From the PublisherArnold G. York
A story and several pictures ran in the L.A. Times California Section on Monday of a carefully choreographed confrontation that took place on Broad Beach this past weekend. The cast of characters included a coastal commissioner, a security guard for the Broad Beach Homeowners, a veritable sheriff’s mounted posse on their beach all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and a photographer and reporter from the L.A. Times. It had all the makings of a classic western set on a beach.
Act I
The ever formidable Sara Wan, coastal commissioner and coastal access advocate, parked herself on what I suspect was a carefully researched spot on dry sand in front of one of the multimillion-dollar Broad Beach homes, one on which the owner or previous owner had dedicated some additional land to the public in exchange for some permit in the past. Sara I assume knew that little patch on which she was sitting was public land, since 43 of the 108 homes on Broad Beach have granted those additional public strips.
She sat and she waited for the Broad Beach Homeowners security guard to arrive on his ATV, to tell her that this was a private beach and she would have to move on. She knew this would happen because this was apparently standard operating procedure on that beach. Arrive he did, but he apparently had never tangled with the likes of Sara Wan before. He said move or I call the cops. Actually, he was quoted as åsaying, “You better look at the law girl-I’m telling you.” Now even I know that would not be a smart thing to say to Sara Wan, who is not renowned for her sense of humor on this issue. She apparently said do what you must. (I know these were not the exact words, since I was neither there, nor did I want to destroy my objectivity by talking to anyone involved other than to read the L.A. Times story.)
Act II
The sheriff’s cavalry arrives on their beach ATVs, sending not one, not two, but five deputies to handle this highly charged situation of a woman actually sitting on the beach and refusing to move. Quickly taking command of this incendiary situation, the first deputy on the scene, according to the L.A. Times, just happened to be Gale Sumpter, who on weekdays is Malibu’s code enforcement officer and also a sheriff’s reserve deputy. When shown the paperwork by Sara Wan relating to public access, she was quoted as saying, “What do I know-I’m just a dumb deputy?”
Act III
The next act is yet to be written because there are so many questions still to be answered.
-Did any of this make any impression on the security guard? Apparently not, because he seemed to continue throwing people off the beach. Whether it was public or private was a hairline distinction he didn’t feel compelled to deal with.
-Will the “dumb deputy defense” hold up in court, or is the Sheriff’s Department guilty of throwing people off public lands because someone asked them to? There is an interesting picture in the L.A. Times of Sara Wan showing the deputies the rules of access along Broad Beach. I must admit this is one on which the deputies would most certainly be found “Not Guilty.”
Some years ago I asked Todd Sloan, a then-Malibu lawyer with considerable coastal experience, to explain to me the rules that govern the mean high tide line. After the first 45 minutes I gave up with a gigantic “Excedrin” headache. What was abundantly clear is that California law about the mean high tide line, and the various coastal studies that have been done over the years on which it is based, can only lead one to conclude that these rules are only slightly less complex than the question, What is the meaning of life?
Under those circumstances I think it would be prudent of the Sheriff’s Department not to make any arrests, nor to come when summoned since they are being used to give an appearance of legality to something that may well be very illegal-unless the homeowners are prepared to realistically mark where the public land is located.
-What of the poor homeowners association? They are in a terrible dilemma. On one hand they’re being trashed from afar by the L.A. Times on this issue. The L.A. Times’ sympathies are quite clear because they use descriptions such as “the security guard snarled.” The security guard didn’t just leave to summon the sheriff’s deputies, he “tore off down the beach.” Private property signs aren’t just posted. What the L.A. Times reports is, “the beach is littered with No-trespassing signs to keep the public away from weekend getaway homes for wealthy business leaders and celebrities…” (Read: greedy, selfish, unfeeling, over-privileged, etc.)
Aside from the PR problem, the locals also have a legal problem. There is something called a “prescriptive easement” in California. To put it simply, if you don’t defend your land, you may lose it. If a bunch of kids crosses your land to get to the beach, and you don’t try to stop them, over time they may acquire the right to cross your land and you may not be able to prevent it. So people tend to defend their rights tenaciously, because in California land law, nice guys loose.
-Why doesn’t the Coastal Commission take enforcement action? They could because some of those private property signs are misleading or perhaps downright fraudulent and some are clearly on land that has public easements. They haven’t, and I suspect they won’t, because typically Coastal always looks for soft targets, and the homeowners on Broad Beach would most certainly fight back. Not only that, but the law is murky enough that the homeowners could very well win.
-Lastly, where is Sara now? As an act of charity someone should go down to the beach and see if she is still sitting there. Despite some of my differences with Sara in the past, if she is willing, I am prepared to launch the “Free Sara Wan Movement” as expeditiously as possible.