Five More Perdido Title Abstracts Received--No Signs of Public Beach Easements Included....

I spent Sunday afternoon in Perdido Key--driving the roundabout from every angle (it works, by the way, if one utilizes the appropriate speed and yields to traffic in the roundabout) and going to each of our public access points and walking up and down the beach.  Some complexes are complying with our sign ordinance, others are not.  Going forward, it appears as if large portions of the beach will open up for public use--but multiple complexes, so far as we can tell thus far, will indeed have private beachfronts as their titles have no public access easements listed.....

Late Monday I received the latest batch of detailed title abstracts from parcels on Perdido Key East of Perdido Skye.  All five of these appear to be from the same batch of parcels that were sold off to local interests in 1912 by the Florida State Board of Education.  As I skimmed each one, I found no language, easements, reservations or any other encumbrance that spoke to public beach access on these parcels.

(read them for yourself here, here, here, here, and here)

Yesterday, I received an email from our attorney who also reviewed these abstracts, and who found essentially the same thing--albeit with a slight disclaimer in his final sentence, below:

"Commissioner:

 I was able to review the most recent batch of abstract reports more quickly than anticipated because the properties have a common chain of title.  Unfortunately, I did not find any references that affirmatively establish a public access easement, although there were several references to that possibility.

 Steve

 Stephen G. West, Senior Assistant County Attorney

Office of the County Attorney"

So what does this mean?

It appears, thus far with only a couple of more abstracts to examine, that the parcels to the East of Perdido Skye do indeed have "private" beaches---as do the parcels directly west of the state park going over to the state line.  That is what we have found thus far.

But-------a HUGE stretch of 64 parcels' worth of beachfront DO contain easement language for public access to public beaches.

So, once we have the final abstracts and have examined them--I will ask the attorney's office to write a comprehensive point paper covering this topic from which the board can make an informed policy decision on how to proceed.  As I have said all along, I respect the rules and the parcels that have private beaches to the water will be respected and the ones that have public access easements will be openend.

And access #1 and #4 will be tricky---but #2 and #3 will be opened.  I will also work hard to bolster safety at #2 and #3 by adding lifeguards and towers as quickly as we can.

I am also going to speak with Represntative Alex Andrade about what the county would need to do to take over and open up the parking facility at the State Park out there that is underutilized due to a partial closure that has gone on for a long time.  I attempted to reach him yesterday and will do so again today.

More to come, but I am working a plan that will provide for more parking safety and access but respects everyone's rights.