I'm in receipt of an email from Attorney Steve Moorhead this week regarding public beach access easements that were discovered earlier this year. Apparently, there are some folks and some condominium HOA's that are going to attempt to use the courts to invalidate/remove/extinguish the public access easements on the parcels that contain this language out in Perdido Key. I reported on this a few weeks back.
This turn of events is very unfortunate. The last thing anyone wants is litigation. We dealt with it when we opened Access #4 and folks in the surrounding areas did not want that. We prevailed.
Now a large swath of what we have discovered to be publicly accessible beach properties will be be in jeopardy. But in this instance, just as was the case with beach access #4, the people will prevail.
Because the plain language on these deeds says what it says and I don't see the way by which these easements can be yanked--they were stipulated, on the deeds, when the Federal Government conveyed this land. If they argue that the public abandoned these easements--I believe that argument fails as well. Folks have used those very beaches and those very easements for decades--including in the 1980's when my dad and I fished up and down that beach and never once saw any resistance--let alone any "No Trespassing" signs. Nope, if they are going to argue that--it will be an untenable position, particularly given the fact they have unclean hands as they (various condo owners and HOA's) sought, at times successfully, over the last 6 years to keep citizens off of these easements utilizing paid security, private property signs, and often paid strong-arm security to run people out. So no, the folks did not voluntarily abandon anything--most were unlawfully forced out of areas to which they were entitled to be per that stipulated clause in all those deeds. But not all of the citizens kowtowed to the no trespassing signs of the last 6 years and continued to use those easments despite the efforts to keep them out. So no, arguing abandonment will fail.
So, no, I am not a lawyer and I don't need to go to law school to see how this movie ends. The effort to remove these easements will fail, and the folks funding this effort will spend a lot of money, this lawyer will make a lot of money in this losing effort and infuriate a lot of west-side citizens in the process----but make no mistake: This effort to take this beach access from the people ultimately fails and the people will win and these easements will remain in place.
This action to further deprive the public of their beach access will be exceedingly unpopular in the court of public opinion---and this action in court to do this will be vigorously defended by the county.
Vigorously.
24 comments:
Moorehead wants to take their money, I see. 💰
Sic em. The citizens of Escambia stand with the county on this one. I'm sure.
Seriously, use the opportunity and the insurance for litigation to settle this once and for all and all the other info dug up about Federal money spent there on the beach.
Moorehead will laugh all the way to the bank because he will bill when he loses.
Thanks for publishing the public record.
Sharks in the water.
You'd better not let Stephen West get within a mile of the defense of this. To quote someone commenting on that possibility today, "It's like going into war with a one-armed imbecile. It would be easier to bring a squad of accordions into a stealth operation."
Remember, he's the reason we had to use taxpayer money for an outside firm to provide abstracts in the first place. (Abstracts that I've never trusted, simply for the reason that I don't trust abstracts period.)
Never underestimate the power of a lazy and incompetent attorney to lose an unlosable case.
Congratulations Jeff. You have consistently mismanaged this scenario with absolute incompetence from the very start. Now you have landed Escambia County in yet another courtroom drama.
Despite your constant missteps, you doggedly continue to vilify the citizens of Perdido Key - your constituents. True, those Perdido Key property owners are a small minority and are easy targets for you to bully.
Perhaps diplomacy would have proven fruitless, but it should have been attempted.
You have utterly failed to provide unbiased representation. Justifiably, the property owners are seeking impartial justice through the judicial process.
As a citizen who values public access; I hope that the public easements are sustained. But more importantly; I hope that justice is done and that the rule of law prevails.
The rule of law is one of the essential underpinnings of our great country. Your populist rhetoric and mob rule are not the tools that lead to good governance.
