Two Wrongs

Heaven knows there is little need for more legislation out of Tallahassee.

The Florida Legislature each year somehow squeezes 365 days of mischief into 60 days, passing laws that do little or abdicate tasks and costs to locals and playing Three Card Monte with the public's money.

But the approval last week, with no dissenting votes in either the House of Representatives or Senate, of a bill that would exempt certain construction on St. Joseph Peninsula on property that would be impacted by establishing a new Coastal Construction Control Line and 30-year erosion line was a case of a wrong making a right.

Even if the bottom line was a poor excuse for approval.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection had long ago vacated any standing it had to essentially take as many as 70-odd parcels as construction on the peninsula for more than two decades was facilitated, if that is the word, by local government.

That the department suddenly discovered that those lines must be changed, and the agency took a rather hard-line approach on the issue, when it first arose early last year, in the middle of a $20 million beach re-nourishment project, was intrusive enough.

Compounding the DEP action was the fact that the agency was trying to realign the boundaries on property that had already been platted and in many cases sold, and property that would be impacted by the restoration project.

In too many cases, the FDEP was rendering property useless because there was no way to build on the postage stamp that was left of more than 60 parcels, and would constrain building on as many as 300 more.

But fundamentally, the action from the FDEP was a case of government run amok.

The agency, which is essentially charged with protecting coastlines and waterfront construction, fumbled the ball when it went unnoticed by anybody in Tallahassee that the county was approving platting of the peninsula for more than two decades.

The cows had left the barn, attempting to close the door was ludicrous and an impingement of fundamental property rights.

The county played by the rules - though that argument is akin to resuming a game of dodge ball in gym class when the teacher isn't looking. Those rules weren't seemingly applied uniformly, as a trip to Panama City Beach or Brevard County or Tampa illustrates.

Most importantly, the folks who own property on the peninsula understand better than anybody who could sit at the table what they purchased when they platted out the boundaries of their property on the peninsula.

A rare piece of postcard paradise, yes; but with caveats balancing the carats.

The coastline in question is one of the most rapidly-eroding slices of waterfront in the state, according to a recent study.

Old-timers in the area have in their possession maps that show a peninsula 40-50 years ago that was significantly longer than the one today.

The area of the lighthouse, where military barracks stood just six or seven years ago, provides a vivid reminder of the vagaries of the ocean and Mother Nature.

In tangible terms, the condition of too many homes four and five years ago, ravaged by winter storms and the effects of even far-off hurricanes, had meant condemnation, the lone land artery to the peninsula had been closed repeatedly and the beach came closer and closer until it barged through the back door.

But those same property owners also poured immense amounts of money into attempting to hold off the sea, without asking one dime from local taxpayers.

They invested in costly armoring devices that proved fruitless, trucked in loads of sand and emptied their pockets of hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep the water at bay.

And then those property owners, or at least an overwhelming number of them, voted to tax their property - tax themselves - at levels roughly as high or higher than county ad valorem taxation to restore the beach and at least buy some years on the life expectancy of their property and the peninsula.

All of which likely provided the proper viewpoint to lobby a state that has budget issues of its own.

State lawmakers and agency officials likely weren't keen on forking out who knows how much in taxpayer dollars satisfying the owners of property that the state took, well, just because it could.

And the county saw not just impacted property owners but a threat to the tax base which would also be a compelling argument in the place where public dollars go do disappear - the Capitol Building in Tallahassee.

What was accomplished by the bill filed by Rep. Jimmy Patronis (R-Panama City Beach) and approved unanimously by state lawmakers last week was to restore the individual property rights to the owners of land on the peninsula.

That it required a legislative bill, more paper and time at taxpayer expense, rather than common sense from the FDEP, demonstrates the ongoing cost of vigilance against government's often arbitrary intrusions.