Aug. 5--Back in 2001, some Destin City Council members said restoring Crystal Beach's eroded waterfront might end conflict between beachgoers and beachfront property owners by giving everyone more sand to play on.

"One of the points that was made over and over again was that you guys should be happy after beach restoration (because) there will be no more arguments over who owns what," Crystal Beach homeowner Denny Jones, part of a group suing the city over beach restoration, told the council Monday night.

Instead, Jones said, the erosion control line between public and private land on the restored beach -- something the city said would mark a "clear, bright line in the sand" -- has been ignored, leaving the public free to sit, cook or camp north of the line without being arrested for trespassing.

"In your mind, you know you agreed and advertised the fact that the ECL would be our property line," Jones said.

A long-standing issue

Jones was one of several beach- front owners who formed the group Save Our Beaches several years ago to oppose the restoration as an attack on their property rights. Owners said that instead of private beach stretching behind their house to the water's edge, it would stop at the ECL where the public beach began.

A number of owners said they already had problems with beachgoers urinating on their land, using their swimming pools and tearing up sea oats. But the city consistently sided with the tourists against them, Jones said.

"What we have is a history of the city constantly trying to get possession of our private property," Jones told The Log in 2003. He pointed out that in 1999, the council considered an ordinance giving the public unrestricted access to private beach except for a 25-foot buffer zone around buildings, but it dropped the idea after owners threatened a lawsuit.

In the 21st century, the city and the Okaloosa County Sheriff 's Office, which handles Destin law enforcement, have allowed the public to walk the beach up to 20 feet north of a line -- variously referred to as the mean high tide line, the debris line or the wet sand/dry sand boundary -- without being charged with trespassing.

In 2004, Chief Deputy Fred Cobb said the 20-foot rule meant there'd be no confusion if the department took a trespasser to court. Cobb said creating the ECL "would give us a much better chance of arresting and convicting someone who didn't respect those property rights ...