Tom-you are off your rocker. Take it easy on the magic mushrooms, man. Had I not taken the steps I have taken--precisely as I have taken them--- since D1 absorbed the Perdido Key area and PRIOR to that---Beach Access #4 would not have happened. That's #1. Had I not taken the claims of Michael McCormick seriously and followed up with extensive/exhaustive title abstract examinations--the citizens of the west side of Escambia County would not be enjoying the newly uncovered 1.2 miles of public beach easements that the condo complexes had unlawfully, for nearly a decade, claimed was their exclusive/private beaches when the exact opposite was true and many of them knew it. You can attempt to vilify me if you want, pile on the ad hominems as well as you are always ready to do. I could care less. I'm a rule follower whether you like it or not. If shysters attempt to take away the access that the Federal Government stipulated when they granted the deeds to this property--I will FIGHT that for the people, it is a fight I will vigorously and meticulously undertake on behalf of the people I represent. You think this is somehow a bad thing, but your perception of this is badly flawed. You, Tom, are simply a contrarian. I could give you a written document memorializing the cure for cancer, and you would rip it up and say I was "attempting to deprive oncology centers of revenue!!" I could walk on water--you'd scream out loud "Look, Jeff can't swim!!" Everyone sees this, and everyone knows this. So run along now, back to Escambia Hate Chamber and tell everyone what a "meanie" Jeff Bergosh is. LOL. And one more thing: No, two more things......#1--I really feel as though you need to seek counseling. You were so exercised and lathered over a miniscule issue at the last public forum that I legitimately was concerned you were going to blow out a vein in your neck. Calm down, seek treatment, and stay on your meds, Tom. #2 is this, and I want you to read this carefully and take it to heart because I mean it. You talk a lot, you have a multitude of grievances and you vocalize them and spew them like a sloppy, smelly sewer pipe. If you can do better than you think I am doing--by all means run against me. Sign up, move to my district, and run against me. Be a man and do it. Otherwise, you are just another dude full of garbage and hot air. Now, run along.
Tom Jardine is totally out of line with his attacks on Commissioner Jeff Bergosh. Lets focus on the positive things that the Commissioner Bergosh has done. All we need another Theresa Blackwell down there at the BOCC meeting complaining constantly. Lets look at the good things that have happen Doug Underhill has gone bye bye. The commissioners all get along I think bringing Jesse Casey onboard was a great move you learn to bury the Hachette in the the name of progress. If doug old rival would have buried the hachette the last 3 years would have alot more peaceful but everything worked out.
Inspirational comment, Jeff.
You should conduct leadership seminars.
Eric, if Doug's old rival was a big enough fool to try to bury the hatchet with a malignant sociopath-sadist suffering from psychotic breaks, Doug would still be on the dais and he'd still be your commissioner.
You're welcome. And enjoy the peace and quiet of having him gone.
Maybe that’s why he’s no longer employed with the contractor at NAS, Tom. And Eric, look back at Underhill’s year and think about who was attacking Doug and allowing attendees to take jabs from the podium, turning every meeting into a circus. Even when Commissioner Underhill was absent something personal had to be said.
How disheartening to hear that (once again) condo owners want to keep the general public off the beach. Not surprising, but definitely disheartening. Coastal propety is not like other property. It's a finite resource that should be enjoyed by all, not just those with money in the bank and greed in their soul. We owned a beach condo on the Key and never once throughout our ownership did I think to myself "this is mine, those people don't belong here."
I hope the county prevails.
Dern Jeff, your blog comments regarding the alleged 75 ft public easement has opened a pandora's box of problems. Now, the county is being sued over this issue and scarce citizen funds will be expended to defend your opinion.
For argument sake let's say you win in court, what then? How are you going to physically identify the location on the beach of the 75 ft easement on each of the 64 lots? (Remember this easement starts at the Mean High Water Line not the mean high tide line. There is a big difference between the two.) Seems to me that you would have to survey each lot, costing more citizen funds. I have seen surveys of these lots that show the MHWL to be 60 ft out into the water! Again, how is the public going to know where the public beach ends and the private beach starts?
If you lose, then the public's lawful right to use the beach would be limited to south of the MHWL, which is underwater for some of these lots. Ouch!
Furthermore, in your blog you posted that much of the eastern end of the Perdido Key beaches have no deeded rigth for the public to use the beach on those sections. Does this mean that the owners of these beaches can post them and keep the public off?
The law of unintended consequences has kicked in.
The beach restoration should have never been stopped on the critically eroded beach. Since it was ---no building permits should have been issued. Condos condemned.
Instead of the smoke and mirrors--money spent on the Inlet Management Plan devised by the We are Perdido CON Artists the county should finish what was already started by Valentino and thwarted by the thieves and liars.
It was already approved at the state, just like the 4 laning of the highway was.
Now we are stuck with a county road and property lines out in the water.
Finish what was started.
Underhill was the most damaging commissioner in the history of Escambia County.
Burying the hatchet is wonderful thing Jeff Bergosh buried it Jesse Casey. It been wonderful for our county. Lets the take the Gene Valentino example he buried the hatchet with George Touart and it worked out beautifully George did great job as county admin. Lets stay positive and keep our eyes on the prize. The days promoting dissension need to stop. I have noticed alot of people dont bring anything cohesive to the meeting. I am asking for people to work with the current County Commissioners not against them.
