Just prior to the board of county commissioners' passing (unanimously) the sign reform ordinance for Perdido Key Beach in District 1(to reduce the number of signs per property in order to clean up the aesthetics of that beach and to prevent harm to wildlife) ----one speaker who appeared flummoxed (56:45 of this video) to learn his complex's property (La Riva) contains a 75 foot public beach easement for public beach access asked if the board was "calling for war!"
Of course we are not "calling for war"--however if the extreme hyperbole of "war" is to be used here (which is inappropriate, IMHO. My dad and brother--and many other veterans-- fought in real "wars"--public beach access is not that...) then it has been a "war" on the public and the general public's rightful access to their public beaches guaranteed via these perpetual easements which has recently been waged by some owners and complexes at Perdido Key. But not to worry, I am going to get to the bottom of all of this within the next few months and move appropriately to recognize EVERYONE's rights. (Yes, including the general public who do not necessarily have the resources to own a luxury beachfront condominium but who nevertheless have access rights to visit those beaches)
Now, as it pertains to the two complexes directly adjacent to our existing, diminutive public beach access #1-- (Beach Colony and La Playa) we don't yet for certain have all the information on whether or not there is an access easement for the public specific to these two complexes. We are working on that. Meanwhile, now comes word that at least one of these two complexes is now brazenly violating our sign ordinance by attaching a rope to multiple signs going from the dune line all the way down to the water. This picture taken yesterday- 5-6-2023. So, I'd simply ask this. Who is it that is "waging war" against whom?
I'm a guy who is a rule follower. I follow the rules and I call balls and strikes with issues that come before me. I've said it at all of my public town halls in the Perdido area since that portion of the county came back to D1 post-redistricting. And of course, I have and remain a public beach access guy.
But before the revelation about these access easements was uncovered, I told the owners of condos at the beach I would follow all rules about private property ownership/beach access/property rights.
And that stance won't change at all, not one inch, going forward.
It's just that now following the rules means that we allow the public's rightful access to the beaches guaranteed in these original deeds.
I know this will infuriate some.
But rules are rules, and I am a rule follower---always have been, always will be.
Balls and strikes, black and white, right and wrong.
25 comments:
You were rude to the speaker, you know the taxpayer…because he doesn’t have the same opinion as you about trespassing, you blasted him about the beach access when he was discussing signage. What an example.
I wasn't rude to him at all. He was advocating for the continuation of having multiple signs going all the way down the beach on his property, La Riva, where we know now there exists a 75 foot easement for public beach access. When I asked if he knew that he seemed confused, then he got defensive, then he asked if I was calling for war. Watch the video--it is obvious you didn't.
Mr. Bergosh, I understand your desire to get to the bottom of which properties have the easements and we look forward to the day when you put more parking and easier beach access to Points 2 and 3 on the key. What strikes me as odd is that each time you post about the private beach issue, you are posting photos from Beach Access #1 which up to this point is STILL PRIVATE Beach to the East and the West. This is creating a dangerous environment where people who own at BC and La Playa have a LEGAL right to keep their property private until/and if legally the public and owners are told differently. This small 50' stretch of land seems to be your main focus and for what reason I have no idea. I've been told that signs and property and been defaced on this still PRIVATE property and its reasonable to assume it's because you are leading the public to believe it's all public now, which is not the case. I think you owe the public and the owners the curtesy of clarifying that the land at Beach Colony and La Playa are still private and the public does NOT have the RIGHT to enter the private property on the beach. It looks like you are leaving Beach Colony no choice but to put their rope up because of the environment you have created. Additionally, please keep in mind, those owners in those properties pay upwards of $10,000 per year in property taxes, and pay Lodging tax if they are rentals, all which contribute to the overall revenue stream of Escambia County and fund the projects you support and push through. You have several people in your district both on/ off beach property owners, you should not choose one side over the other. As a public official you 'hopefully' swore an oath to treat your constituents fairly and in an unbiased manner. Unfortunalty it does not seem to be the case. Regards.
