Palm Beach Town Council Approves New Beach Access Agreements

The Town of Palm Beach will begin a new process in regulating public beach access pathways, in order maintain control. Any residents with the intentions of upgrading walkways in front of their properties, will have to gain approval from neighboring residents and then enter into an agreement with the Town of Palm Beach.

For any improvements to landscapes, pavement, and stairways residences must first petition to gain signatures from a majority of the property owners in the area. After which time they must sign an agreement assuming full financial responsibility for the project in its entirety, which includes planning and design, construction and maintenance.

The Town will we held responsible for overseeing the plans, soliciting bids, assigning contractors and scheduling the work. However, the Town maintains the right to use the public beach access for any future beach projects, including sand fills.

Related: Federal Aid for Future Palm Beach Midtown Sand Fills

Paul Brazil, Public Works Director, stated, “There will be no liability for the Town to use beach access areas for future beach projects when we need to get equipment down on the beach.” As a requirement, Public Works will have employees conduct regular reviews of the beach paths. “What that does is obligate staff to check on them to make sure that they don’t slide into something that feels more private and exposes the Town to a potential lawsuit,” he said.

Palm Beach Town Council Approves New Beach Access Agreements

The need for the agreement arose after past improvement projects initiated by residences had resulted in reimbursement disputes. Residences hired private contractors, and made more expensive upgrades which made the walkways appear to be private; in areas that are expected to used for hauling sand in future beach restoration and nourishment projects.

“They were all done a little bit differently,”Brazil said in a statement to the Council,“The success of those projects varied, which is why we’re here.”

Council members unanimously approved the new template for beach access agreements.