this is my beach. reporter: this is your land? this is my land. reporter: and the government wants it? reporter: they want it, and they want it without any cost to them, they just want to take it. reporter: is the city taking private property? is. we don t believe that we re taking private property. we believe that we are simply restoring these beaches and creating new beach. reporter: state and local officials argue they are not grabbing land, but adding sand to protect the beach from further erosion. without it, then not just their private property, but the roads and the sanitary sewer lines and gas lines and stuff would be exposed, and that s why we believe it s a legitimate public purpose. reporter: restaurant owner john comber has no problem with the newly-created beach being made public. it s the lesser of two evils because if we don t do it, then we feel like we re going to lose our business. we feel like we need the protection from storms. reporter: but