Judge rules against billionaire in beach-rights case, says he can't close access road without permit
Image of a beach path from Shutterstock.
A billionaire who co-founded Sun Microsystems can’t simply close off longstanding public access to the California beach on a coastal property he purchased in 2008 for $32.5 million.
Taking a broad view of what constitutes development under the state’s Coastal Act, Judge Barbara Mallach held Wednesday that Vinod Khosla cannot put a gate across the road on the property without obtaining a coastal development permit, according to the San Francisco Chronicle and the Bay Area News Group.
The ruling in the San Mateo Superior Court case was hailed as “a fabulous victory for the people of California” by attorney Joe Cotchett. He represents the Surfrider Foundation, the plaintiff in the case.
Although the beach along the Pacific Ocean is public up to the mean high-tide line under state law, getting access to it can be a challenge. The foundation said the access road to Martins Beach on what is now Khosla’s 89-acre property has been open to the public since at least 1918.
“Those people who wanted to roll back the California Coastal Act must now live by the law, and money cannot change that,” Cotchett told the Chronicle. “Mr. Khosla, in the words of President Reagan: Tear down that wall or, in this case, fence.”
However, there was good news for Khosla as well in Mallach’s ruling: The Surfrider Foundation had sought fines of as much as $20 million, but the judge declined to impose any.
It isn’t clear when the access road to Martins Beach will actually be reopened, the Bay Area News Group article says.
Attorney Jeffrey Essner and Dori Yob represent Martins Beach LLC, the company Khosla set up to purchase the property on which the access road is located.
“We are disappointed with the court’s decision and will consider our options for appealing the ruling,” they said in a written statement provided to Bay Area News.
Khosla himself said in a Chronicle op-ed published last month that there is another side to the story.
“The activists desiring unfettered access to Martins Beach have misrepresented the issues and facts, and have made reasonable solutions less likely,” he wrote.
Less than half a dozen cars were using the road daily, on average, Khoslsa says. “Should a government agency force property owners to run businesses at a loss?”
The county has considered using its eminent domain power to open the road, but would have to pay to do so.
