Dauphin Island Property Owners,
By now you have received a DIPOA ballot to vote on granting the Town of Dauphin Island a permanent easement to the entire DIPOA West Surf Beach in connection with the Town's proposed west end beach nourishment project. I am recommending that you do not send in a ballot voting on this project at this time, and if you do submit a ballot, vote "no" to granting the easement. If there are some significance modifications to the project in the future, we may all be able to fully support it. But not now. There is not enough transparency about this project, there has been misleading information about the actual effect it will and could potentially have on all property owners, and many direct questions have been asked and not answered by the DIPOA and the Town.
Everyone wants free sand placed on the beaches at the west end. I have had a home on the west end for 27 years. I certainly want to see the beaches renourished. But not at any costs. This project, without more questions answered, seems not to be worth the potential costs to the quality of life on the west end and the island generally, and is oppressive to many property owners who have invested much money in west end properties that are now partially or totally submerged.
It is a complex matter, and I will not go into the details here. It suffices to say the DIPOA Board and the Town has not been totally candid about the project. They have been unwilling to answer enough questions so that at this time I cannot support what should be something everyone would be in favor of.
Here are some but not all concerns every property owner should have about the project. The DIPOA West Surf Beach is not public. All island property owners have exclusive use of the 3 and ½ mile long DIPOA West Surf Beach. The last westernmost 3/4 mile of that beach is submerged. However, 2 and ½ miles are not. From Sehoy eastward the West Surf Beach grows from 30-50 feet to 250-300 feet wide at Admiral Semmes. The easternmost portion of the DIPOA West Surf Beach is 250-300 feet wide for 3/4 of a mile. It needs no renourishment. Since Sand Island merged Dauphin Island 10 years or so ago, this beach has rapidly expanded. It continues to grow westward, albeit slowly. This ¾ mile area is 3,500 plus feet of Gulf front property. Beachfront lots 100 foot deep are listed for $3,000 a front foot. This property is worth 7 to 10 million dollars. The DIPOA should not give the beachfront aspect of this property to the State, and certainly not do so without compensation. The project will landlock this pristine and deep beach front property, dramatically reducing the value.
The project allows the Town to establish at it's discretion a new permanent Designated Mean High Tide Line (DMHTL). All lands seaward of the line are permanently the property on the State. It is the presently proposed DMHTL that would landlock this ¾ mile long DIPOA beach. The new seaward property would be a public beach. As a result the property owners would lose this beachfront which has no renourishment needs and is growing. Requests to move the terminus of the line westward to preserve this portion of the DIPOA West Surf Beach have been ignored by the Town, and disturbingly the DIPOA Board has not advocated to preserve this tremendously valuable property for it's property owners. The westward movement of the terminus would not only preserve the beachfront for property owners, but would reduce the size of the project allowing for significant cost reductions.
Moving westward, the DMHTL continues to landlock narrower portions of the DIPOA beach. As importantly, it also begins to encroach on existing property owners homes that have been there for decades. The project calls for dunes to be 20 feet from existing houses, impacting beach access, view, and limits attractiveness of rentability. It changes the homes from having a privately owned beach immediately in front of their home to having their home border a public beach.
On the far west end, the DMHTL takes away private property belonging to individuals and the DIPOA, and gives it to the State. If it is submerged or partially submerged, the State gets your property with no compensation. That was not the case on the Town's east end project. Property owners got their property restored and kept ownership.
If this 3 mile long and fairly expansive State owned public beach is built, it will be extremely valuable. Questions remain unanswered about whether development in the nature of similar State owned beaches in Baldwin County could be in the future for Dauphin Island. Such development would change the entire character of the island.
Repeated requests have been made for the Town to move the recommended DMHTL 100 feet or more seaward, which would resolve most of these issues. The Town has refused. The DIPOA Board has unfortunately not advocated for the property owners directly and indirectly affected by this project, and gives unwavering support to the Town placement of the DMHTL.
The Town has publicly stated without the West Surf Beach easement from the DIPOA there will be no project. Until the positions of the Town and the DIPOA Board change so that property owners rights are better protected, It is recommended property owners refrain from voting so the 750 voting quorum will not be met, or if you do vote, vote "no" on the easement.
Thanks,
Dennis J. Knizley
Attorney at Law and Dauphin Island Property Owner