Tuesday afternoon I wrote what would prove to be a bombshell post on this blog--- smashing the "myth" that most of Perdido Key Beaches were/are private--and totally off limits to the public. And I posted the proof of it. That post blew up like an exploding nuclear bomb detonation--with thousands and thosands of hits, tons of comments, and every major news outlet area-wide doing pieces on the news I broke. News that is profound and game-changing. I'm glad they all picked it up.
As I said yesterday--this is probably the biggest story that has come up in my 15 years of public service. Bigger than the School Superintendent getting a DUI, and even bigger than the Newpoint Charter School Scandal where people went to jail and multiple charter shcools statewide were closed. This one is truly huge.
So now I am digging into the HOW all of this happened--because what a travesty it was that for years and years folks tried to sheild the public from the rightful and lawful use of their public beach easement--codified in the deeds of transfer from the Federal Government! How could they get away with this?
The first thing to remember is that these beaches were not littered with ugly no-trespassing and private property signs for decades and decades after the initial US Government sales of these lots in 1957--most likely because the owners then knew and were cognizant of the 75' of public beach easement from the water north.
Thats why in the 1960s and 1970s surfers, beachgoers, fishermen and families used these beaches with no hassels.
That's why in the 1980s I used these beaches and walked up and down them fishing with my dad----again, with no hassels.
But around the year 1999, things started to change. Condo complexes were being planned and built, and a few years later after Hurricane Ivan in 2004--it all really started to change.
Then the "keep out" signs started going up, and this phenomenon gained steam after 2010 such that by 2015--- nearly every condo complex out in Perdido had multiple signs all up and down the beach, some all the way down to the water! No-Trespassing, Private Property, Keep Out. Some were even connected by ropes and chains. Keeping you out, these condos even hired off duty law enforcement to "protect" what they thought was their "private property."
It was never theirs to protect though. At least the southerly 75 feet of it wasn't.
WHAT DID COUNTY STAFF KNOW ABOUT THE PUBLIC BEACH EASEMENT(S) IN 2001?
In 1999 a plan was put through the county's Development Review process for a condominium in Perdido Key that would ultimately be known as Windemere. It was a complex plan, that required the developer to transfer dwelling unit capacity from a number of adjacent parcels in order to build a 19 story Gulf-Front condo with nearly 145 units and two levels of parking. It went back and forth and it was challenged. It went to the County attorney's office. Back and forth, between the DRC, planning, County Attorney's office and ultimately and finally the Board of Adjustment--where the development was ultimately approved and constructed after a settlement was reached between the county and the developer.
Interestingly: the fiercest objections to the Windemere in 2000 came from the then members and leaders of the Perdido Key Association and a fellow Perdido Key resident and owner named Dick Domurat. And their argument was nuanced. This group argued that the density calculation used by the DRC and County to approve the Windemere development along with the associated number of dwelling units was computed utilizing a property footprint that was "too big" ---because it included the "southerly 75' easement on the parcel that was for perpetual public beach access by the public." According to the argument put forward by Dick Domurat -- the total number of units permitted should have been no more than 13 per acre, and the overall parcel size should have been 1.9 acres once the 75' easement was backed out.
Eventually, Mr. Domurat and the PKA lost that fight, as apparently the county acknowledged the existance of the 75' easement (after Mr. Domurat provided the original deed to the county as a part of his argument) but nevertherless calculated the eventual number of approved dwelling units based on the full size of the parcel anyway--likely rationalizing that the size of the total parcel was not diminished by the presence of the 75' southerly easement. Which is interesting.
More interesting, though, is the fact that the county knew about the public easement piece, after the final appeal of the Windemere case in 2001. They did not deny the existance of the 75' easement on this parcel. They were provided a copy of it in the challenge to the BOA.
So why did they (county staff) not look to see if the other parcels had this same language? Wasn't anybody curious about that?
Why just three short years later-- after Hurrican Ivan wrecked the beaches out there-- did county employees scramble to get "easements" from what apparently they thought were private property owners at Perdido Key on the Gulf so that repairs to the berms could be conducted? Had they already forgotten what they learned in the Windemere fight about the existing public easement of 75'?
And a few years after that--why was environmental staff made to work to get individual easements from more than a dozen individual parcel owners for beach renourishing post Hurricane---if these parcels all contained the 75' public beach access easements? Why did nobody say "Hey--there was this 75' easement on one of the original deeds from the federal government in the Gulf Beach Subdivision at Windemere--let's look and see if that was a one off or if all of these parcels had the same language when they were all transferred from the Federal Government in 1957?"
Heck, another one was filed with the Clerk of Courts in 2004 with the 75' Easement Language clearly indicated.