When someone says you were rude and hostile toward that speaker you may want to listen. Not every property owner on the key is aware of the latest news that keeps updating almost daily. On top of your treatment of that speaker, the female sitting directly behind the podium laughs at speakers when they make comments she doesn't agree with. If she can't contain herself while others speak then she needs to move.
Is that the guy that just ran to WEAR saying that's his private beach?
Commissioner, you have awakened the giant, thank you. We needed something like this to get us organized and coordinated. We are the owners of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of condos on PK, and we pay millions in property taxes to the county. With this fictitious “75 foot public beach access” issue, you have spurred us to act. Stay tuned…
Commissioner, why don't you unleash the information about the money spent by the federal government on these public beaches on Perdido, as well as the various state organizations involved with the beach restoration on Perdido Key.
649 Thank you for awakening the GIANT, we -- the owners of the millions of tax payer dollars spent to add sand to Perddo Key after Hurricane Ivan. We the public, claim our beach.
Stay tuned....
Commissioner, the ordinance was passed. Time to start code enforcement.
This is just political theater at its finest by an elected government official!
If Commissioner Bergosh was truly interested in public beach access, he would focus on the 2 miles of wide-open seldom used beach from the West State Park towards Perdido Beach access # 3. This would be a simple solution to create plenty of public beach access by adding additional parking and day use facilities such as bathrooms, food trucks, etc. that the public could use. There could also be a solution to offer free use of the Johnson Beach State Park instead of charging the public. There are multiple ways to create GOOD beach access, but it doesn't create sensational news stories for WEAR News.
Lastly, I did watch the video and you were rude to the resident from La Riva. He simply stated all his points which you didn't agree with, and you talked to him like he was a child. You owe that man an apology.
This is just political theater at its finest by an elected government official!
If Commissioner Bergosh was truly interested in public beach access, he would focus on the 2 miles of wide-open seldom used beach from the West State Park towards Perdido Beach access # 3. This would be a simple solution to create plenty of public beach access by adding additional parking and day use facilities such as bathrooms, food trucks, etc. that the public could use. There could also be a solution to offer free use of the Johnson Beach State Park instead of charging the public. There are multiple ways to create GOOD beach access, but it doesn't create sensational news stories for WEAR News.
Lastly, I did watch the video and you were rude to the resident from La Riva. He simply stated all his points which you didn't agree with, and you talked to him like he was a child. You owe that man an apology.
This is just political theater at its finest by an elected government official!
If Commissioner Bergosh was truly interested in public beach access, he would focus on the 2 miles of wide-open seldom used beach from the West State Park towards Perdido Beach access # 3. This would be a simple solution to create plenty of public beach access by adding additional parking and day use facilities such as bathrooms, food trucks, etc. that the public could use. There could also be a solution to offer free use of the Johnson Beach State Park instead of charging the public. There are multiple ways to create GOOD beach access, but it doesn't create sensational news stories for WEAR News.
Lastly, I did watch the video and you were rude to the resident from La Riva. He simply stated all his points which you didn't agree with, and you talked to him like he was a child. You owe that man an apology.
To: Anonymous at 8:02 pm. Most people are not aware of this. The condo's along the beach charge assessments to their owners after hurricanes. Several condo's along the key assessed their owners thousands of dollars to re-nourish the beaches after hurricanes. The latest being Hurricane Sally. The county did not pay for beach re-nourishment with tax payer dollars because it's considered private beaches. We have owned 4 condos along the beaches for over 20 years and have paid over $300,000 in assessments after hurricanes Ivan and Ida to restore the properties, dunes and the beaches b/c it's private property.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/245219218_Monitoring_and_Comparison_to_Predictive_Models_of_the_Perdido_Key_Beach_Nourishment_Project_Florida_USA
It was renourished in the 80s and 90s. Even before Ivan and that debacle. Let ECSO know they can not arrest someone for trespassing on a PUBLIC BEACH.
It's a public beach.
https://original-ufdc.uflib.ufl.edu/UF00091073/00001/7x
The County is to blame for the original Beach Access 1 sin, which was allowing it to be overdeveloped without ample parking, but of course that horse was out of the barn a long time ago. It's a problematic access for sure, only complicated by the fact that at some point some owners found a sympathetic judge who was willing to wipe away the public easement (would that ruling withstand scrutiny from an earnest legal attempt?), and whatever the heck is going on with the walkover easement. Especially now that a developer and his agents have been scrabbling up the majority of the mouse house permits in that area for years, it's only going to get worse. Master Plans sure look pretty on paper, don't they?
