After Gov. Ron DeSantis last month approved repealing a controversial law about beach access, an appeals court Thursday raised the possibility that the change could halt a legal battle involving Walton County property owners.
The 1st District Court of Appeal ordered attorneys for three property owners and Walton County to be prepared next week to address whether the repeal makes “moot” a case filed by the property owners. The issue will be addressed during a hearing that had already been scheduled Tuesday in the case.
Walton County, a Northwest Florida county where beachfront development has boomed, has been the epicenter in recent years of fights about what is known as “customary use” of beaches by the public.
The Florida Constitution ensures public access to portions of beaches “below mean high water lines,” often described as wet areas of beaches. But customary use involves dry-sand areas of beaches above the mean high water line that are often privately owned.
In 2018, the Legislature passed a law that effectively made it harder for certain local governments, such as Walton County, that wanted to ensure customary use of beaches. The law led to widespread complaints that beachfront property owners were preventing the public from having access to beaches.
Amid an uproar, lawmakers this spring passed a bill (SB 1622) that repealed the 2018 law, with DeSantis signing the measure on June 24.
ALSO READ: DeSantis signs a bill that boosts Florida public beach access
The 2018 law required Walton County to go through an extensive legal process to try to establish customary use, including notifying affected property owners and convincing a judge to sign off. Property owners could intervene to try to fight customary-use declarations.
In late 2018, Walton County filed a case seeking approval of customary use, leading to about 500 property owners intervening. The county later settled with some intervenors and dismissed others, according to a document filed at the 1st District Court of Appeal.
In 2023, a circuit judge approved the county establishing customary use on various beachfront properties, including on parcels of the three property owners involved at the fight at the appeals court.
Attorneys for those property owners — T. Michael Glenn Trust, Bruce Healy and Lake Partners, LLC — have raised a series of issues as they challenge the declaration of customary use. That includes issues such as whether the county provided proper notice and an opportunity to be heard.
But the challenge also contends that customary use is unconstitutional.
“Customary use clearly attempts to authorize the physical invasion of owners’ private property and thus would constitute a taking under numerous U.S. Supreme Court cases,” the property owners’ attorneys wrote in a petition filed in November at the Tallahassee-based appeals court.
Attorneys for the county disputed such arguments, including pointing to a 1974 Florida Supreme Court precedent that recognized customary use.
“Florida courts have long recognized the importance of Florida’s beaches and the public’s paramount right to utilize the same,” the county’s attorneys wrote in a March response.
