Backstreet Boys singer Brian Littrell sues Florida sheriff's office for not protecting beachfront property from trespassers
The petition filed last month by Littrell's company in a Florida Panhandle county touches on a perennial tug-of-war between usually-wealthy oceanfront property owners and beach-loving members of the public, especially in Florida, which has 825 miles of sandy beaches.
Under Florida law, any sand on a beach below the high tide water mark is public. Many homeowners own the sand down to the average high-water line, though some counties over the decades have passed local ordinances that let the public use otherwise private beaches for sunbathing, fishing and walking if people have historically had access for those purposes.
Property records show that Littrell's company purchased the property in Santa Rosa Beach in Walton County in 2023 for $3.8 million.
A spokeswoman for the Walton County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday that the office doesn't comment on pending litigation.
"The Walton County Sheriff's Office prides itself on handling every situation, call for service, or interaction with professionalism using a customer service approach," public information officer Lindsey Darby said in an email. "This has always been our philosophy and will remain so moving forward."
In the petition, Littrell's company said that chairs, umbrellas and small tables had been put out on the beach, as well as "No Trespassing" signs, to mark it as private property. But that effort had been in vain "as numerous trespassers have set out to antagonize, bully, and harass the Littrell family by regularly, every day, trespassing," according to the petition.
The sheriff's office has refused requests to remove trespassers or charge them, and the family has had to hire private security, the petition said.
Walton County, which has become home to several famous property owners besides Littrell over the past two decades, has been at the center of a recent fight between private property owners and the public over access to beaches.
A 2018 Florida law that stemmed from a Walton County ordinance blocked any local government from passing ordinances dealing with public beach access until affected homeowners were notified, a public hearing was held and a court had determined whether a private beach was historically open to the public.
Florida lawmakers this year approved legislation that restored control back to local authorities, and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it into law last month in Santa Rosa Beach, the beach town where Littrell's house is located.
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