Everybody:
The Southold Town Trustees this spring, in an effort spearheaded by trustee Peggy Dickerson, produced a poster intended to alert citizens of their rights under the Public Trust Doctrine. This poster had limited distribution, although some of you mentioned seeing it, but it was not high on the radar. Peggy told me that she will send me a digital copy, which I will relay to you. The poster is titled “Everyone has the right to walk the shorelines in Southold Town.” It shows a color photo of a child striding along the beach with arrows pointing to the public right of way between mean high water and the water’s edge.
The issue the poster does not raise is the question of the public’s right when the right of way has disappeared because bulkheads extend below the waters edge, docks or groins physically obstruct passage, or waterfront property owners harass citizens trying to walk the beach. The public trust doctrine clearly states that the public right of lateral passage, under most circumstances, supersedes the right of private property owners to obstruct such passage.
We are sorry we are going to lose Peggy as a Trustee. She found herself, for too long, a lonely voice in an environment hostile toward public and environmental interests in the development of our shoreline — a situation that could be changed in this fall’s election. What we can do is lawfully protect our public rights by using them. I would like to suggest that on some August Saturday or Sunday — August 15,16, 23, 24, 30 or 31– we take a march and exercise these rights. It has been suggested that we take this walk along a state titled shoreline along the Peconic Bays or Long Island Sound. Some of you may have a targeted shore that you would like to see tested. We would like to hear about it, and we will check it out. All ideas will be welcome. Let’s protect our rights!
Best,
Doug Hardy
Comment ( 1 )