Welcome to the Future!
The private property rights issues related to the Coastal Barrier System:
Houston Chronicle | State Rep.-elect Mayes Middleton eager to prove his conservative bona fides
What project? A coastal barrier project that will be a 71-mile long system of gates and levees
Where? Along the Texas Gulf Coast
How does eminent domain come into play? Businesses and residences on Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston Island could be impacted
Who would exercise eminent domain? Texas General Land Office
What do I need to know about TX GLO, eminent domain and the coastal barrier?
The City of St. Pete Beach built a new park.
The City then made maps, websites, physical signs, that suggested to the public that they were free to cross that private property to get to the beach.
The private property owners sued.
These actions- signs, maps and websites suggesting to cross private property are a taking tantamount to eminent domain.
Chmielewski v. City of St. Pete Beach, 890 F.3d 942 (11thCir. 2018).
The US Supreme Court has rejected a case brought by a California billionaire to privatize a formally open beach.
The California Legislature in 2018 budgeted for the use of eminent domain to reclaim public beach acess. After the case had wound its way through California administrative law judges and the California courts which provided fo the use of eminent domain.
Economic Times | US Supreme Court rejects Indian-origin billionaire’s plea for a private beach
In response to changes in beach access in Walton County Florida, a letter to the editor by G. Brint Ryan offers:
Raises 4…
The anatomy of reservoir building in Florida:
The reservoir project: a massive 60,000-acre shallow reservoir to stop dirty water in Lake Okeechobee from polluting the coasts and revive South Florida’s wilting marshes
The opposition: Sugar farmers who refused to sell
The legislative action: Deny the use of eminent domain to complete the reservoir
Miami Herald | Vast reservoir is key to state Everglades plan. Federal concerns could derail it.
What’s happening? Refreshing our recollection- a billionaire beach front property owner near San Francisco is now required by law and state court rulings to open his private beach to surfers.
What are these surfers facing with the US Supreme Court? If the Court takes the case, the issue will be whether government can command that parties open their private property to the public without compensation.
SF Gate | Martins Beach billionaire owner takes fight over public access to US Supreme Court
California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a bill that would have funded acquisition of a beach access point.
The reason for the veto? While the bill provided a means for beach access the bill precluded eminent domain.
Why does Governor Brown say the state needs Eminent Domain for this beach access issue?
A billionaire in California bought property on Martin’s Beach. Martin’s is a popular surfing spot. The billionaire cut off public access to the beach.
Round and round went lawyers, state commissions on land use, and then came California’s Senate Bill 42 that allows California to use eminent domain to guarantee public access for the surfers and beach goers.
But, how is California going to pay for this public access its acquiring from the billionaire? Via donation.
Senate Bill 42 allows the…
No, nej, nyet! An appellate court in California decided 2 issues against a billionaire landwoner and neither of which is a taking: