Department of Natural Resources v. Mayor of Ocean City

As the majority points out, this is the first time that the issue of the rights of private landowners and the public in the littoral or dry sand beach of the Atlantic Ocean has been presented to this Court. The majority, however, in upholding the landowner’s right to build on the beach at the expense of the public’s use of the beach, fails to give sufficient weight to the exceptional nature of the ocean beach, the various circumstances surrounding its use, and the historic and compelling public interest in the ocean beach.

Courts in other parts of the country, recognizing the unique resource…