No more carrots. Flagler County is going with the stick. County Attorney Al Hadeed on Wednesday informed Flagler Beach City Attorney Drew Smith that the county will sue two Flagler Beach property owners to secure beachside easements. The easements are necessary to allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to proceed with a long-delayed dune-rebuilding project along 2.6 miles of beach in the city.
The dunes-restoration project has been in the works for a decade and a half. The Cops is ready to dredge sand from a borrow pit offshore and rebuild 2.6 miles of shoreline, erecting storm-resistant dunes intended to slow the effects of beach erosion, and to repeat the process every decade for 50 years. To do so, it needs property owners’ permission to work on their portion of the beach.
The Corps earlier this month gave the county an ultimatum: get the signatures, or risk losing $17 million–the federal portion of the allocation–until further notice. That left the county with little choice.
“We are proceeding to file eminent domain suits against the two owners who have not voluntarily agreed to have their dune remnants repaired,” Hadeed wrote Smith Wednesday afternoon. “The Army Corps is presently checking data to finalize our ability to proceed with the court cases.”
The two owners are Cynthia D’Angiolini and Leonard Surles. Surles owns the house at 2732 South Oceanshore Boulevard with Elke Vogel, and the “dune remnant” immediately across the street. D’Angiolini owns the property at at 2538 South Oceanshore Boulevard, and the remnant in front of it.
Remnants are 50-foot-long stretches along the dune line above the shoreline, where local ordinances forbid construction. Beachside owners’ properties extend to the ocean’s high waterline, but by custom, the public is allowed to use the beach even if it is in private hands. (Flagler enacted an ordinance drafted by Hadeed to that effect. A similar ordinance was contested in Pinellas County until a federal appeals court in August ruled customary use legal. The ruling was relevant to the county’s and the Corps’ designs as it buttresses the argument that the dunes project is for public and private benefit.)
The county has repeatedly negotiated with the owners to secure the easements without stronger-armed means. The county commission went as far as memorializing pledges in official documents that the dunes will not even be planted with inappropriate vegetation (one of Surles’s fears), and to assure the owners that a future government will not somehow alter building regulations on the dunes. The owners haven’t budged.
“To this point, we have extended every chance for the owners to come to the table to discuss their concerns and issues,” Hadeed wrote Smith. “We will remain open to any further discussion the owners may wish to have but, regardless, we must proceed in order to avoid loss of the federal and state funding.” Flagler Beach government is not involved in the Corps’ project other than in an advisory capacity.
Hadeed has appeared before the commission, at times every two weeks for months, to update city commissioners on the status of the project. He did not appear at the commission’s last meeting two weeks ago, right around the time when the county had learned of the Corps’ latest disenchantment with the delays. In an interview on Jan. 10, he made clear the county’s magnanimity with the owners had all but run out, and that legal action would be necessary. The Flagler County Commission has already formally authorized eminent domain proceedings, so the move no longer needs any other procedural action except a filing with the circuit court.
Circuit Judge Terence Perkins is expected to hear, and likely expedite, the case, since it is a matter of public urgency–and public safety, given the ocean’s increasingly blustery behavior: it’s only in 2017 that the state spent $4 million for emergency repairs to a shredded State Road A1A, following the devastation of Hurricane Matthew, along the same stretch of beach that the Army Corps intends to reinforce. And it’s only in 2019 that the Department of Transportation spent another $22.4 million for more a more permanent reconstruction of that stretch of A1A–as permanent as anything can be along that shore. It’s been an expensive stretch of beach to preserve. (See: “Gov. Scott Surveys Flagler Beach’s Cratered A1A as Congressman Cites $35 Million Repair Bill” and “At Painters Hill and Washington Oaks, Crumbling Houses and a Devastated Treasure Beyond the Public Eye.”) The destruction has not abated even with weaker storms, as was the case just last November.
It will be the first time that Flagler County has invoked eminent domain in its 104-year history. Eminent domain is the power of a government to take private property for public use even against the owner’s will. The taking is conditioned on just compensation set by a court.
There is no taking in these two cases. No one’s land is being acquired in any way. The county is only seeking permission to temporarily use the land to rebuild dunes on it–a reverse, in essence, of what nature has been doing to D’Angiolini and Surles’s land, without their permission, for years: invisibly but just as effectively eroding it, and placing properties along A1A and beyond in danger.
If anything, the county has argued, properties are being improved by getting significant protection from recurring storm events. Rather than a taking, the eminent domain action in this case would legalize the Corps of Engineer’s ability to–for lack of a better word–trespass and work on the land. Since there is no taking, it isn’t clear whether compensation will be an issue.
Theoretically, the Corps could proceed with the project without the two owners’ agreement, and without eminent domain proceedings. But that would leave gaps in the dunes structure where the two resisting owners’ properties are located. The gaps would all but render the project pointless, as they would turn into funnels for the very forces the dunes are intended to impede.
Flagler County government started threatening to sue Flagler Beach property owners through eminent domain proceedings some 15 months ago. At the time, 11 property owners had yet to sign easements. All but the two owners have since signed, some after getting a $5,000 incentive from a private group of Flagler Beach residents who raised money for the effort. Flagler County was not involved in that part of the equation.
