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Californian Asks Judge to Overturn Texas Open Beaches Act as Unconstitutional
Houston Chronicle
Kevin Moran July 30, 2006
Jul. 30--A California woman has asked a federal judge to overturn the Texas Open Beaches Act or force the state to pay her for three Galveston Island rental homes that ended up on the public beach as a result of erosion.
"Right now, the houses I own are not in any way blocking the public beach access," said Carol Severance, a Los Angeles lawyer who bought the three homes for a total of $1.18 million in April 2005.
The Pacific Legal Foundation filed the lawsuit Thursday on behalf of Severance challenging the Open Beaches Act's provisions in Houston U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt's court.
The lawsuit maintains the Act's provisions for forcing the removal of homes from beach areas violates constitutional provisions against the government taking of private property without just compensation. Foundation attorney J. David Breeman said Thursday that the lawsuit seeks no damages but a judgment preventing Texas from enforcing the Open Beaches Act. No date for a hearing in the case has been set.
Named as defendants in the case are the Texas General Land Office, Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and his office and Galveston County District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk.
Spokesmen for Patterson and Abbott declined comment. Sistrunk could not be reached for comment.
Severance's homes are on a list of 107 the Texas General Land Office wants moved, asserting that their location seaward of the natural vegetation line obstructs public access to the beach. Under the act, people whose homes end up seaward of the vegetation line must move them or forfeit them, the state maintains.
"My preference would be that the houses stay right there," Severance said Friday. "If it's deemed that the houses need to be removed, then just compensation needs to be paid."
So far, the state has offered owners of the 107 homes up to $40,000 in reimbursements for costs of moving their homes. That offer came in June, at the end of a two-year moratorium the state granted on enforcement of the Open Beaches Act to see if the vegetation line would re-establish itself.
