u/Interesting-Chain879

Dot org - “The Issue”

Many people do not believe this is happening. But it is. In fact, it is happening right now, while people stand in disbelief.

https://www.reddit.com/u/CaptainHindsight1138/s/aK1fVISBkP

Dot org - “The Issue”

Many people do not believe this is happening. But it is. In fact, it is happening right now, while people stand in disbelief.

https://www.reddit.com/u/CaptainHindsight1138/s/aK1fVISBkP

Dot org - “The Issue”

Many people do not believe this is happening. But it is. In fact, it is happening right now, while people stand in disbelief.

https://www.reddit.com/u/CaptainHindsight1138/s/aK1fVISBkP

The text of St. Pete Beach Ordinance 2025-02 includes major structural updates to Chapter 95 that significantly expand what beachfront resorts are legally permitted to do. The changes regarding food and beverage (F&B) service, wristbands, capacity limits, and bathroom facilities outline these components clearly:

1. Allowance for Food & Beverage (F&B) Service directly to Chairs

The New Rules: The ordinance formally legalizes and regulates direct food and beverage service—including alcohol—right to hotel guests lounging in beach chairs and cabanas. [1, 2]

The Context: Previously, hotel alcohol and hospitality service boundaries on the sand were heavily restricted. The ordinance explicitly codifies the framework allowing resorts to legally monetize and run active, wait-staffed F&B operations directly on the dry sand layout. [1]

2. Removal of the Wristband Requirement

The New Rules: The legislation removes the strict mandatory wristband enforcement that hotels were previously required to use to police who was using their beach setups.

The Context: Critics and residents point out that by removing wristbands or strict identification mandates, it becomes significantly harder for code enforcement to verify if individuals utilizing the commercial setups and receiving service are actual registered hotel guests or if the operation is expanding beyond its legal scope.

3. Removal of Hard Capacity Limits on Cabanas and Chairs

The New Rules: Instead of enforcing strict, hard caps on the total number of physical chairs and cabanas a resort can place on the beach, the ordinance shifts the focus strictly tosetbacks and geometry (e.g., maximum tent dimensions and keeping transit lanes clear). [1]

The Context: By eliminating explicit numerical limits on inventory, resorts are essentially given the green light to pack as many chairs and cabanas onto the sand as they can physically fit, as long as they stay within their designated boundary lines and pack them away at night. [1]

4. Concessions for Bathroom Facilities

The New Rules: The ordinance addresses infrastructure requirements by building inconcessions and exemptions for proximity to permanent bathroom facilities for these commercial zones.

The Context: This allows hotels to expand their commercial footprint down the beach without being strictly bottlenecked by traditional zoning laws that require immediate, adjoining brick-and-mortar restroom infrastructure for large-scale outdoor commercial service operations.

Why this is causing immense public anger
The core of the outrage surrounding Ordinance 2025-02 stems from a perceived double standard: while the city introduces heavy restrictions, fees, and permit requirements on ordinary residents and small vendors (like local yoga instructors or photographers), it simultaneously uses the very same ordinance to hand massive operational victories, deregulation, and expanded revenue streams to large beachfront corporate resorts  

Lots of discussion lately in St. Pete Beach and other beach communities about the law of customary use. I'm going to try to shed some light on what it is and answer some FAQs.

Q: What is customary use? A: A common law legal doctrine adopted in the landmark Florida Supreme Court case of City of Daytona Beach v. Tona-Rama, decided in 1974.

Q: What did the Court decide in Tona-Rama? A: The Court adopted a rule providing that when the public's use of an area of the dry sand beach has been ancient, reasonable, without interruption, and free from dispute, the public has a right to continue using that area for customary purposes, even if it's otherwise privately owned property.

Q: How do customary use rights interact with a private property owner's right to exclude others from his/her property?
A: These rights exist simultaneously, and the right of customary use operates as an exception to the right to exclude. In other words, a private property owner still has the right to exclude others from his/her property. HOWEVER, if the area in question is dry sand beach that has been used by the public "since time immemorial," and such use has been reasonable, uninterrupted, and undisputed, then the public has a right to continue using that part of the beach and owner cannot eject them.

