At Jupiter summit: Experts say climate change will force rethink of coastal housing rules [The Palm Beach Post, Fla.]

Dec. 08--JUPITER -- A new, controversial topic in the discussion about climate change has the potential to ignite a battle between wealthy property owners and taxpayers who are subsidizing their waterfront lifestyles: fairness.

"Can we ask the public to pay the billions and trillions of dollars -- basically being an insurance policy to ensure that coastal homeowners are protected?" asked Thomas Ruppert, a coastal planning specialist with Florida Sea Grant. Speaking in Jupiter Friday at the Fourth Annual Southeast Florida Regional Climate Leadership Summit, he asked: "Is it my right to make everyone else pay for what I'm doing?"

Congress approved substantial increases last summer to premiums in the National Flood Insurance Program for vacation homes and homes hit repeatedly by floods. The program fell $18 billion in debt after Hurricane Katrina and critics say it is not fair for taxpayers to subsidize rebuilding and repairing homes in high-risk areas.

Recent studies have shown that 30 percent of the payouts have gone to 1 percent of property owners, Ruppert said. Similar discussions about windstorm premiums are being held at Citizens Insurance Property Corp., the state's insurer of last resort, Ruppert said.

"These are hard conversations but they are necessary," he said.

As sea levels rise and beaches shrink, the public's right to walk on the beach could be curtailed. The public is allowed to walk along many private beaches because of public easements. But what happens when sea levels rise and those public easements are under water? Does the public lose the right to use the beach or should the easement move landward -- intruding into the property owner's land?

"This is a big sleeper issue," Ruppert said. "We don't want to create such animosity that we can only go to court."

Some of these tiffs have already landed in court, said Richard Grosso, professor of land-use law at Nova Southeastern University. He expects to see more -- especially since regulations and policy decisions will be based on the controversial research on global warming, climate change and sea level rise.

"The folks who aren't going to be happy will certainly have incentive to hire scientists to dispute the findings of government," Grosso said. Even though the courts have consistently upheld local government rights to control building and development, decisions and where, when and how much to build "tended to go to economic interest with the most skin in the game," Grosso said.

"The days of giving developers the maximum of what they want have got to be over," Grosso said. "That's the price of living in modern society with the laws of nature."

In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy and Tropical Storm Isaac, which caused seawalls, lawns and pools in Manalapan to crumble into the ocean, the reality of climate change and sea level rise is obvious, Grosso said. The question now is, will that reality empower lawmakers to do "the kinds of things that have been incredibly unpopular politically?"

In particular, Grosso said, lawmakers need to reinstate growth management regulations that were weakened or eliminated during the 2011 overhaul of the state's Growth Management Act. Government staff analysis of proposed development should assess the impact of climate change and sea-level rises. Government must respond quickly to new research and data.

"We need to elect officials who will not be paralyzed by doubt," he said. "We need to have the will to do things we've never done before and do them quickly."

As for the potential for climate change and sea-level rise to create class warfare between rich, private landowners and the public, Grosso doesn't see that happening. Instead, he sees it as a kind of equalizing phenomenon.

"Everybody -- poor or rich -- is going to have to make some sacrifices and compromises," Grosso said. "Nobody has the right to say 'we're untouchable.' "

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