Frank A. Rush Jr.: NC beach case really about public’s age-old rights

Regarding the Sept. 7 Point of View “NC beach case about government overreach, not greed”: David Breemer, the California attorney for Gregory and Diane Nies, retirees from New Jersey who are suing our coastal North Carolina town of Emerald Isle, misportrayed their lawsuit’s highly significant threat to the public’s right to reach and use North Carolina’s beaches as a harmless response to dastardly “government overreach.”

Breemer attempts to distract the public from the facts as anyone can see by reading the N.C. Court of Appeals’ unanimous, bipartisan decision in the case last year. The court’s ruling is crystal clear that the public has the legal right to use the entire width of the beach, from the base of the dunes to the edge of the ocean, as has always been the practice in North Carolina.

It is this decision that Breemer is appealing to the N.C. Supreme Court, which still could dismiss the case – and should.

The only area in question in this case is the flat beach from the base of the dunes to the water, not the land between the Nieses’ $1.3 million vacation home and the sand dunes. This is the same area that the public, including the town, has accessed and used everywhere in North Carolina “since time immemorial,” in the words of the appeals court.

The town seeks nothing more than what has been practiced in Emerald Isle and in every beach community in North Carolina as long as our state has existed: to preserve the public’s right to access and use the entire width of the beach, to keep the beach clean and to promote safe and efficient response by emergency responders on the beach to help those in need.

Neither the town nor anyone else should have to compensate the Nieses or other oceanfront property owners to maintain this ancient right. If the public already has the right to use the beach, then exercising that right can’t be a “taking.”

If the Nieses prevail and are deemed to be due government compensation to preserve the public’s rights, then thousands of other oceanfront property owners in North Carolina would demand the same taxpayer tribute. The taxpayers of North Carolina should not have to pay for something they’ve had the right to use forever.

Fortunately, we have received strong support from Gov. Pat McCrory’s administration, Attorney General Roy Cooper, the governing bodies of every oceanfront county and municipality in North Carolina, business groups, environmental organizations, tourism champions and other public access advocates. They would not be involved if it were only about the Nieses and Emerald Isle. They’ve interceded at their own expense because the stakes are enormous for North Carolina, as the Nieses’ own appeal acknowledged.

“This case involves issues of incredible importance to the people of this state and to government entities, including the state itself,” said the appeal Breemer wrote. That’s the one thing he’s right about.

The length limit was waived to permit a fuller response to the Point of View.

This story was originally published September 15, 2016 at 6:01 PM with the headline "Frank A. Rush Jr.: NC beach case really about public’s age-old rights."