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Briefs due by April 10 in beachfront battle
Published April 3, 2009
SURFSIDE BEACH — Lawyers for the Surfside Beach landowners looking to protect their beachfront homes and the Texas regulator seeking to get them off the public beach must submit written arguments to appellate court judges by April 10.
A ruling about whether property owners should move their homes without compensation will be levied using the briefs and short arguments made Tuesday in the First Circuit Court of Appeals.
Brooks Porter, one of the homeowners, said judges offered no timeline for when a decision will come.
“It could be weeks or it could be even longer,” he said.
The property owners first sued the Texas General Land Office in May 2001 after the land office determined their homes were on a public beach.
Under the Texas Open Beaches Act of 1959, the public should have unrestricted use and access to publicly owned beaches, starting at the line of vegetation. Because of beach erosion, these 40- to 50-year-old houses along Beach Drive that were built off the beach now are seaward of the vegetation line.
Land office spokesman Jim Suydam declined comment, citing the ongoing litigation.
Porter said he was optimistic but unsure about the judges’ decision.
“You have to allow these people to repair and have access and utilities at the same expense as other people on that same street,” Porter said. “That’s what we hope for.
“Alternatively, they could come back and say, ‘We feel sorry for you homeowners, but for the greater good of the community, the Constitution does not apply on property along the edge of the state that’s been eroded, even if man has contributed to erosion, and you’re going to have to take your houses off your property,’” Porter said.
Ten of the 14 homes involved in the suit were destroyed by Hurricane Ike. James Pursley, whose home was lost in the storm, said he continued the battle because his beachfront lot is valued at about $100,000.
“I sure hope we win it because (Texas Land Commissioner) Jerry Patterson is not offering us anything at all,” he said. “But I’ve owned that land since 1999.”
In November, lawyers for six of the homeowners filed an injunction to repair the four homes still standing after the hurricane. Those are Brooks and Merry Porter, Louise Bullard, Diane Clark, and Marcado Ramirez and Chrissie Dickerson.
That injunction has yet to be decided, Porter said.
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