DaveInDaytona
10-18-2005, 11:01 AM
This article mentions Warner and Mary Peacock. According to the county records they live in Winter Park but in 2002 they purchased a beachfront condo in New Smyrna Beach. Now that they are there they want things changed and sue the county. WE, the residents of Volusia County, pay for these lawsuits.
Article from the Daytona Beach News Journal:
County fights suit to remove conservation poles
By VIRGINIA SMITH
Staff Writer
Last update: October 18, 2005
Killer sharks, maybe. Killer riptides, sure. Killer skin cancer from too much sun, OK.
But killer conservation poles, flying into beachgoers?
Could happen, say Warner and Mary Peacock, a New Smyrna Beach couple who have questioned the placement of Volusia County's conservation poles on their property, and gotten the state involved.
The county has responded with an aggressive legal challenge to keep the poles exactly where they are, and a hearing next month will decide the poles' fate.
The turquoise wooden poles, 1,842 of them in all, have served for nine years to block off Volusia's dune area -- where sea turtles frequently nest -- from vehicles. A clearly marked line is mandated by the federal government to protect the zone from cars. If the county can't properly mark it, the feds could halt beach driving.
For nine years, the state has considered the poles -- along with umbrellas and lifeguard chairs -- exempt from state coastal construction permits. Only this summer, after the Peacocks first asked the state to look into the poles, did the Department of Environmental Protection demand the county apply for a permit.
"It's extremely odd," said Jamie Seaman, a lawyer for Volusia County. "If you're making me get a permit for the poles, why aren't you making me get a permit for the lifeguard chairs?"
DEP officials have said that a permit application would help the state make a thorough review of both the county's and property owners' interests, and that the poles don't necessarily violate state rules.
But county attorneys think the Peacocks' motive is to knock out beach driving.
The Peacocks acknowledge that they are friends of Rob Godwin, a New Smyrna Beach homeowner with a beach-driving challenge now in federal appeals court. Both Godwin and the Peacocks are represented by the same Tallahassee attorney, Ross Burnaman.
Burnaman said his clients are concerned with poles, not driving. But Warner Peacock acknowledged that the pole issue "could become a beach-driving challenge. If your question is am I against beach driving, the answer is yes."
In September, the county decided to fight the state instead of seeking a permit for the poles. Last week, county attorneys requested every letter, piece of e-mail, or scrap of paper -- dating back a decade -- that might shed light on why the state changed its tune.
On November 21, the state division of administrative hearings will listen to all sides and decide if the poles can stay -- or, as Burnaman wrote to the state last week, could become "projectiles capable of damaging the Peacocks' property and inflicting severe injury or death."
Seaman said the poles have been known to become flotsam, but no one's ever reported one washing up in their yard, much less becoming airborne.
But the county has thought of a few alternatives to poles, Seaman said, if their challenge proves unsuccessful. One is to commission hundreds more lifeguard chairs, paint them a color besides red, turn them to face the dune and stick "no parking" signs on their backs. Another is to arrange a 19-mile row of potted palms. Ropes, lasers, and large Adirondack chairs have also been considered.
"Partly, this is tongue in cheek," Seaman said. "But partly, it's not."
virginia.smith@news-jrnl.com
Article from the Daytona Beach News Journal:
County fights suit to remove conservation poles
By VIRGINIA SMITH
Staff Writer
Last update: October 18, 2005
Killer sharks, maybe. Killer riptides, sure. Killer skin cancer from too much sun, OK.
But killer conservation poles, flying into beachgoers?
Could happen, say Warner and Mary Peacock, a New Smyrna Beach couple who have questioned the placement of Volusia County's conservation poles on their property, and gotten the state involved.
The county has responded with an aggressive legal challenge to keep the poles exactly where they are, and a hearing next month will decide the poles' fate.
The turquoise wooden poles, 1,842 of them in all, have served for nine years to block off Volusia's dune area -- where sea turtles frequently nest -- from vehicles. A clearly marked line is mandated by the federal government to protect the zone from cars. If the county can't properly mark it, the feds could halt beach driving.
For nine years, the state has considered the poles -- along with umbrellas and lifeguard chairs -- exempt from state coastal construction permits. Only this summer, after the Peacocks first asked the state to look into the poles, did the Department of Environmental Protection demand the county apply for a permit.
"It's extremely odd," said Jamie Seaman, a lawyer for Volusia County. "If you're making me get a permit for the poles, why aren't you making me get a permit for the lifeguard chairs?"
DEP officials have said that a permit application would help the state make a thorough review of both the county's and property owners' interests, and that the poles don't necessarily violate state rules.
But county attorneys think the Peacocks' motive is to knock out beach driving.
The Peacocks acknowledge that they are friends of Rob Godwin, a New Smyrna Beach homeowner with a beach-driving challenge now in federal appeals court. Both Godwin and the Peacocks are represented by the same Tallahassee attorney, Ross Burnaman.
Burnaman said his clients are concerned with poles, not driving. But Warner Peacock acknowledged that the pole issue "could become a beach-driving challenge. If your question is am I against beach driving, the answer is yes."
In September, the county decided to fight the state instead of seeking a permit for the poles. Last week, county attorneys requested every letter, piece of e-mail, or scrap of paper -- dating back a decade -- that might shed light on why the state changed its tune.
On November 21, the state division of administrative hearings will listen to all sides and decide if the poles can stay -- or, as Burnaman wrote to the state last week, could become "projectiles capable of damaging the Peacocks' property and inflicting severe injury or death."
Seaman said the poles have been known to become flotsam, but no one's ever reported one washing up in their yard, much less becoming airborne.
But the county has thought of a few alternatives to poles, Seaman said, if their challenge proves unsuccessful. One is to commission hundreds more lifeguard chairs, paint them a color besides red, turn them to face the dune and stick "no parking" signs on their backs. Another is to arrange a 19-mile row of potted palms. Ropes, lasers, and large Adirondack chairs have also been considered.
"Partly, this is tongue in cheek," Seaman said. "But partly, it's not."
virginia.smith@news-jrnl.com