Beach Drive: Public Rights and Private Property: A Documentary Film Page: 1
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APPROVED PROPOSAL
Title: Beach Drive: Public Rights and Private Property
Shooting Format: MiniDV
Length: 28 minutes
Treatment
Beach Drive: Public Rights and Private Property is a 28 minute documentary film
that explores the conflicts with owning beachfront property along eroding beaches in the
State of Texas. Since 1959, the public beach, defined as seaward of the line of
vegetation, has been preserved for public access, but the Village of Surfside loses vast
quantities of beach every year. In response, many homeowners fortify their property
with hard surfaces that are dangerous to the public and may actually worsen the effects
of erosion. This film is a portrait of a community and will examine the plight of
homeowners, rental property owners, and the interests of the public.
The film will focus on the Village of Surfside, situated about an hour between
Houston and Galveston. The Village of Surfside is a middle to low-income community
that depends on chemical and petroleum processing plants, the fishing industry, and
tourism. Gil Shelton has owned a house on the second row since 1988. He and his wife
had planned on retiring there until recently. After enduring the stress of evacuating for
Hurricane Rita and wondering if their house would be there upon their return, he and his
wife decided to sell it and move. "We're just too old for this now," he says. Homeowner
Pat Benton, however, has a strategy for maintaining her residence. She owns three
houses, one on the second row, one on the third, and one on the fifth. "When the first
house is gone," she says, "I'll just move back a row."
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Schoenbaechler, Jessica. Beach Drive: Public Rights and Private Property: A Documentary Film, thesis, August 2006; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc5345/m1/4/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .