News

By Dan Moffett
    
    Ocean Ridge residents may soon get some definitive answers on how commissioners plan to resolve the town’s long-running debate over public beach access.
    The town commission listened to more opinions from residents during a June 23 workshop and then agreed to draft a new comprehensive beach ordinance and write new language for signs — all of it targeted for release during the regular Aug. 4 commission meeting.
    At the workshop, commissioners:
    • Gave unanimous approval to authorizing Town Attorney Ken Spillias to rewrite the town’s beach laws into a beach use ordinance. The revision would consolidate existing laws and restrictions — including bans on glass, dogs, littering and vehicles such as motorbikes and ATVs. Spillias said the new ordinance would apply to all Ocean Ridge beaches, both public and privately owned.
    • Gave Town Manager Ken Schenck the assignment of drafting language for new signs for the public beaches and dune crossovers. The signs are to inform beachgoers of the town’s ordinance and the possible penalties for those who violate it. Still unresolved is whether the signs will say “Public Access” or designate public and private areas.
    • Instructed Schenck to work with Police Chief Chris Yannuzzi to explore the potential costs and benefits of adding another officer or two to the department to help patrol the town’s beaches. Several members of the town commission, James Bonfiglio in particular, have argued that an added police presence on the beach will help deter the misconduct that homeowners have complained about.
    • Assigned the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission the task of developing long-term goals for beach management. The panel is to consider the implications of growth in surrounding communities and what Ocean Ridge should do to prepare for it. The planning won’t get started until October, however, when the commission’s snowbirds return to town.
    Commissioner Richard Lucibella reluctantly joined with the majority in voting for the new ordinance after arguing that it was impossible to enforce the law and prevent trespassing until the commission drew a line in the sand between public and private.
    “You’re going to have to delineate something reasonable. What is the public land? What is the private land?” Lucibella said. “Education and enforcement is the problem. We don’t do either.”
    Lucibella found no support on the commission for a motion to use the “rack line” — the line of seaweed debris that washes up on each high tide — to define the boundary between the public and private beaches.
    “The concept that this town in any circumstance would refuse to honor the private land rights of a taxpayer is anathema to me. Sooner or later you’re going to have to deal with it,” Lucibella said.
    Mayor Geoffrey Pugh said the rack line “goes all over the place” and couldn’t be trusted as a reliable standard. He said the focus of the commission’s work shouldn’t be on dealing with trespassing but finding ways to prevent beachgoers from misbehaving and violating the town’s rules.
    “The body of what we’re trying to do here is mainly dissecting what is good and bad behavior and can we make sure that it is enforced,” Pugh said.
    Said Vice Mayor Lynn Allison: “The property boundary issue, we’re not sure about,’’ but the misconduct issues, “we agree on.”
    Spillias urged the commission to move forward by deciding what behavior is legal or illegal everywhere on the beaches, without distinguishing different rules for the public and private areas. He said restrictions on dogs and glass should apply to everyone, including homeowners, and not just visitors on the public sand.
    “We have to look at what is prohibited everywhere,” he said. ;