May 2, 2022
The California Coastal Commission has assured that the California Coastal Act is upheld in all aspects of its mission. The Act oversees the developments made on the land along the coast of California and how it’s protected from development as well. One aspect of the Act that requires the help of coastal activists is the enforcement of public coastal access.
Coastal access is important because it encourages people to pursue more recreational activities outdoors. Moreover, the Act reinforces the idea that the coast of California belongs to all residents no matter where they live and all residents have a right to access land and water owned by all Californians. However, having these direct passages to access the beach requires some balancing - not because many wealthy celebrities want private beaches for their beach houses, but because access can pose a risk to environmentally sensitive habitats (known as ESHA) and the larger ocean ecosystem. Improper access can cause incidental pollution of the ocean or impact the life in the area such as Snowy Plower or Least Tern eggs laid in open nests on California beaches and possibly causing nest abandonment which happened last year in Bolsa Chica when thousands of Elegant Terns eggs were abandoned the when the nesting terns were scared by a reckless photographer using a drone over their nest area and accidentally crashed the drone (1).
The Western Snowy Plover is a small, light colored ground-nesting shorebird with black or dark brown markings on the head and breast.
The California least tern, Sternula antillarum browni, is a subspecies of least tern that breeds primarily in bays of the Pacific Ocean within a very limited range of Southern California, in San Francisco Bay and in northern regions of Mexico.
Securing the several access points across beaches is essential to ensure that the public doesn’t cause detrimental damage to these areas like destroying ESHA based in sand dunes or coastal cliffs or wetlands. Yet, California residents are guaranteed some access and this needs to be balanced with ecosystem needs and private landowners. Public Access is executed through the assurance of the Coastal Act.
The greatest conflicts regarding access are related to private landowners trying to make public access impossible for California residents entitled to access the public land between the private property and the Pacific Ocean and related tidal waterways. Repercussions have been put in place if there should be violations of public access. These violations can and will be imposed by the California Coastal Commission and one violation per day costs up to $12,000.
These policies are set in place by the California Coastal Commission’s Enforcement Program, which in addition to securing coastal access also focuses on restoring coastal habitats and removing coastal violations. The Sierra Club is dedicated to helping the public understand their rights to coastal access and its importance to maintaining the recreational and natural environment aspects of beaches.
Diving deeper, the California Coastal Commission’s purpose and goal when enforcing these policies are not only to protect the recreational and economic status of accessible coastal passageways but a whole lot more. Implementing these strategies and policies also works to protect marine and terrestrial habitats, the scenic aspects of the coasts, and agricultural lands.
One of the ways this can be done is by regulating development proposals. In the coastal resources and planning management policies of the Coastal Act, one policy sums this up. The policy explains that any development on the beaches must not interfere with the “public’s right of access to the sea”. Therefore, the act helps to search for the balance of freedom and restriction of the public’s right to the beaches along the coast.
Preventing the excessive use of natural resource areas, overcrowding in specific areas, and encouraging minimal visitation costs are all included within the policy codes of the Coastal Act as well. With the enforcement program using the act as leverage in challenging situations regarding the coasts along California, the beaches can be properly preserved and managed.
Anything regarding public coastal access, such as obstructions of access points, violation of the policies of the Coastal Act, or proposed developments, must be overseen by the California Coastal Commission.
One example where the commission had to step in, was during the Surfrider Foundation v. Martins Beach case. The Surfrider Foundation filed a complaint in March 2013 regarding a beach entrance that had locked gates, security guards, and signages that restricted access to the beach. In September 2014, a California judge sided with supporters of coastal access points and ruled that a property cannot block the only public entrance to Martins Beach in San Mateo County. This case disputed private property rights and public access to California’s coast. It wasn’t until 2018 that the case was finally put to rest and was won by the Surfrider Foundation.
The owner of Martins Beach, billionaire Vinod Khosla, has also been reeled into another lawsuit since then. In 2020, the state sued Khosla for limiting public access to the beach without having a permit to do so. This case was denied by the Supreme Court, however.
With just one prominent example of the commission’s efforts and fight to enforce secure public access points along the coast of the state, it hasn’t stopped there.
The California Coastal Commission has pledged to protect and preserve the beaches along the coast of the state and is doing so with the support of California's own. The coast and beaches of the state are essential and important to the residents and without access to these areas, the world would be a little different.
California currently leads the world in coastal consciousness through the California Coastal Commission. Enforcing the Coastal Act, which allows beach access to all, in areas like working to secure beach access points, could improve public response to the coasts as well.
A report released by UCLA focusing on the coastal access policy, mentions a poll that showed a high voter percentage across the questions about current access issues. Some of these issues deemed a problem included access to the coast, limited affordable parking options, and affordable overnight accommodations. One of the ways these issues can be resolved is through communication and partnering with other organizations and encouraging coastal communities.
The California Coastal Commission continues to work through these issues involving coastal access, by conducting beach surveys, studies, and enforcing policies from the Coastal Act in order to develop a secure and liberating environment.
Valerie Izquierdo is a volunteer journalist for the Angeles Chapter's Communications Committee
https://www.audubon.org/news/a-drone-crash-caused-thousands-elegant-terns-abandon-their-nests