Palm Beach changes beach access for third time in a year citing growing West Palm Beach
Increasing crowds from a growing West Palm Beach and a need for consistency compelled the Town of Palm Beach this fall to padlock a popular stretch of sand after dark.
New hours of sunrise to sunset on the beach north of The Breakers puts it in line with other town beaches and appeases beachfront homeowners concerned with late-night revelers. Previous hours were from 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
But some Palm Beach residents and non-islanders are questioning the new hours, especially with Daylight Saving Time ending Sunday. The shift to standard time means the beach lockout will begin when the sun sets at about 5:30 p.m.
Daphne and Paul Flach, who have lived in Palm Beach for 20 years, said they empathize with beachfront property owners and agree they deserve the “tranquility that our pristine ocean beach offers.”
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But the couple, who live on Sunrise Avenue, said they were surprised recently to find a locked gate at the Root Trail beach access – a 20-foot wide entrance that was previously ungated. The rule change that closed the beach from sunset to sunrise included gating the much-used path at the end of Root Trail, similar to what is used at entrances on Sunset Avenue, Dunbar Road and Wells Road.
“We as good citizens try to read all Town Council upcoming agenda notices, but unfortunately missed this most important one,” the couple said. “Daylight Saving Time, scheduled to end this weekend, limits our beloved community beach to even fewer hours.”
The ordinance update approved Sept. 14 is the third time the town has changed hours for the beach between Sunset Avenue and Wells Road – a unique section of the tony island because it has multiple public entrances and nearby public parking but no facilities or lifeguards.
Council President Pro-Tem Bobbie Lindsay first broached the idea of changing the hours in July, noting a popularity spike that began during the early days of the COVID pandemic when people were looking for things to do amid shutdowns.
She said the Lake Trail has been “permanently changed” because it’s been discovered by a larger group of people and the same thing is happening at the beaches.
“We are suffering from the growth across the bridge,” Lindsay said. “For the safety and well-being of all our residents who live in a public beach area, it’s just a good idea to be consistent.”
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Last fall, council members agreed to close the beaches in the area at sunset after beachfront homeowners complained that a crush of visitors had been trespassing on their properties, swinging in their hammocks, leaving trash, loitering near homes, drinking alcohol and urinating in public. These concerns were ongoing for at least a year but escalated over the summer of 2020 following COVID restrictions.
Other Palm Beach residents, however, were shocked to find locked gates at the public entrances between dusk and dawn following the October 2020 decision.
In December 2020, the town approved an emergency ordinance that changed the hours the beach was open to 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. in response to those concerns.
The Sept. 14 council vote reverted the hours to the original open times of sunrise to sunset.
West Palm Beach resident Virginia Prodanov wrote a letter last year with objections to beach restrictions and what she felt was the derision of non-Palm Beach residents using the public beach.
This week, Prodanov said she doesn’t visit Palm Beach much anymore and understands concerns about bad behavior on the beach.
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“But it seems clear they don’t want us there,” she said. “We’re overbuilt and we continue to overbuild and these are the kind of conflicts we are going to have because of that.”
Unlike the town's three municipal beaches at Midtown, Clarke and Phipps Ocean Park, the area between Sunrise and Wells includes privately owned beach west of the so-called erosion control line. The line is a fixed point that was established at the mean high tide line in 2002 before a beach nourishment project.
The beach was renourished in 2003, 2006, 2015 and 2020. The line is meant to keep private owners from claiming beach that was built with taxpayer money. Last year, private property owners installed plastic posts to delineate their beach to the west of the posts from what the public can use closer to the water.
The posts, which were marked with the words “Private beach: No trespassing” became a flashpoint for beachgoers, some of whom complained they were made to feel like outsiders even as residents of the island. A vandal was seen on a homeowner’s security camera pulling the posts out of the sand in late December. Most of the posts have since washed away or disappeared.
In February, town employees found one of the bicycle-style cable locks used to secure the gate at Sunrise Avenue had been cut off. The town now uses U-shaped steal locks that are more difficult to breach.
More recently, a sign with the new beach hours went missing, according to comments at the October council meeting. It was replaced the next day.
Palm Beach Police Capt. Will Rothrock said anecdotally it seems there are fewer people using the beach than during the height of the 2020 activity and that the police try to be diligent in getting gates unlocked in accordance with the new hours.
“We have reminders in place, but it’s not always exact,” he said. “If there’s a 911 call, it may be delayed.”
Kimberly Miller is a veteran journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers weather, climate and the environment and has a certificate in Weather Forecasting from Penn State. Contact Kim at kmiller@pbpost.com
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Public beach access limited by Town of Palm Beach on unique stretch
