Private beaches post security guards

A line of beach chairs and watercrafts sit peacefully beside the Siesta Key surf in front of Sea Club V.
But the calm could soon frenzy, as complaints start to mount about beachfront property owners barring non-residents from their slice of the beach. This time, there have been reports of a security guard posted at the west end of the public beach to check identification.

The issue was re-opened at the Tuesday, July 3, Siesta Key Village Association meeting when Sarasota County Commissioner Nora Patterson broached the subject and referenced the letters she received the previous weekend.

Dave Magee, SKVA member representing the UPS Store and a beachfront property owner, said it was necessary to put a security guard on the beach because non-guests were crowding out paying customers and future guests.

“We have absolutely no option because we’re losing guests like crazy,” he said.

Also, he told Patterson he did so at the advice of an attorney, who told him to take action now to avoid the possibility of losing land rights to public use in the future.

“The Hyatt has started taking over all of the area with its chairs,” Patterson said. “The only place people can walk up and down on this gorgeous beach is by the water.”

The wrack line, the average point at which the surf reaches the beach during high tide, is the cutoff where public access is allowed under common law. The state owns lands from that point into the depths of the Gulf of Mexico, and it is usually determined, on a case-by-case basis, using seaweed deposits to mark the wrack line.

But with the flooding of Siesta beaches after Tropical Storm Debby, lines of seaweed are higher on the beach than prior to the storm, which has squeezed the amount of space available to landowners to place beach chairs.

Patterson received complaints about chairs so close to shore that it was difficult to walk the length of the beach. At Sea Club V, there is a nine-foot space between beach chairs and the Gulf of Mexico, but chair placement begins north of seaweed deposits.

“I’m saying that for a long time there’s been a compromise on it,” Patterson said about leaving enough room for walkers between the surf and beach furniture. “And if the compromise doesn’t continue, then when your guests want to walk down the beach, someone’s going to run them off.”

“I’m the tail who wags the dog,” said Sarasota County Sheriff’s Dep. Matt Binkley, who is the one shouldering responsibility of protecting private property.

The erosion from Tropical Storm Debby, which most affected areas south of Turtle Beach, and the highly variable level of the surf during the different tides make determining the wrack line difficult at this point.

“I don’t want to start a war,” Patterson said. “I want the war to go away.”