Homeowners ask to join Belleair Shore beach fight
- Couple says erosion control line could determine how far their Gulf-front property extends.
BELLEAIR SHORE — The town has appealed a state decision refusing to remove an erosion control line along its beachfront, and now the owners of a Gulf-front property are seeking to join the fight.
L. Kevin Cox and Elaine T. Cox, who are building a $1.7 million home with 8,634 square feet of living space at 540 Gulf Blvd., filed a motion Aug. 12 asking to intervene in the case before the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
The couple said the outcome could determine how far their property, which property records show they purchased in 2025 for $5.27 million, extends toward the Gulf.
"The continued presence of the ECL, or its termination, will determine the very extent of the Coxes' Property along the Gulf," their attorney wrote in the filing.
The Coxes were among the Belleair Shore property owners who supported the town's original request to remove the erosion control line. The town does not oppose their request to join the case.
The erosion control line, or ECL, was established in 1997 as part of Pinellas County's Sand Key beach restoration project. Basically, it marks where private beachfront property ends and state-owned land begins.
Belleair Shore asked DEP earlier this year to cancel the portion of the line running through the town. DEP denied the request June 23.
The town of 57 Gulf-front homes filed an administrative challenge Aug. 5, arguing that Belleair Shore's beach was excluded from the original restoration project and that the ECL should not have been established there.
Belleair Shore also contends that it hasn't seen any beach renourishment or restoration work since the ECL was first recorded.
It asks for the ECL to be declared void or, alternatively, for the dispute to be sent to the state Division of Administrative Hearings for a formal hearing.
No final hearing has been scheduled, according to the Coxes' filing.