By Darrell Hofheinz, Palm Beach Daily News
In a town that literally has “Beach” as its last name, you’d think knowing how and where you can legally get access to the shore would be cut and, well, sundried.
But it turns out, beach access on the island has about as many facets as a jellyfish has tentacles.
And that’s exactly why Palm Beach real estate lawyer Guy Rabideau has launched an innovative feature on his firm’s website, RabideauKlein.com that lets the public search individual property addresses to learn the location of the nearest legal access, whether public or private, from any property in town.
That access might be at a municipal beach or down a public path. But it could also be through a private gate at the sea wall designated only for the use of residents in the neighborhood nearby.
Then again, such a gate on private property may be barred to anyone except its owner.
And sometimes, access is simply a longstanding easement agreement between beachfront homeowners and their landlocked neighbors.
“There are so many ambiguities out there regarding beach access — especially on the North End — and that surprised me,” Rabideau said, adding that his search feature is likely a first of its kind where private properties are concerned.
“To my knowledge, nobody has ever attempted something like this,” he said, explaining that it took more than a year to compile the database from deeds, property titles, related legal documents and other resources, including Rabideau Law’s own files collected over 25 years. The search feature has been active since September, although it went through an extensive testing phase prior to its launch, he said.
Public vs. private access
Language in Florida’s comprehensive plan requires the state to “ensure the public’s right to reasonable access to beaches.” But that access is limited to the so-called “wet-sand” area — the portion of the beach that lies east of the mean high-water line.
And although Palm Beach has 22 public beach-access points, Rabideau said, state records show that just 8 percent of the town’s 12 miles of beachfront are accessible by the general public. The reason is because private property often blocks the public access between roads and the so-called “wet sand” beach.
Although longtime residents typically know the easiest way get to the beach, Rabideau said, access becomes an especially critical issue for new homeowners or house hunters new to the island or a neighborhood. They may wrongly assume that getting nearby access to the shore will be a given.
J.B. Edwards, a real estate agent with Sotheby’s International Realty, said house hunters can be caught off guard regarding their beach access in Palm Beach, because they might never have thought to explore the issue.
“I think Guy’s site is a great resource,” Edwards said. “He has described the many different categories of beach access, and it gives the client the opportunity to start thinking in those terms. You can’t assume anything. You have to go address by address. This is a good starting point for people to start thinking about it, so they can ask the right questions.”
‘Deeded beach access’ rare
For those who buy a house directly on the beach, of course, access is a no-brainer: Head east. But for for non-beachfront properties, legal beach access can be a trickier, Rabideau said. And that’s why some homebuyers end up scratching their heads when they learn that the nearest access isn’t always at the east end of their street.
It’s ironic, Rabideau added: “The beach is why they come to Florida in the first place.”
The town does have some dry-locked properties that are sold with individual beach parcels, but those are relatively rare.
Adding to the confusion is the commonly used term “deeded beach access,” which means an ownership interest in a beach parcel will actually trade with a house when it sells. That interest is often shared among neighbors.
“Northerners are familiar with deeded beach access, because they have it up there,” Rabideau said. “But there are very few deeds in Palm beach with actual deeded beach access.”
Instead, access here is typically granted in three other ways, as spelled out in a guide Rabideau prepared on the subject.
- Platted access typically originates when a neighborhood is developed and the land subdivided in a process known as platting. The plat may spell out the location of beach access provided to owners of inland lots in the neighborhood. “Platted access provides a right-of-way to other lot owners or, in some cases, the public, depending on the nature of the access,” the guide says.
- Homeowners’ association access allows residents of certain neighborhoods to use association-owned land to access the public beach. Especially prevalent on the North End, these associations include the Queens Lane Cultural Society, Eden Dodge Estates Association and the Shore Beach Club.
- Easements provide “a non-possessory right to use the land of another” and are “commonly used to provide a right-of-way across someone else’s property.” Easements are often “a strip of land between two houses” and their origin may stretch back many decades. “An express easement for beach access is usually included in the deed, a separate written document or on a plat,” Rabideau’s guide says. Such an easement can limit “who can use the easement and the purposes for which it can be used.”
Rabideau’s guide also lists a map of the town with every public beach access point marked by a red dot.
Mistaken assumptions
Real estate agent Maryellen Cantera of the Corcoran Group said she uses Rabideau’s site frequently.
“I think it’s great,” she said. “It’s very hard to get this information, even from homeowners who are selling their homes. They may not know all the ins and outs. If they don’t use that beach access, they may not know, for instance, the combination to the (lock on the private access) gate. Or the person who was in charge of the (community) gate may not live there any more. Sometimes it’s difficult to even find out who is in charge of the neighborhood association.”
With so many ambiguities, it’s critical for house hunters, real estate agents and their attorneys to carry out due diligence regarding beach access before a sale goes through, Rabideau said, and Cantera agreed.
“In some cases, people on the street have found out that they can’t use a private beach access that they thought they could,” she said.
The lesson? “Don’t assume anything,” Cantera added.