Walton County v. Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc.

Beaches in Walton County, Florida (plaintiff) suffered severe avulsion after a hurricane, meaning that the beach was suddenly and perceptibly eroded. Walton County received a permit to conduct beach renourishment, or beach restoration, under the Beach and Shore Preservation Act (BSPA). As mandated in the BSPA, the county set an erosion control line (ECL) for the restoration using the pre-avulsion mean-high-water line (MHWL) as a guide. In general, the coastal boundary between public and private land was determined by the MHWL, which was a dynamic boundary based on the average high-water mark over a 19-year period. The MHWL was a dynamic boundary because, by the natural function of water, upland properties bordering the ocean accreted and eroded over time. However, if a beach was subject to a BSPA restoration, then the boundary between public and private land was the ECL, not the MHWL. The ECL was a static boundary beyond which the state or municipality owned all submerged and dry land, effectively removing upland owners’ right of ownership over accretions. After exhausting administrative appeals, Stop the Beach Renourishment (STBR) (defendant), a nonprofit association of local beachfront property owners, appealed the issuance of the BSPA permit to the appellate court by raising a facial challenge to the constitutionality of the BSPA. STBR argued that BSPA was unconstitutional because stripping upland property owners of their littoral rights to accretion and to direct contact with the water was a taking without just compensation. The appellate court agreed with STBR and held that the BSPA was unconstitutional. Walton County appealed to the Florida Supreme Court.