Anonymous 9:40-I'm no longer working for the BOS contractor at NAS because I took a position with a different Federal Contractor and got a pay raise to boot. But the company I work for now is still at NAS Pensacola--and as a matter of fact I will be out there later this morning. It is a great base, where I worked for 18 years, and I enjoy going out there. But the fact of the matter is lots of folks moved around and shuffled---particularly the non-union, non GS employees, when the last JV "PBSS" fell apart in late March of 2023. I hear the new JV is struggling already in a big way--which is unfortunate for them. I wish them nothing but success. But your comment attempting to portray something different is simply uninformed, ignorant, and ridiculous.
9:40/Jonathan Owens? Whoever is making that comment, 10 to 1 it went through a VPN reroute.
Thank God Commissioner Bergosh led the charge to get Underhill contained, so that those of us fighting him on the ground in District 2 could begin making headway in getting him exposed, stalling his progress on his destruction, reversing his chaos, and finally landing him in a position where he was scared to run again. Eventually, the entire Board recognized that taking the high road doesn't work with a psychotic sadist bent on blowing things up for the sake of it, and to their credit started corporate management of key issues in D2 to offset his damage. They did this even through disinformation blowback about their reasons for doing it, and as a result their policy management around the worst of his negligence and turmoil assured projects such as the Beach Haven stormwater project didn't die on the vine. That's just one example on a long list of things that got managed for D2 by the other commissioners, and D2 residents with common sense are perpetually grateful for their willingness to step in and damage control for our district.
Also, that disinformation that Commissioner Bergosh has blown out of the water on his Base job is playing with fire. Plenty of people are well aware of the reasons Doug might have actually lost his contract job at Corry and gotten shuffled up and out of the way to an HR role band camp, whatever his cover-up about voluntarily leaving active duty to focus on his role as Chair of the BOCC. (Snort.) Some of us will always wonder if his retirement from his Reserve command had a little something to do with that IG complaint I put in on him. Because the crap about his refusal to vaccinate was just that, after he publicly bragged about his kids getting vaccinated from the dais.
Eric, better and well said. As you're well aware, the only commissioner I ever worked against was Doug. And with him gone, now that we have a great administrator in Wes Moreno, far better things can be accomplished communicating productively to and with his office and staff and the BCC than senselessly railing against their policies. I actually agree with what some of Tom Jardine has to say--and I'll say that directly to you, Tom--but unfortunately coming out of the echo chamber of ECW, he's critically misinformed about so many things. And as for anyone bullying the Clerk of Court, Pam Childers is a first-rate bully and disinformation artist herself. It drives me crazy to watch men who really are Southern gentlemen get so hung up on defending officials simply because their the female of the species. That same thing stuck us with the worst administrator that Escambia County has ever experienced, and a horrifically toxic work culture she instituted, for far too long. In my experience, all a woman has to do is bat her eyelashes, put her hand on her hip, or put that poor victimized dulcet tone in her voice and people go nuts defending her. If Pam Childers were a man, nobody would be crying about her being "bullied."
Tom, if you ever want the honest to God facts about what she has been up to--and she's really gotten herself backed into a corner with it now--feel free to contact me. You know that I'll give you the honest to God's truth as I see it, whether you agree in the end or no.
Dredge sand from the offshore borrow pit, that was identified, renew the lapsed state permit and place the sand end to end.
Problem solved.
So much time has lapsed the average so called water or tide line has shifted.
If the decision going forward is not to restore shifting sand on a barrier island then certainly common sense would dictate it to be left in a natural state and not be developed. Think of the insurance liability long term. You even brought up the insurance problems the rest of us suffer related to this exact issue statewide.
Certainly hurricanes wreak destruction.
On a natural barrier island shifting sand is a given.
I know I repeat myself, and the past is the past but really the solution or bandaid would be to restore the shoreline.
The crux WILL be the average, over time MHWL. If it had been restored the public would have access to the full shoreline.
Am I not right.
Problem solved.
Perhaps as the BOCC asks the legislature at the state to inact common sense insurance legislation that they arrest coastal development and make those be self insured, in other words if they get damaged, demolish them if they can't rebuild on their own dime.
Again the FDEP has info about critically eroded shorelines. It's all there.
Perdido is on the list, has been -- post Ivan. 2005.
BOCC Escambia dropped the ball.
Those condominiums are a liability to the entire state.