So the clerks office had this, and the BOA knew it as did, apparently, some in the county attorney's office. The county attorney's office signed off on the eventual Windemere Settlement Agreement and Development Order--where the public beach access easement was noted within the document, prominently, on page two.
So why did everyone suddenly, collectively get selective amnesia when people started putting signs up, hiring bouncers, and kicking people off of the beach in the subsequent years that would follow?
This is an important question of many more I will be asking in the weeks and months ahead as we seek, acquire, and analyze reams of title documents in an attempt to unpack how this was perpetrated on you and me and the public, this withholding of our access to this public beach---and more importantly--how it was accelerated and perpetuated for so long.
Lots more documents requested, many more coming and many more to go through.
Stay tuned.
31 comments:
I own beachfront property in Perdido Key and I would like to point out that the southern boundary on my lot is NOT the water’s edge of the Gulf of Mexico, but rather it is "elevation 1.04 ft". This elevation point, on my lot at least, when surveyed is ALWAYS many feet past the water’s edge out into the Gulf. Given this fact, I doubt a 75 ft public easement would add much more, if any, public beach than what is already currently used. In fact, it could be less.
I think because Doug POS Underhill perpetuated the lie, most like.y bullied staff.
Lock him up.
Looking forward to the rest of the story. Hopefully we are up to 2014/15 by tomorrow.
Is River Road a part of the original sales from the Navy, with the same easement language? If so, Has anybody called Doug for a copy of the deed he got off his deep title search on his River Road property?
Ya know, like when we were buying this house on Navy Point, and I wanted clean chain of title so got my hands on the original 1944 deed, covenant, and plat book.
On the 6 oclock WEAR did a segment with Michael McCormack, and landed the piece on Okaloosa County. Said they reached out for a statement and they responded something like, "We are aware of the situation and are monitoring closely." But that the had not started an investigation in Okaloosa.
Please tell me it's the same thing over there?
GO MICHAEL!!!!!!!!
You are actually claiming the Gulf as your property?! Please stop…. Hahaha . Such foolish talk.
All good stuff. Commend the findings. It’s like wow, who missed this. Now let’s hope the private owners don’t somehow mistake this finding for a supposed justification for taxpayer renourishment of that 75 feet of beach.
So someone with the county took that info after Windemere was approved, which it shouldn’t have based on that 75 feet, and stuck it in the very back of the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet hoping it would never come back to the surface.
What if there is a house built within the 75 from the water? There isn’t much Beach behind a couple of those condos.
Although I am well aware of the bitter relationship between Andy Marlette and Commissioner Bergosh, I am still compelled to share this quote from one of Andy's opinion pieces that ran in the PNJ a few years ago.
"Consider the fact that a single grain of beach sand once held an ancient, mountaintop viewpoint of Appalachia before crumbling, tumbling and washing down through the millennia and here to the Gulf of Mexico, and you get a sense of why this is something that transcends these tiny and transient legal analyses.
In other words, some things have existed long before mansions and millionaires."
When building on the beach, beware of the natural elements , high seas, hurricanes shifting sands and get the original deed in your hands.
Pensacola Beach has a condo that is / was too close to the beach and almost lost its foundation. But fortunately, due to public beach access near the condo, sand was added and the condo still stands today. That was around the year 2000. But if the building has private only access… little to no chance getting public help.
Isnt the entire fl gulf state park and johnson beach open to the public with parking and bathrooms? It seems the fl gulf state park is often nearly empty. Why arent people utilizing these areas? I see johnson beach often with a fair amount of people, but rarely see the state park beach fully utilized despite parking and bathrooms and uncrowded beaches. County has spent millions to develop new beach access by sundowner and commish bergosh says they are looking for more to buy when the public is already paying for maintenance of those beaches…. This isnt just about 75 ft, its about alleviating overcrowding of current public beaches Why is there such conflict when two beautiful public cared for beaches are so underitilized
The private owners pay property taxes there so will contribute to the renourishment of that 75 ft, as will the public who both uses it and public who doesnt use it. Its a double edged sword, you will get to use and get to pay
Beautiful, Alice. Source aside, what a perfect and profound statement of the awesome (in the original sense) power and spirit of the shoreline. Add to those thoughts the elemental drive--the need--for human beings to get to that water. Our blood evolved from it.
8:32--wow...what a great observation about where particular houses are located. I talked with somebody last night who was all up and down these beaches in the Panhandle from the time she was a child, and she said the rock solid understanding was that ALL the beachfront was public. As in, everywhere. You could go all the way up to the dune lines and never get hassled; it wasn't even a thought. She said that after Frederic was the very first stirrings of that mentality changing, when people rebuilt their houses closer to the water. Times past *nobody* would have built beyond the dune line, but little by little that encroachment started happening (which is the exact opposite, of course, of the direction humans should have been taking in planting their abodes). She moved away for a time, then came back and could not believe that suddenly the idea was that Perdido (and other Panhandle beaches) were private. And simply could not figure out how that happened.
