Note:This article originally appeared atThe Texas Tribune

The recent Texas Supreme Court decision inSeverance v. Pattersonhas some worried that the millions of Texans who visit the Texas coast each year will lose access to the states public beaches.

Despite such predictions of doom, Texas beaches will remain open and accessible. All the Court did is ensure that private property rights are not trampled by the public on their way to the beach.

After Hurricane Rita slammed into the Texas coast in 2005 and dramatically altered the vegetation line near the shore, Carol Severance found her house suddenly sitting on the beach.

She wasnt surprised by that because she knew the risk she was taking when she bought property near the beach. She was surprised, however, that the state of Texas intended to claim that her house now sat on thepublicbeach and was potentially subject to uncompensated demolition.

There is no dispute that prior to Rita a public easement allowed access to the beach seaward of Severances property. With the former beach under several feet of water, however, the question became whether that easement suddenly rolled landward after the hurricane to make Severances land the new public beach. A federal court hearing her dispute with the statewhich had sought to enforce an easement on her propertyasked the Texas Supreme Court for guidance on that question.

One of us, Bill Peacock, was in 2003-04 the primary official under the land commissioner responsible for the General Land Offices oversight of Texas beaches.

After touring the beaches numerous times and seeing the effects of both years of continuous erosion and recent stormsincluding houses on the beach and in the Gulf, it became obvious to him that the idea of public access to the beach suddenly being imposed onto private property after a storm presented major challenges to anyone interested in protecting private property rights.

Fortunately, Mr Peacock wasnt required to suspend his support of property rights to properly enforce the law.

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Texas Beaches Will Remain Open and Accessible