They are opening a can of worms, rolling the dice on the rest of the taxpayers dime.
No Mercy.
Yep 1233 Underhill is a classic case. Fortunately Bergosh has the fortitude and wherewithal to counter that along with help from others, pa1rticularly one who can endure conflict longer than the average person. 7
Tom Jardine has a obsession with Jeff Bergosh its very to see.
noun: obsession
the state of being obsessed with someone or something.
"she cared for him with a devotion bordering on obsession"
an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person's mind.
plural noun: obsessions
"he was in the grip of an obsession he was powerless to resist"
Its time to grow up stop all these negative attacks
All those who battled Doug Underhill I think enjoyed it at times it was entertainment Its reminded me of the itchy and scratchy show from the Simpsons I have questioned many times if it was rehearsed in Doug office and then played out for the other commissioners and at least two commissioners said it got very old.
Theresa Blackwell is not happy unless she complaining
I got back to what Reagan said about a shinning city on hill we can be that lets everybody who together. I am ask please focus on positive and good things.
I have a hard time believing Jeff Bergosh has blown anything out of the water.
Escambia Citizens Watch has turned to spreading lies and falsehoods character attacks on people its very but Jacquelin jaimee Rogers allows it
1:51
Actually, I was thinking Pino. Somehow or another she always makes a posts about herself.
AGREE Eric and William Reynolds does it to Century. It's ugly.
Blessed are the peacemakers brother.
It sad but people do like to antagonize people. cause (someone) to become hostile or angry
I watched this when Jacqueline Rogers attacked Gene Valentino about party down south for over 9 minutes at public forum.
Another example those who took on Doug Underhill at public forum for 3 years none of this serves any purpose its none productive. T think those who were doing it and Doug enjoyed it each BOCC meeting they got to use sarcastic remarks at each other. And yes both sides really enjoyed bickering at each other. It is what I call a sweethearts quarrel.
I realize its hard to make everybody happy none us get everything we want
The county commissioners time is valuable people ranting for 3 minutes at a time is not helping
It's not a complex issue keep yr fking signs off the beach and return all the fees for renting your shty chairs / loungers on County land over these years. The backdated funds will help the County to continue to this beach better for the Public. Commish please crackdown on unleased business's blocking the public easement...Thanks
I'm a little behind the times on this bit of news. To say I am disappointed and disgusted with the Condo owners wanting to steal our rightful ownership of the easements is probably the most polite way I can put it. To Anonymous Oct. 9 9:40am, you say you have seen surveys of the MHWL 60 ft in the water? Bullshit, brother.
The MHWL can never be in the water, “Mean high water” means the average height of the high waters over a 19-year period. For shorter periods of observation, “mean high water” means the average height of the high waters after corrections are applied to eliminate known variations and to reduce the result to the equivalent of a mean 19-year value." FSS 177 Part II #14. The very definition of High tide means where the water line is at its highest point in the cycle between high and low. So at no point in time does that arbitrary line fall 60 ft in the water, or if it does as you suggest then the property owner has lost that 60 ft due to accretion and it now belongs to the State. That however does not mean that the "southerly 75 ft" of said property is now removed from the "public beach access in perpetuity".
That is why the Condo owners are trying to get the easement removed, because they know it is a valid part of their deed on those lots and has been since that property was first sold by the GSA back in the 50's. Deeded easements do not go away simply because someone else buys the property, they stay with the property. I suggest the owners look to their title insurance companies if they were not informed of these encumbrances on said property since these should have been declared with their purchase of the property. Like Jeff said the County and we the citizens of the County will win this one as well. The Condo owners would do well to come to terms with their new reality and be good neighbors instead.
So does that mean, over time the average high water mark plus 75 inward means we can actually go in their house and party in the front and back yard too? Yippee. Sounds good.
By them thwarting the restoration does that mean they gave up their property rights to the public, the state, nature and the Gulf of Mexico? Relinquised and acknowledged the power and inevitability of shifting sand on a coastal shore? Nod to the folly of trying to dwell on a beach permanently and expect people with more common sense to subsidized that?
I think actually, if real common sense dictates, that's what the original lease system on Pensacola Beach meant. Who in their right mind builds a permanent structure on a barrier island and expects it to last. Everything is temporary given enough time.
Indigenous people knew to build seasonal huts on the coast, fish, and extract salt from the water, then go inland, and hunker down seasonally.
I know deep subject....
I hate what everything has devolved to. Lawyers. And Greed.
Post a Comment