Coastal Access Toolkit
For information about drawing up contracts, transferring access, and More...
About
Accessing the Alabama Coast is a self-help resource for Alabama’s people.
This website contains information to help waterfront users, coastal communities, and land owners address issues related to coastal access. The intent of this website is to offer specific tools that address specific needs.
About the Project
In 2009, the Auburn University Marine Extension and Research Center received a grant from the Maine Sea Grant and National Sea Grant Law Center. These funds were granted to conduct research on legal and policy tools for coastal access in Alabama then to translate these findings into outreach approaches that would enable coastal property owners, public interest entities, and recreational users to locally address their coastal access issues through a website. Contact us for questions related to the project’s objectives.
Accessing the Coast of Alabama: Issue Background
Escalating coastal and island real estate values are putting coastal property beyond the reach of working families who depend on the water for a living. Access points disappear as changing land use eclipses traditional uses of the coast.
Communities, waterfront users, and landowners are all affected by the decline in coastal access to Alabama’s coast. Beach visitors lose their favorite spots, waterfront landowners fear liability, crowding, and inappropriate use if they let the public use their land. The list of challenges is long and this Web site has been designed to provide information and tools to Alabama communities to facilitate their ability to locally address coastal access issues, possibility reducing the need for litigation.
Disclaimer
This site is designed to help users understand how the law might apply to their needs. This site does NOT provide legal advice, which is the application of law to someone's specific circumstances. We recommend you consult a lawyer if you want professional assurance that our information, and your interpretation of it, is appropriate to your particular situation.
With support from the National Sea Grant Law Center, partners from Maine Sea Grant, Maine Coastal Program, The Center for Law and Innovation of University of Maine School of Law, and Island Institute developed the prototype for the derivate site you are now using. The prototype has been translated by the Auburn University Marine Extension and Research Center to provide content relevant to audiences in Alabama. Maine Sea Grant owns the copyright to the prototype site; the adaptations / derivations made here are owned by the Auburn University Marine Extension and Research Center. Neither Maine Sea Grant nor its collaborators are responsible for the content of this derivative Site, including the accuracy of any of the legal information contained in this derivative Site.