A resort has closed a principal private access road to a beach with a wall and locked gate marked with a private property sign. This access road had been used for more 14 years by the dwellers of the adjacent residential area. This access was promised and advertised to them when they purchased their properties from the developer, the same developer who constructed the resort and then sold it. The end of the road was within 100 meters of the high water mark of the beach and there was an ample parking area for the residents. The resort has now purchased additional land at the side of this road that in effect allows them to unilaterally control total access to the beach from the residential area.
There is a sidewalk that leads to the beach and it is sandwiched between the existing resort area and the newly purchased land. The residents have been using it much to their consternation as the resort will not unlock the gate. They feel the resort intends to close that off also, because the resort now has offered the residents the use of a new access entrance that allows them to enter recognized resort property to go to the beach from a point more distant from the original. However, the residents are balking at this offer, a concern, as they view it as a maneuver to allow the resort to close off beach access completely at a future date. They want their original access.
Does the resort have the right to close off the original road that has allowed access for 14 years or more to the beach?
Regards,
PJT
There is a sidewalk that leads to the beach and it is sandwiched between the existing resort area and the newly purchased land. The residents have been using it much to their consternation as the resort will not unlock the gate. They feel the resort intends to close that off also, because the resort now has offered the residents the use of a new access entrance that allows them to enter recognized resort property to go to the beach from a point more distant from the original. However, the residents are balking at this offer, a concern, as they view it as a maneuver to allow the resort to close off beach access completely at a future date. They want their original access.
Does the resort have the right to close off the original road that has allowed access for 14 years or more to the beach?
Regards,
PJT