Court Likely To Hear Sanders Beach Beef Council Can’t Agree On Whether To Halt Construction By Property Owner

A court likely will have to decide whether the public has rights to use Sanders Beach and whether a property owner can put a house at the water’s edge.

“I do not believe there is a resolution short of a court hearing,” Councilman Kevin Packard said at Tuesday evening’s council meeting.

Mayor Al Hassell seemed to agree with that sentiment, although he suggested neighbors who want to keep the beach open appoint a few representatives to try to negotiate with property owners along East Lakeshore Drive.

“I am always willing to try one more time,” he said.

“Many councils have tried to acquire public access to that beach,” Hassell said. “We probably feel as frustrated as you do.”

Many of the people from the surrounding neighborhoods, who packed the council meeting to standing-room only, told the council they preferred to negotiate rather than litigate. Some of them also made it clear they are prepared to push the issues into the court to make it possible for the public to continue to play on the strip of sand.

And the City Council, which had plans to take up the issue in executive session, appeared split on whether the city should have granted Lakeshore Drive resident Joe Chapman a building permit for a twobedroom house south of the street.

Some council members said they agreed with City Attorney Jeff Jones’ interpretation that a “Save the Shoreline” ordinance passed in the 1980s superseded two earlier measures that would have prohibited Chapman’s building plans.

Council President Nancy Sue Wallace, however, said she disagrees with that interpretation and wanted to discuss it in executive session.

Several city and county residents attended the meeting to ask the council to withdraw the building permit issued to Chapman a few weeks ago. Or, they said, at least suspend it until the alleged conflict between the ordinances can be cleared up.

“The public’s right and access to the waterways is disappearing,” Robert Kindler told the council.

Longtime resident Art Manley told the council he was disappointed they appeared to be looking only at the reasons they couldn’t keep the beach open to the public.

Attorney Chuck Sheroke was more blunt. “Your inaction is essentially encouraging landowners to encroach on a public beach,” he said.

“I would encourage you to develop the political will” to keep it open, he said.

The council made it clear that, considering the property owners on East Lakeshore Drive pay taxes on the beachfront, they own it. And nearly everyone who spoke also pushed the council to buy the beach.

Some of the council members balked. Councilwoman Dixie Reid said she would never support such a move because not all of the property owners wanted to sell.

Packard indicated the council has decided buying the property is not an option.

Joe Acuff, one of the homeowners in the disputed area, told the council he doubts the taxpayers will put up the money.

“This city can’t even pass a school bond issue where 50 to 60 percent of the people are involved … and this probably only involves 10 percent of the people,” Acuff said.

Meanwhile, the homeowners have been fairly generous in allowing people to use the beach, even though “the public isn’t very nice to the beach.”

Jack Simpson, who also owns one of the homes along East Lakeshore Drive, questioned why people who care about the beach haven’t purchased the homes there and resold them without the waterfront. More than half of the beach frontage has been up for sale in the last four years, he said.

The Sanders Beach issue has festered for years, sometimes silently, sometimes more heatedly. The recent debate started last year when Chapman proposed building condominiums between the street and the lake.

The city rejected that. Chapman - owner of Chapman Design and Henry’s Restaurant - then won approval to build a two-bedroom house. He also supposedly is considering tearing down his home on the north side of the street and replacing it with condominiums.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Map of Sanders Beach area