ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Backstreet Boys singer Brian Littrell says an area Florida sheriff’s workplace is not doing sufficient to guard his multimillion-dollar beachfront property from trespassers and is asking a decide for an order commanding deputies to take action.
The petition filed final month by Littrell’s firm in a Florida Panhandle county touches on a perennial tug-of-war between usually-wealthy oceanfront property homeowners and beach-loving members of the general public, particularly in Florida, which has 825 miles of sandy seashores.
Below Florida regulation, any sand on a seaside beneath the excessive tide water mark is public. Many owners personal the sand right down to the common high-water line, although some counties over the many years have handed native ordinances that permit the general public use in any other case non-public seashores for sunbathing, fishing and strolling if individuals have traditionally had entry for these functions.
Property data present that Littrell’s firm bought the property in Santa Rosa Seaside in Walton County in 2023 for $3.8 million.
A spokeswoman for the Walton County Sheriff’s Workplace stated Wednesday that the workplace does not touch upon pending litigation.
“The Walton County Sheriff’s Office prides itself on handling every situation, call for service, or interaction with professionalism using a customer service approach,” public data officer Lindsey Darby stated in an e-mail. “This has always been our philosophy and will remain so moving forward.”
Within the petition, Littrell’s firm stated that chairs, umbrellas and small tables had been put out on the seaside, in addition to “No Trespassing” indicators, to mark it as non-public property. However that effort had been in useless “as numerous trespassers have set out to antagonize, bully, and harass the Littrell family by regularly, every day, trespassing,” in accordance with the petition.
The sheriff’s workplace has refused requests to take away trespassers or cost them, and the household has needed to rent non-public safety, the petition stated.
Walton County, which has change into residence to a number of well-known property homeowners apart from Littrell over the previous twenty years, has been on the middle of a latest struggle between non-public property homeowners and the general public over entry to seashores.
A 2018 Florida regulation that stemmed from a Walton County ordinance blocked any native authorities from passing ordinances coping with public seaside entry till affected owners had been notified, a public listening to was held and a courtroom had decided whether or not a non-public seaside was traditionally open to the general public.
Florida lawmakers this yr accepted laws that restored management again to native authorities, and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it into regulation final month in Santa Rosa Seaside, the seaside city the place Littrell’s home is situated.
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