Save Our Beaches, Inc. v. Florida Department of Environmental Protection

27 So. 3d 48, 2006 WL 1112700
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJuly 3, 2006
Docket1D05-4086
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 27 So. 3d 48 (Save Our Beaches, Inc. v. Florida Department of Environmental Protection) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Save Our Beaches, Inc. v. Florida Department of Environmental Protection, 27 So. 3d 48, 2006 WL 1112700 (Fla. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinions

POLSTON, J.

Appellants challenge a July 27, 2005 final order entered by appellee Florida Department of Environmental Protection, determining that a Joint Coastal Permit and Authorization to Use Sovereign Submerged Lands, that allows the renourishment of 6.9 miles of beaches and dunes within the City of Destín and Walton County, was properly issued. Appellants argue that the final order unconstitutionally applies Part I of Chapter 161, Florida Statutes (2005), referred to as the Beach and Shore Preservation Act. We agree that constitutionally protected riparian rights have been deprived without just compensation for the property taken, therefore, we reverse and remand.

I. BACKGROUND

A. The Project

The Gulf of Mexico beaches of the City of Destín and Walton County were critically eroded by Hurricane Opal in 1995. The erosion problem was identified by the Department, which placed these beaches on its list of critically-eroded beaches. Destín and Walton County then initiated a lengthy process of beach restoration through renourishment. The process, which included extensive studies and construction design and pre-application conferences with Department staff, culminated in the filing of an Application for a Joint Coastal Permit and Authorization to Use Sovereign Submerged Lands on July 30, 2003.

The application proposed to dredge sand from an ebb shoal borrow area south of East Pass in eastern Okaloosa County, using either a cutter head dredge (which disturbs the sand on the bottom of the borrow area and vacuums it into a pipeline which delivers it to the project area) or a hopper dredge (which fills itself and is moved to the project site). On the project site, heavy equipment moves the dredged sand as specified in the design plans. The project is executed in this manner and progresses along the beach, usually at a pace of about 300 to 500 feet a day. Each day work is in progress, public access to [51]*51the beach is restricted for a length of about 500 to 1,000 feet in the immediate vicinity of the area of beach being worked.

After requests for additional information and responses to those requests, the Department issued a Notice of Intent to Issue the permit, DEP JCP File No. 0218419-001-JC (Draft Permit), on July 15, 2004. Appellants Save Our Beaches, Inc. and Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc. timely filed a petition for formal administrative hearing challenging issuance of the Draft Permit. Stop the Beach Ren-ourishment also filed a petition for formal administrative hearing challenging the county erosion control line established by the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund, in conjunction with the proposed beach restoration project. The two cases were consolidated for administrative hearing.

Appellants’ constitutional challenges were deferred for determination in court proceedings. The issues in the administrative hearing were whether Destín and Walton County gave reasonable assurance that applicable water quality standards will not be violated and whether Destín and Walton County have obtained, or are able to obtain, all requisite private property rights necessary to implement the proposed project. In the recommended order, the administrative law judge (“ALJ”) found that Destín and Walton County gave reasonable assurances that the applicable water quality standard will not be violated. That water quality finding was adopted by the Department in its final order and this finding was not challenged by appellants on appeal.

On June 30, 2005, the ALJ recommended that the Department enter a final order issuing the permit. The Department entered its final order on July 27, 2005, determining that the Joint Coastal Permit and Authorization to Use Sovereign Submerged Lands was properly issued pursuant to existing statutes and rules.

B. Applicable Statutes and Rules

The Joint Coastal Permit and Authorization to Use Sovereign Submerged Lands includes two separate permits and an authorization. The two permits are (i) a coastal construction permit issued pursuant to Chapter 161, Florida Statutes1, and Florida Administrative Code Chapter 62B-41, and (ii) a wetland/environmental resource permit issued pursuant to Chapter 373, Florida Statutes, and Florida Administrative Code Chapter 62-312. The authorization includes a proprietary authorization to use sovereign submerged lands, pursuant to Chapter 253, Florida Statutes, and Florida Administrative Code Chapter 18-21.

Florida Administrative Code Chapter 62B-49, entitled “Joint Coastal Permits and Concurrent Processing of Proprietary Authorizations,” does not change the substantive requirements for obtaining these [52]*52two permits and authorization, but provides a procedural mechanism for processing all three components of the joint coastal permit and authorization at the same time. Rule 62B-49.001 provides in pertinent part that proprietary authorizations pursuant to Florida Administrative Code Chapter 18-21 are applicable to the review of joint coastal permits. The relevant part of Rule 18-21.004(3) provides:

Riparian Rights.
(a) None of the provisions of this rule shall be implemented in a manner that would unreasonably infringe upon the traditional, common law riparian rights, as defined in Section 258.141, F.S., of upland property owners adjacent to sovereignty submerged lands.
(b) Satisfactory evidence of sufficient upland interest is required for activities on sovereignty submerged lands riparian to uplands, unless otherwise specified in this chapter. Public utilities and state and other governmental agencies proposing activities such as utility lines, roads or bridges must obtain satisfactory evidence of sufficient upland interest prior to beginning construction, but need not provide such evidence as part of any required application. Satisfactory evidence of sufficient upland interest is not required for activities on sovereignty submerged lands that are not riparian to uplands, or when a governmental entity conducts restoration and enhancement activities, provided that such activities do not unreasonably infringe on riparian rights.

Fla. Admin. Code R. 18-21.004(3) (emphasis added).

Appellants argued in the administrative proceeding that Destín and Walton County did not provide “satisfactory evidence of sufficient upland interest.”2 The ALJ ruled that such evidence was not necessary because the application “falls squarely within the exception in the last sentence of Rule 18-21.004(3)(b), supra: no evidence of an upland interest is necessary ‘provided that such activities do not unreasonable infringe on riparian rights.’ ”

The Department adopted the ALJ’s ruling that the project does not unreasonably infringe on riparian rights. The ALJ noted that the right to accretion is a riparian right, but ruled that, under the pertinent statutes, the riparian right to accretions (as well as the risk of erosion) will be eliminated upon recording of the erosion control line required by statute. Section 161.141 provides:

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27 So. 3d 48, 2006 WL 1112700, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/save-our-beaches-inc-v-florida-department-of-environmental-protection-fladistctapp-2006.