AGO 1996-133.

Case DateFebruary 09, 1996
CourtAlabama
Alabama Attorney General Opinions 1996. AGO 1996-133. 1996-133February 9, 1996Honorable Mary McDuffie City Clerk P. O. Box 458 Orange Beach, AL 36561 Piers and Docks - Municipalities - Rights-of-Way - Liability Use of pier constructed on state-owned coastal property at the end of the city's road right-of-way is up to the State of Alabama.Dear Ms. McDuffie: This opinion is issued in response to your request for an opinion from the Attorney General. QUESTION Is the public entitled to use this pier? FACTS AND ANALYSIS According to City of Orange Beach Resolution No. 552, the pier to which you refer was constructed by a private citizen at the end of Washington Avenue, a public right- of-way owned by the City of Orange Beach. The pier was constructed without the permission of any official or representative of the city or the State of Alabama. The answer to your question concerning the public's right to use the pier is that, being an improvement attached to tidal lands that belong to the State of Alabama, the pier is subject to the control of the state. A more fundamental issue is the right of the individual to construct the pier in the first place. The individual had no legal right to construct the pier without the permission of the State of Alabama. On waters subject to the ebb and flow of the tide, the State of Alabama owns the water bottoms up to the mean high water mark. Mobile Transportation Co. v. City of Mobile, 128 Ala. 335 (1900), aff'd, 187 U.S. 479 (1902); Mobile v. Eslava...

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