area of West Beach is dependant on the government’s establishing an easement in the dry beach or the public’s right to use of the beach “by virtue of continuous right in the public since time immemorial . . . .” Tex. Nat Res. Code § 61.001(8). Accordingly, where the dry beach is privately owned, it is part of the “public beach” if a right to public use has been established on it. See id. Thus, a “public beach” includes but is broader than beaches owned by the State in those instances in which an easement for public use is established in the dry beach area. Id . Public beaches include Gulf-front wet beaches, State-owned dry beaches and private property in the dry beaches on which a public easement has been established. In this case, before Hurricane Rita, Severance’s Kennedy Drive property was landward of the vegetation line. After Hurricane Rita, because the storm moved the vegetation line landward, the property between Severance’s land and the sea that was subject to a public easement was submerged in the surf or became part of the wet beach. Severance’s Kennedy Drive parcel and her house are no longer behind the vegetation line but neither are they located in the wet beach owned by the State. At least a portion of Severance’s Kennedy Drive property and all of her house are now located in the dry beach. The question is did the easement on the property seaward of Severance’s property “roll” onto Severance’s property? In other words, is Severance’s house now located on part of the “public beach” and thereby subject to an enforcement action to remove it under the OBA? From the Fifth Circuit’s statement of the case, we understand that no easement has been proven to exist on Severance’s property under the OBA or the common law. 6 We also presume that there are no express limitations or reservations in Severance’s title giving rise to a public easement. The answer to the rolling easement question thus turns on whether Texas common law recognizes such an inherent limitation on private property rights along Galveston’s West Beach, and if not, whether principles of Texas property law provide for a right of public use of beaches along the Gulf Coast.