Strand Beach access gates are removed after 6-year fight

[Orange County Clown Club]

DANA POINT – The gates through the center of an exclusive
oceanfront community – the focus of a six-year legal battle over
public access to the popular Strand Beach – were taken down
Thursday morning.

Their removal is a victory for the California Coastal
Commission, the Surfrider Foundation and others who have fought
to open access to the beach from the gated Strand at Headlands
community.

City officials removed the wrought iron gates after an 8-4 vote
Wednesday by the Coastal Commission, which rejected Dana Point’s
recommendation to put up retractable sliding gates to enforce
hours when public access is restricted – from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Instead, commissioners said the city should use a rope or chain
to prevent access during the prohibited times.

“(The) development was approved with the condition of open
access,” Commissioner Effie Turnbull Sanders said during the
meeting. “Now you’re trying to change that condition. ... Seems
to me to be a proactive way of excluding people from the beach.”

City Councilman Joe Muller and Steve Kaufman, an attorney hired
by the city to deal with the Strand litigation at the Coastal
Commission, questioned the use of a rope or chain, saying it
would be easy for someone to stoop under it or climb over it.

Muller also told commissioners the city has done everything
required under an April settlement with the agency. The city has
provided signs for beach and trail access, installed bike racks
and benches near gates and trails, and agreed to a $300,000
public outreach program in partnership with the Ocean Institute
and Surfrider Foundation.

The gates have been open 24/7 since that time, he said.

“The city has agreed to the hours requested by the commission
and Surfrider, and we’re proud to have played a role in helping
put our differences aside,” Muller said.

The city has spent about $1.2 million in the court fight over
public access and this week agreed in a settlement to reimburse
Surfrider Foundation for $150,000 in legal fees.

Dana Point also has agreed to enter into mediation with
developer Sanford Edward over his claim that the city had
overbilled him $670,000 for legal fees.

The city’s dispute with the Coastal Commission and Surfrider
Foundation began in 2009, when the City Council approved an
ordinance to limit beach access hours through the neighborhood
after requests by Edward and some homeowners. City officials
argued that they didn’t have to follow the Coastal Act of 1976,
which requires that developments provide beach access.

The Coastal Commission and Surfrider Foundation fought the city
in court, saying the ordinance could set a precedent limiting
beach access throughout California. A court ruled in the
public’s favor in 2011.

In recent years, issues relating to beach access in such places
as the Carbon Beach section of Malibu and Martins Beach near
Half Moon Bay have become contentious, pitting landowners
against public interest groups. Public access proponents say any
gate to developments at those beaches is a violation.

Mary Joan Swartzbaugh was walking her dog, Brinkley, Thursday
morning when she noticed the gates were gone.

“The minute I saw the gates were down it was ‘hallelujah,’” said
Swartzbaugh, who lives in nearby Niguel Shores. “I think the
public has a right to beaches in California. It’s our heritage,
and we pass it down to younger generations.

“We need to preserve that for eternity.”

Cristine Lindenfelser, president of the Strand at Headlands
homeowners association, said residents never had a voice in the
debate and have mistakenly been targeted with animosity by
others.

“Residents at the Strand have never been against beach access,”
she said. “We just want the community and beachgoers to be safe
at night when the beaches are closed.”

Contact the writer: 714-796-2254 or erit...@scng.com or on
Twitter:@lagunaini

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/access-737896-city-beach.html