Q: Can private property owners revoke the public's right of customary use where it exists? A: No, but local government can appropriately regulate public use, and it's also possible that the public can lose its customary use right if it abandons it (i.e., stops using the beach).

Q: What about "no trespassing" signs?
A: Private property owners can generally post no trespass signs on their property. However, when the area in question is a beach and the prerequisites of customary use (ancient, reasonable, uninterupted, free from dispute) are satisfied, a member of the public exercising that right cannot be guilty of trespass (i.e., because they are exercising a legal right). That doesn't mean property owners won't try to have beachgoers trespassed (they will and frequently do), nor does it mean that law enforcement will reach the correct conclusion when called out to enforce trespass (sometimes they get it right, sometimes they don't).

Q: Do customary use rights only exist if the municipality has enacted a local ordinance recognizing those rights? A: No. Customary use rights exist whenever the four requirements are met. The problem is that, in practice, private owners and beachgoers often disagree about whether the requirements are met on a particular stretch of the beach. This is also why a local ordinance recognizing customary use rights is helpful. Such ordinances typical identify where customary use exists on the beach, what uses are considered reasonable and protected, and provide that members of the public cannot be prevented from such uses in those areas. A well drafted ordinance removes confusion and promotes certainty - for beachgoers, property owners, and law enforcement alike - as to what is permitted, where, and by whom, thereby alleviating problems associated with irregular enforcement and routine disputes over whether the public has customary use rights in the area in question.

Q: What are HB 631 and SB1622? A: HB 631 was a law that imposed significant procedural hurdles on municipalities seeking to adopt ordinances recognizing customary use rights. Basically, municipalities had to notify every affected property owner, go to court, and prove that customary use rights existed as to every affected parcel. It didn't change the customary use doctrine itself, it just made it a lot harder for cities to pass ordinances to protect public access rights. SB1622 repealed Fla. Stat. 163.35 (the codified version of the law introduced by HB 631) effective June 2025, essentially rolling things back to the way they were before HB 631. As a result, cities no longer have to go through the long, expensive, convoluted judicial determination process to adopt a customary use ordinance. Now, they can just adopt such an ordinance as they would any other under their broad home rule powers.

If you have other questions, just ask. I'm not your attorney and don't represent you, but I am an attorney and I'm happy to help explain legal principles to promote public education and engagement.

More information and coverage is now available from a simple “St Pete Beach Customary Use” google search

UPDATE: After the “Private Beach” controversy, the St. Pete Beach Commission agreed to begin discussions regarding codification of customary use.

For those following this issue, tonight was significant. The Commission, Mayor, and City Attorney all acknowledged the need for a public discussion regarding customary use on St. Pete Beach.

Meeting materials for Ordinance 2026-11 and the June 23 Commission meeting are available through the City website under Agendas & Meetings.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to learn about this issue and participate in the public process.

I know several people have asked for additional background documents and meeting materials. Feel free to DM me if you’re looking for those resources.

UPDATE: After the “Private Beach” controversy, the St. Pete Beach Commission agreed to begin discussions regarding codification of customary use.

For those following this issue, tonight was significant. The Commission, Mayor, and City Attorney all acknowledged the need for a public discussion regarding customary use on St. Pete Beach.

Meeting materials for Ordinance 2026-11 and the June 23 Commission meeting are available through the City website under Agendas & Meetings.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to learn about this issue and participate in the public process.

I know several people have asked for additional background documents, meeting materials or other. Feel free to DM me if you’re looking for those resources.

For generations, St. Pete Beach has been openly used by residents and visitors. That long-standing public use is known as customary use.

Ordinance 2025-02 introduces distinctions between public and private beach lands and creates a framework that many residents believe threatens the public’s historic use of the beach.

This is not about cabanas, weddings, vendors, or signage.

This is about whether the public will continue to exercise and defend its customary use rights.
Customary use exists because public use of St. Pete Beach has been ancient, reasonable, and uninterrupted. These rights are not preserved by silence. They are preserved when the public asserts them.

If you support a free, open, and public St. Pete Beach, visit Friends of Corey Avenue Facebook page.

Do not assume someone else will do it.

Find Friends of Corey Avenue on Facebook. Share it. Assert your right to use St. Pete Beach.