10:45: I agree, it's a public beach. Everywhere the giant mounds of sand went down and got raked. Which is damn near all of it.
8:20, private assessments charged by the condo associations are the owner's problems. There isn't a fiddle small enough in the world to squeak out the amount of pity the beachgoing public needs to have for owners' pocketbooks on that note. Post Ivan, the dredge from the Innerarity intracoastal and other areas was dug, trucked, dumped, and spread on taxpayer dollars. Taxpayer dollars = public access.
Whatever individual owners have agreed to cough up for what they consider their entitlement to private beach is their concern, along with whether they allow their HOA to carry them into futile and expensive lawsuits a la Beach Access 4. Some of us on Navy Point thought we should have been publicly noticed on the oyster shell dump. Guess what? We were wrong. We weren't entitled to that under USACE guidelines, because we don't abut the water, so that doesn't qualify. As a result of us not being smart enough about how systems can be worked against public transparency, we got surprised by the--legal--ruination of our shoreline. (Thank you Commissioner Bergosh again for stepping in to lead on the correction of that travesty, as well.)
It will probably never be apparent which owners knew about the public easement and which ones didn't. Personally, I have zero empathy for the kind of greed that would drive people to assume a beach through any fashion, legal or lies, that had been firmly established as public by customary use. If some of these people bought and didn't understand the easement, it's unfortunate for their pocketbooks, but that's again their problem. At least their ignorance is morally superior to the ones who have been lying about it.
8:04, nobody is fooled by the various "if you're really interested in beach access focus on X" red herrings. Yep, the State Park and parking need to be addressed after 8 years of Underhill's conniving. That's a big AND, not an or. All of the overseeing governmental agencies need to open every single speck of sand that can legally be opened. Those of us who are truly for public beach access have no interest in the cafeteria-style illogic Perdido condo owners are offering up in an attempt to smoke and mirror.
5:59, do you laugh at brazen foolishness and tone-deaf bravado when you see it? You bet I was laughing at the statements made by Mr. Krupnick and the condo owner, and I further stated publicly and explicitly at the podium that the time for that sort of nonsense is over. For YEARS the citizens of this county have been subjected to the dimwitted and tone-deaf elitism of many of these PKA and condo voices. I do not speak of Mr. Krupnick, as he is a very intelligent man, and knows *exactly* what program he is running.
However damaged the truth has been in the last few years of our Big Lie politics, it does still exist, and it does still hold the day in some corners. Lies and inaccuracies are not "opinions." And if the slim number of people still willing to voice an opinion boiling down to "we've got the money and therefore it's our right" don't want to be laughed at, then they should stop speaking foolish inanities.
I'm sure the BCC knows exactly what happened. That is why they agreed to the new sign ordinance.
One sign near the condo is ok and you property owners better back down.
We the public can't help it if you fell prey to the BIG LIE.
Those beaches belong to the public.
I don't have to be in a war.
Enough said.
Just have the county enforce the code.
Condo owners must be easy marks. What are the Others doing with the money they collect?
The sand comes from the state and county and federal and they can't add sand to private property.
Sounds like Others drawing fees pocketed Your Money.
Again taxpayer money was used to add sand to the shore in the past and more should be added now except the corrupt past D2 commissioner(s) halted processes already in place just like one did with the state road improvements. However it was started -- dredged sand added.
The county is left holding the ball -- stuck in the middle knowing full well federal dollars were expended here.
Best to enjoy the easy fix of one sign for the condos, public doesn't go wash off in your shower or heaven forbid don't lay out by and/or piss in your pool. Don't press your luck.
Good job on the sign ordinance.
ENFORCE It.
Oh so now we get what color shirt condo owners taking up public forum going forward?
"Whonk Whonk Garble Garble BLAH Blah Blah"
War.. HAHa. Hardly.
