Last month, Camila Penna, a Cutler Bay resident who grew up in Hallandale, was stretched out on her towel soaking in the sun and reading a book, when police officers approached her and asked her to leave.
“ It made me feel uncomfortable because I wasn't doing anything. I was relaxing. I was reading my book and it's not fair,” Penna said. “And they were rude… they didn't ask me nicely. They were like, ‘This is private property’.”
She thought she was simply enjoying Hallandale Beach, but she was actually just a few feet over the invisible line that separates the public beach from Golden Beach— a private beach.
“Respectfully, tourists want something private, but it’s not private. It’s a beach. As long as you’re not doing anything inappropriate, everyone should be able to have fun and enjoy it,” she said.
Penna’s experience is part of a long-running debate in Florida: Who really owns the sand?
Under Florida law, wet sand below the mean high-water line is always public. However, the dry sand above that line can sometimes be privately owned — creating a lot of confusion for beachgoers and tension for those homeowners closest to the shore.
On Tuesday, Governor Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 1622, a measure that restores local authority to recognize the public’s “customary use” of Florida’s beaches. Customary use is a long-standing principle in Florida that says the public has the right to access beaches if people have historically used them without interference, even if parts of the sand are now privately owned.
READ MORE: DeSantis signs a bill that boosts Florida public beach access
In a press release, Governor Ron DeSantis said the bill is a win for recreation, for tourism and for future generations.”
The new law repeals a 2018 law that had required local governments to jump through legal hoops — including notifying homeowners, holding public hearings and obtaining a judicial ruling — before upholding customary use.
While that law had effectively singled out only beaches in Walton County in Florida’s Panhandle, which could now be turned public once again, its repeal resonates far beyond northwest Florida. Along the state’s coastlines, questions linger about where the public is welcome and where private property begins.
'The beach is for everyone to enjoy'
In South Florida, the repeal is not expected to lead to any immediate changes to private beaches such as those in Golden Beach and Hillsboro Beach. But it could make the process less onerous in some cases, should local governments decide to do so.
On Hallandale Beach, many share Penna’s frustration about beach access. Glenda Jimenez, a Hialeah resident and lifelong Floridian, told WLRN that beach access shouldn’t feel exclusive.
“ I feel like it's hurtful to the local people that live here and the tourists that come to visit because our main attraction is the beach,” Jimenez said. “So when you take that away, what's left of Miami?”
In Walton County, officials can now draft a new customary-use ordinance to reopen stretches of beach that were restricted under the 2018 law.
And although Senate Bill 1622 doesn’t directly change policies elsewhere in the state, it’s expected to influence how other coastal communities approach the issue.
“The beach is for everyone to enjoy," added Penna. "As long as you're not doing anything inappropriate, I think everyone should have fun and enjoy it.”
