Litigation » Gazillionaire Versus California Beach Culture

Gazillionaire Versus California Beach Culture

September 5, 2018

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The lore of California is full of tales of wealthy families buying ocean front property and trying to keep the riff-raff off the beach. But according to the State Constitution, property below the mean tide line belongs to the public. The Coastal Act of 1976 codifies the public’s rights, but mandates that public access be maximized consistent with “constitutionally protected rights of private property owners.” When that law was written, it contemplated the kind of property owners who occupy relatively modest mansions and get cranky with surfers over access to an acre of oceanfront. Then along came the modern gilded age and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, who has been fighting to keep the public off a piece of beach that abuts some property he acquired on a whim – an entire beach village near Half Moon Bay including 47 cottages, and the only viable path to the sand. According to a New York Times article, Khosla has never spent a single night there, and regrets his purchase. Nevertheless, he’s litigated his conception of his property rights tenaciously. The case has now reached the California Supreme Court, and has the potential to change California’s 1100 miles of beach into another enclave for the one percent.

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