[BarryRX]

Originally Posted by Shimpy

I've been in Fla. since 1953 and never heard of a "permit" for a beach. The real beaches as far as I'm concerned are on the east coast and worth the drive. I prefer the waves of the Atlantic as compared to the calm of the Gulf.

When we lived in Boca Raton, there were some beaches that you had to be a resident of the town to get on. The one that comes to mind is red reef park. We had to go to city hall and show proof of residency to get our permit. I always assumed that this was the norm, but maybe it was just unique to Boca Raton.

[aljetmet]

Originally Posted by Shimpy

I've been in Fla. since 1953 and never heard of a "permit" for a beach. The real beaches as far as I'm concerned are on the east coast and worth the drive. I prefer the waves of the Atlantic as compared to the calm of the Gulf.

The OP is from CT and so was I. Towns on the Long Island Sound require their residents to get permits. Some beaches might be public but most not.

[Shimpy]

Originally Posted by BarryRX

When we lived in Boca Raton, there were some beaches that you had to be a resident of the town to get on. The one that comes to mind is red reef park. We had to go to city hall and show proof of residency to get our permit. I always assumed that this was the norm, but maybe it was just unique to Boca Raton.

I've been to Red Reef Park and didn't have to show anything, but that was more than 15 years ago. At the time I lived in Deerfield Bch., but later moved to Boca.
Actually from what I've read, the beach from the high tide water line to the water is free to anyone for the entire state of Florida. Hotels will try to make it seem that it is private beach, but in fact they don't own past high tide water line into the ocean. Of course you can't set up a blanket above that point as they do own it.

[JLHart]

Originally Posted by Shimpy

Actually from what I've read, the beach from the high tide water line to the water is free to anyone for the entire state of Florida. Hotels will try to make it seem that it is private beach, but in fact they don't own past high tide water line into the ocean. Of course you can't set up a blanket above that point as they do own it.

Not exactly true .... the beach from the "mean high tide line" (that is a 1 year average of the daily high tide line) to the ocean is owned (in most cases) by The State of Florida. From that same mean high tide line to "The Coastal Setback Line" (this is the line in front of which construction can not take place and the location of this line varies by municipality / county but they must have one by State statute) is owned by that same municipality / county.

Now how they enforce that "ownership" is up to each respective municipality / county. In some cases they do allow private business to act as owner agents, allowing them to "own" a portion of the beach. Thankfully, this ridiculous "ownership" is becoming less and less common and is pretty much only a S. Fla thing these days.

Their are same cases were the beach is all Federal land. Such as The Canaveral National Seashore. Or State land, such as various ocean front State Parks ... or even municipality / county land, again various ocean front parks. In most of these cases a fee is required to enter the park .... that is a park entrance fee and not a beach access fee as such.

[senior citizen]

pps

[senior citizen]

pps