Poor guy at the podium may have been caught off guard and was just being used as a pawn in someone else's game.
The truth hurts, but it will set you free.
What happened with the imminent domain processes in 2011. Remember that?
It's on the county agenda.
Again
On the internet.
Drop the ball?
On a critically eroded shoreline?
Tsk Tsk.
Please, let’s all be smart. It’s a beach. None of this is life or death. This isn’t even a fight. It is what it is or at least what it is going to become based on the facts. In the mean time, we have to remain calm, and resist trying to solve a problems through confrontations on the beach. Life is good. And I don’t even own a Gulf adjacent condo.
Anonymous 8:20, you may want to question your HOA about the assessments and where that money was spent after Ivan, because it most definitely was not spent on re-nourishment. Here is an excerpt from a BOCC meeting in February 2005:
"Contractor DRC, Inc.
Contract Number PD 03-04.Ivan
Purchase Order Number 250217
Previous Total $ 1,000,000.00
Change Order Number 1 Increase $29,000,000.00
Change Order Number 2 Administrative change to extend contract period
Change Order Number 3 Administrative change to provide for hauling to landfills outside of Escambia County
Change Order Number 4 Administrative change to provide for berms on Pensacola Beach and Perdido Key and transporting excess sand from Pensacola Beach to Perdido Key
Total $30,000,000.00
Description: Disaster Debris Recovery Services for Hurricane Ivan per FEMA 1551 DR"
Look at Change Order #4 specifically. That is not HOA money my friend, that is US taxpayer money along with State and County taxpayer contribution. That makes it PUBLIC beach not private. That was put in place to protect the remaining structures and the State Road from further damage. If you paid assessments then that is a conversation you need to have with your HOAs, but I will be needing my public access back, thank you.
As for the gentleman that voiced his opinion in favor of the ordinance, he is entitled to his opinions, however he is not entitled to his own facts. Seems like I've heard that somewhere before. He was looking for a fight to begin with, I believe. He approached Timothy Smith, Mr. Holt and myself after the vote to adopt the ordinance as we were having a discussion in the rotunda. He made the comment that we needed to just accept that times have changed in a very aggressive tone, to which both Tim and I said times absolutely do change and boy do they.
Whether he agrees with it or not, the original deeds to the 64 lots specifically detail the "southerly 75 feet as a perpetual easement for public use generally". Facts are stubborn things and undeniable. We await the results for the remaining parcels deed search for any language contained within designating public beach access. I encourage the County to do a thorough search back to the originating deeds for certainty. Why? Because obviously the title searches done by current owners of beachfront property in the 64 lots known thus far to contain that language failed to uncover said easement or that language was dropped somehow and carried forward. That is a fault with the Title companies, not the County or the General Public and I will be taking back my rights to use said easement as was guaranteed by the Federal Government when deeding the property over to private ownership, thank you very much.
I'm optimistic that there are some Gulf Front owners who have no problem with the public using what God almighty created for all to use and enjoy. To those, I raise my glass and toast you good people. I'm not looking for war, I am praying for common decency and divine understanding that we all are meant to enjoy this precious gift we have been given. Every. Single. One. Of. Us.
*EMINENT DOMAIN
9:30: "Poor guy at the podium may have been caught off guard and was just being used as a pawn in someone else's game."
BINGO. And yet somehow he wasn't fully apprised of the facts, just the typical PKA bitch list.
Did he or didn't he know about the easement when he evaded Commissioner Bergosh's question on it?
Who knows. And sorry if it sounds rude, but caveat emptor. Whether his expensive real estate choice turns out to be less valuable on the open market as a result of the easement doesn't make my list of concerns, and why should it? If he's that appalled by the idea of the public on the public beach in front of his condo, then perhaps he might want to consider getting out while the gettin's good.
https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA584393
Defense Technical Information
Perdido Key Nourishment
Date 2013
I wonder if a deputy acting under color of law threatening to arrest someone for using public property is a crime? Actionable 🤔
Here's one for the condo dwellers
https://www.condo-owner.com/article/rebuilt-beaches-and-coastal-dunes-are-standing-strong/
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