Now we know. And I can't wait to hear the rest of the story....
My prediction? Boils down to two letters: a W and a D.
Anonymous 8:32, If there is, then that is a PRIME argument and valid reason for Beach Renourishment. If done both the property owners and the public benefit. I say go for it.
11:14-- so agree! Perdido Key State Park is only $3 to park, 2 miles long, and the parking lot rarely fills up. Plus there are showers and bathrooms and a great ranger who helps the kiddos point out nests and mouse dens and habitats. The only thing I can figure is that people assume it costs $15 to park there, like it does in OB or GS or even if you guy a JB daily parking pass- and the gate might be intimidating, IDK. It also has kind of a long boardwalk, so it isn't as easy to get your beach camp set up for the day. But the area is HUGE, combed, and clean. PK has more access than any beach I have ever seen, but it's true that you might have to pay to park in some areas. That being said in Bradenton, Sarasota, Indian Rocks, St. Pete, OB, and GS you pay to park too. I guess people don't like the no-tresspassing signs-- I don't either- they're hideous-- but the truth is there are TONS of places to go on the key if you don't want to be on top of each other. More than most other barrier islands.
Just renourish already. It is documented on FDEP as a critically eroded beach.
That Pensacola Inlet Management Plan is total bullshit.
I read the news article last night Mr. McCormack. Well done sir!!!
Hey dumb ass. This happened before his time- just shows you how much hate is in your heart.
Is it foolish? Or what is stated on a survey? The foolish like to act like they know things- when they are in fact FOS
Look when underhill was in office ya dip. This all happened under Gene Valentino.
Jeff There used to be a small public easement to the beach from Perdido Key Dr on the side of the Windemere condo that's now not a public easement. Wondering how they got that ?
Great article. Thank you
In summer, people are parking everywhere and anywhere they are allowed. The eastern side of the state park as well as the boardwalk at the welcome center has been closed since Hurricane Sally.
It's called greed. I also have been here most of my life and it is sicking to see all this happen.
You clearly haven’t been here in a while. They have all been packed the past couple of years.
Who owns the Earth? Who Owns America? Native Americans? Was Christopher Columbus an illegal alien? Are Mexicans Native Americans? If so do they deserve a casino and a rez?
Why is this even an issue?
When prying Beach Access 4 away from Doug's clutches was going down, video also came to light that he had announced at a PKA meeting that he was going to shut down Beach Access 1. "You heard it here first" or "this is the first I'm saying this publicly"--something along those lines.
Lots and lots of campaign contributions with Sandy Key addresses on that campaign donation cycle.
So we swung in front of that one also, and managed to maintain an access that is of course problematic in multiple, until a functional and honest commissioner could take a crack at coming up with some reasonable solutions for the condos allowed to overbuild without enough parking spaces for the bedroom number.
I love the people suggesting that the public bathrooms should just be ripped down because Underhill locked them while thundering against port o potties--because, of course, goal was to make the access points as inhospitable for cooler-dragging day visitors as possible. Condo renters have their own toilets to use, right? If you're not renting, go pee in the ocean.
The damage that Doug did to beach access in orchestration with the PKA, condo owners, his developet puppet masters, and Dan Brown was so devastating, it's going to take a while to right all of it. Need to take a dump? Go spend money at a business to do it, then.
Michael discovering they were covering up a perpetual 75 ft public easement doesn't mean that the bathrooms can't be unlocked, kept clean, and maintained. Nor does it mean that parking can't be expanded.
Cause guess what? When Doug purposely designed the multi-use path to have zero additional parking, and we brought that to people who could maneuver around it, they were already well aware of that nightmare in the making, and saving up some ideas for when his reign of terror was finally over. The entire County was just waiting for that menace to exit, so everybody could breathe a sigh of relief and get to fixing everything he broke, and rebuilding everything he demolished.
Oh, and whichever Douggites are trying to hang this on Gene...swing and a miss at that collard pot! But the worst of the damage definitely came with Doug, and his military style brainwashing tactics. What do people think he really did in the military, cyber?
That's why they stay anonymous, because they don't know shit and always want to blame someone else. Definitely a POS biden voter!
You left wing loonies are hilarious, military style brainwashing tactics? So I get it, you voted for biden and your objective is to destroy this country and you are succeeding.
I wonder if this continues down the coast into Orange Beach/Gulf Shores
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