How did Perdido Key beaches become private?

For years, locals wanting to enjoy the surf and sand on Perdido Key have been confronted with No Trespassing Signs behind the row of condominiums that limited their beach access to the state and federal parks, which require fees, and about 50 feet of county-owned beachfront.

That may change, according to County Commissioner Jeff Bergosh. The commissioner has located the original deeds when the federal government sold the surplus property. The deeds state that the southerly 75 feet are subject to a perpetual easement for a beach for public use generally.

County Property Steve West confirmed the language in an email to Bergosh:

Commissioner Bergosh:

Attached is the first of several emails transmitting the original 1957 deeds to the properties along the Gulf of Mexico in Gulf Beach Subdivision. The deeds are in order (Lots 1 through 64), and each has the same language that the southerly 75 feet is subject to a perpetual easement for beach and public use generally.

Please let me know if you need anything further.
–Steve

The commissioner talked about the discovery at his Coffee with the Commissioner this morning.

“When I grew up in this town in the mid-eighties, my dad and I would go out to Perdido Key, and we parked at the Junior Food store,” Bergosh said. “We would walk up and down this beach and fish. We’d grab our folding chairs and our fishing poles, and we would fish up and down this beach. There were no trespassing signs, and no one ever kicked us off.”

He continued, “I talked to people who grew up here in the sixties and seventies, same thing. So this latest phenomenon of these no trespassing signs and kicking people off the beach, I don’t know where that came from; it’s very unfortunate.”

The commissioner credited Michael McCormick for the discovery. McCormick’s public record request triggered the deed research. Bergosh had been working on how to get more lifeguards on the Perdido Key beaches in light of the recent drownings.

At the Coffee with the Commissioner, Tim Day, the deputy director for natural resources, said, “We received a public records request from Michael McCormick. He had seen a survey that listed a 75-foot easement. And with a relatively short period of time, a little research finally took us all the way back to the original deeds for sales within the Gulf Beach subdivision. It’s the only one we’ve verified so far. Generally, what that area is from the Perdido Sky (condominium) back to Perdido Key State Park.”

Day said his staff would pull deeds across Perdido Key to confirm those documents also have the 75-foot easement.

Commissioner Bergosh wants to know how the withholding of public beach access started, “How was it perpetrated on the people and the citizens and visitors, and how was it perpetuated for all these years?”

For more details, read Jeff’s Blog.