HOLMES BEACH – A case about beach access is set to go to trial in the coming weeks, but nearby residents are hoping to regain use of a path leading from the end of 78th Street to the sand before then.
Manatee County Circuit Court Judge Charles Sniffen heard testimony on Aug. 18 from witnesses for the plaintiffs, a group of property owners led by Linda Carmon. Testimony from witnesses for the defense, property owners Travis Resmondo and the Ocean Condominium Association, as well as arguments from both sides, were continued to a hearing later this week due to time constraints.
The case centers around a beach access path that winds through private property owned by both Resmondo and the condo association before reaching the sand and the Gulf of Mexico. The Aug. 18 hearing was for Sniffen to hear a case on behalf of the property owners to stop Resmondo from restricting access to the beach path, which they argue has been in use by local property owners for at least 70 years.
Attorney John Goldsmith, speaking on behalf of Resmondo, who was present for the hearing, said his client closed the path to the public and neighbors after more than 150 people used the path over the Easter weekend in April. Goldsmith said in addition to a large number of people traversing a little-used path, Resmondo also had issues with people trespassing on his property, littering, blocking access to his home and using his private driveway for beach parking, he said.
After the weekend, Resmondo had large plants placed across the path along with no trespassing signs, prompting his neighbors to start a court battle.
The hearing on the request to temporarily reopen the path until the matter is decided at trial was expected to take one day to complete, but the large numbers of witnesses on both sides of the issue prompted Sniffen to continue the case until Friday, Aug. 26 at 9 a.m.
No date has been set for the anticipated trial.
