Broward Beach Battle Over Sand Erosion Lands Two Cities In Court
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BROWARD (CBSMiami) – The line in the sand dividing two Broward beaches is now heading to the courtroom.
On April 4th, the town of Hillsboro Beach filed a lawsuit against Deerfield Beach in an effort to preserve and protect its beach in the future.
In summarizing the over 150 page lawsuit, Robert Kellog, the city manager of Hillsboro Beach, pointed out that the rock piles, called groins, installed in Deerfield Beach over 60 years ago continues to keep the sand off the beaches in Hillsboro.
Hillsboro residents, who are still paying for the last replenishment, are fearful of of the financial ramifications.
"Going to be bankrupted out of money because we can no longer buy the sand necessary to be put down on the beach," resident John Carlson said.
The town of Deerfield Beach plans to fight the lawsuit, believing that they are not the cause for the erosion.
"Their problem is they got a private beach that they don't want public access. Because they are private they can't access beach re-nourishment sand dollars," said William R. Scherer, the attorney for Deerfield.
Scherer said he pointed out to them that the last aerial photo shows that Deerfield Beach is thicker than it has been in years.
"We pointed out to them that Mother Nature has been good to us all lately," he said.
Each town feels they have done enough already, but no solution seems evident yet.
They both agree that money spent on future court costs could be better spent elsewhere. So far those costs are over $300,000.
"The only people make out great on this are the lawyers," Scherer said. "Shouldn't be that way."
