Opinion ID: 1747260
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Beach and Shore Preservation Act

Text: Before addressing the rephrased certified question, it is helpful to provide the relevant portions of the Beach and Shore Preservation Act. Recognizing the importance and volatility of Florida's beaches, the Legislature in 1961 enacted the Beach and Shore Preservation Act. Ch. 61-246, § 1, Laws of Fla. (codified at §§ 161.011-161.45, Fla. Stat. (2005)). Determining that beach erosion is a serious menace to the economy and general welfare of the people of [Florida] and has advanced to emergency proportions, the Legislature declared it a necessary governmental responsibility to properly manage and protect Florida beaches ... from erosion, and to provide funding for beach nourishment projects. § 161.088. The Legislature then delegated to the Department the authority to determine those beaches which are critically eroded and in need of restoration and nourishment [7] and to authorize appropriations to pay up to 75 percent of the actual costs for restoring and renourishing a critically eroded beach. § 161.101(1). Pursuant to section 161.141, when a local government applies for funding for beach restoration, a survey of the shoreline is conducted to determine the MHWL for the area. Once established, any additions to the upland property landward of the MHWL that result from the restoration project remain the property of the upland owner subject to all governmental regulations, including a public easement for traditional uses of the beach. § 161.141. After the MHWL is established, section 161.161(3) provides that the Board must determine the area to be protected by the project and locate an ECL. In locating the ECL, the Board is guided by the existing line of mean high water, bearing in mind the requirements of proper engineering in the beach restoration project, the extent to which erosion or avulsion has occurred, and the need to protect existing ownership of as much upland as is reasonably possible. § 161.161(5). Pursuant to section 161.191(1), this ECL becomes the new fixed property boundary between public lands and upland property after the ECL is recorded. [8] And, under section 161.191(2), once the ECL has been established, the common law no longer operates to increase or decrease the proportions of any upland property lying landward of such line, either by accretion or erosion or by any other natural or artificial process. However, section 161.201 expressly preserves the upland owners' littoral rights, including, but not limited to, rights of ingress, egress, view, boating, bathing, and fishing, and prevents the State from erecting structures on the beach seaward of the ECL except as required to prevent erosion. Section 161.141 further declares that the State has no intention to extend its claims to lands not already held by it or to deprive any upland or submerged land owner of the legitimate and constitutional use and enjoyment of his or her property. Moreover, section 161.141 explains that [i]f an authorized beach restoration, beach nourishment, and erosion control project cannot reasonably be accomplished without the taking of private property, the taking must be made by the requesting authority by eminent domain proceedings. And, in the event the beach restoration is not commenced within a two-year period, is halted in excess of a six-month period, or the authorities do not maintain the restored beach, section 161.211 dictates that the ECL is cancelled.