Guest commentary: Moraya Bay asks same rights as other beach properties

As the developer of the Beach Tower at Moraya Bay, a condominium on Vanderbilt Beach, we recently marked off the part of our property that contains beach for use by our residents. Regrettably it has provoked controversy. This action was discussed (Tuesday) by the Collier County Commission, which also considered public commentary. There has been considerable misinformation, media attention and unfortunate rhetoric used by those who oppose the action we have taken. As a principal representative of the developer, I would like to explain the action we have taken, why we have taken it and why our actions should be respected. I want to make our legal position clear.

As is the case with most properties located along the Gulf of Mexico, the original title lines of our property go to the mean high water line. By virtue of Florida Statutes, and a public beach erosion project several years ago that added sand to the beach, the state has established our title line at the “erosion control line.” This is a surveyed line. We have marked the erosion-control line on our property with rubber cones to separate the area landward of it from the area seaward of it. Our title is unquestioned.

Although in the past the public may have made use of the area landward of the erosion-control line on our property, as it has with other beachfront properties, that use has been permissive. Florida courts have held that the public may be able to establish a prescriptive right to use beachfront property when there has been hostile, not permissive, use. Whether that is the case is an individualized matter that is very fact intensive. There has been no determination of a public prescriptive easement having been acquired on our property. It is our belief that none exists.

Our position is the same as is that held by most other private property owners with land located along the Gulf of Mexico in Collier County. A number of these property owners have hotels, and/or private clubs. Among them are the Port Royal Club, the Edgewater Beach Hotel, the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club, The Ritz-Carlton and the La Playa. All of these facilities make some exclusive use of their own beachfront property with beach chairs and other pieces of equipment for the exclusive use and enjoyment of their guests and owners. Such use is perfectly consistent with their ownership of property. The public respects the uses that are made of the beach by these other properties.

At Moraya Beach Tower we merely wish to make the same use of our part of the beach as do these other fine properties. We ask that the public respect the use that we wish to make of the beach that we own. The public is free to enjoy the part of the beach seaward of the erosion-control line. There is ample room for the public to do so.

Since we marked the area that we wish to have respected for the use of our residents, we have encountered nothing but hostility, including some unfortunate statements by elected county officials. We have been subjected to abuse and vandalism. Some people have defaced our signs and our beach furniture. We have had bystanders intimidate our residents by taking photographs of them, including photographs of young children. This is wrong.

Before we marked the beach area, we contacted the Collier County Sheriff’s Office and worked with it to do so in a manner that it regarded as hospitable and acceptable. We have placed tasteful and respectful signage asking that the discreetness of the area we have marked be respected for our residents. In his remarks to the County Commission (Tuesday), county attorney Jeff Klatzkow did not give any indication that our actions are wrong, or that the public had the right to use our private property. He merely acknowledged there could be an issue of prescription for a court to resolve.

We want to be good neighbors and good citizens and believe that we have been. We support public access to and use of the beach. We have helped Collier County to achieve it. We also believe that our property rights deserve respect.

We are prepared to meet with appropriate representatives of Collier County in a good-faith effort to find solutions that respect our rights and ensure available and adequate public beach use. Inflammatory rhetoric and disrespect have no part in this process.

We ask that we be allowed to function as do other properties along the beach. We seek nothing more. We expect no less respect.

Corace is a principal in the developmental entity for the Beach Tower at Moraya Bay, an owner of Signature Communities Inc., and a longtime resident of and developer in Collier County.

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