MARK SCHUMANN

With legal bills mounting and post employment benefit obligations to be met, Indian River Shores leaders are moving to sell the Town’s only public open space with beach access. The sale could net the Town more than $7 million.

The 5.5 acre parcel of land, located just north of the Pebble Beach Villas, was sold to the County in the mid 1970s by the Schlitt family trust with the expectation land would be used for public open space. The County paid a discounted price of $200,000, or $40,000 an acre.

Uneasy with the County owning land inside its corporate limits, Shores leaders later worked out a land swap with the County. They now plan to rezone the land and put it up for sale for low or medium density residential development.

The property is the only walkable beach access for 150 homeowners in Pebble Bay. Concerns have been raised that selling what is now public open space for development would not be consistent with the intent for which the land was sold. Shores leaders, though, seem more focused on realizing a profit from selling the property.

One complication in developing the land may be a triangular piece of County-owned land between the Shores property and the dune line. Because this property, which is part of the Tracking Station park, lies within the Coastal Contraction line, it can be used for access to the beach. For a developer to build a dune walkover, though, would be another matter. Because the County bought this land with a grant from the Federal government it cannot be sold for private development.