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Erobot says
Millions have been spent on “restoring” the dunes, however the Atlantic ocean, the most powerful force on the planet, needs more beach than is available since A1A took so much of it. Harassing property owners won’t fix it.
Just Cooperate Already says
All the costs of this legal fight should be reimbursed by the two hold-outs. What the corps is trying to do is protect the homes and land on the beach. Apparently they are okay with having their homes swept into the ocean when the next significant storm hits. Don’t remember the last time A1A collapsed? I have pictures.
Peter says
Yea the corps did such a good job on the Everglades.Just saying
Concerned Citizen says
People have completely forgotten that these easements came with the property they purchased. And that makes them private property. Tough that it’s at the beach. So much angst and ire over someone else’s property. When none of this will matter in the long run.
I wonder how folks would like it if they came in and widened South Central. And took most of your front yard past the right of way? Without compensation? Sorry tough luck. Your yard faces the road and we want to do what we want with it.
And I keep wondering why local media continues to publish these folks names and addresses. Nothing like fueling the fire I suppose. Some of the treatment of these people early on was shameful. Again over property they owned
Paying for millions of sand pumped for the ocean. And getting all worked up over a few easements. That someone else owns. And it will all be gone when we get the next big Nor”Easter or a close brush with a Hurricane. But people will always remember how folks acted about this. And how the county came in and did what they wanted in the end. Once they do this and get a taste of it it won’t stop here.
Harry says
It’s not public land if it washes away so what the sea has always done what it wants like all governments but in the end the people who think they own the land and any government will lose any fight with water. The beach will win in the end but you people are fun to watch even when you are a pain in the ass. Go enjoy the sand and sunshine till you go under it.
Robin says
This action of eminent domain should have been filed last spring. The delay on the part of the County’s legal team is inexcusable.
DoubleGator says
It’s long past time for the County to us the tool of eminent domain! Welcome to the modern era.
Mark says
Let it go! Leave the people alone! You are fighting a losing battle against mother nature. It is a very bad look for the city to be suing its own. Go play in the sand somewhere else and let Mother nature take its course!
Vance Hoffman says
On one hand you want the beach view you purchased on the other it needs to be maintained like a yard the city and community have beach rights as well then I don’t see the big argument with this. I think this is a project that will benefit both in the long run but the construction will be hated by all. I could be wrong just my point of view.
CPG says
How many times must it be said – no one is taking their property. All the ACE is doing is rebuilding the dunes. Two hold outs holding the rest of the city hostage. It’s about time!!! And don’t say leave them alone and let Mother Nature do her thing…the beach is what makes Flagler Beach such a jewel and without it, y’all would be complaining complaining complaining.
Edith Campins says
If this project doesn’t get done and the next storm takes away what remains of the dunes/beach, these two homeowners will be the first ones trying to sue the county for having done nothing to protect them.
Dennis says
About time. Should have been done a long time ago. I truly understand why these two do not trust the county. Never trust a politician or the government! They have a hard time telling the truth.
A.j says
Mother nature will do what she is going to do, always has and always will. At her own timing and at her own speed. We can’t make her go fast and we can’t slow her down.
Skibum says
All these misguided and uninformed comments saying leave the property owners alone, stop harassing them and trying to take their property without compensation, let mother nature take it’s course, etc. are so irritating! Lest you forget, the main concern just this side of the dunes that separate the Atlantic Ocean from the City of Flagler Beach is State Hwy A1A, and the lifeblood of the whole beach community and a multitude of local businesses. The course of action that the Army Corps of Engineers is wanting to take wasn’t some willy-nilly experiment concocted in a dream late one night. It took countless engineers, surveys, a multitude of experts and finally several millions of dollars that have been dedicated to the efforts to protect the highway, businesses and homes from future damage due to severe storms that erode the beach. The hold-out property owners remind me of a lot of the anti-maskers/anti-vaccers, who seem only concerned with themselves to the detriment of society at large. It is well past time that the county FINALLY is taking the remaining hold-outs to court to force them to do something for the public good instead of protecting their own selfish interests!
DaleL says
I am very interested as to Cynthia D’Angiolini and Leonard Surles reasons for not granting permission for the dunes project.
However, in looking at the Property Appraiser’s website map, I think there is one possibility. Both their homes sit on the west side of A1A, but their road access is South Central Avenue, not A1A. Could it be that these two property owners are trying to sabotage the dune restoration project in the hope that eventually A1A will have to be abandoned? That would make their homes beachfront and greatly increase their value.
In any case, the property owners will get to plead their case in court.
sarcasm says
Well shucks. Would have had a new inlet and a new bridge in Flagler Beach soon. Now we just get to ride down A1A and see a great view.
Deb says
2732 S Ocean Shore Blvd, Flagler Beach, FL 32136
Listed for sale 18 days ago for 2 million
So what is the owner really up to?
bob says
free advertisement
Steve says
Just git er done. Way too long for something so simply, and those of us who are anti mask/jab, we’re on YOUR side “skibum”. You got it all wrong. This needs to be done before this years hurricane season kicks in.
Muha Isabelle says
What is even more baffling is that this was never a homestead, but an investment rental property. Why all the angst and drama over repairing the beach? Certainly the listing price represents an impressive gain over the purchase price, this is not about the Government or native plants, Mr. Surles is all about gaming authority, he won’t be taking it with him.