Over the weekend, a long stretch of fence between La Costa and Carbon Beach was taken down and replaced by unidentified laborers. That new fence was then taken down by representatives of the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA), a government agency that controls thousands of acres of Southern California parkland. The group is run by conservationist Joe Edmiston, with whom Malibu residents often clash on issues of land use and public access.
The area now lies completely open.
“Basically, parties unknown had some guys who apparently were working out of a white truck show up and take down the fence and then put up another fence. When they finished, the next day, Joe Edmiston’s group showed up and took down the fence. There were no permits for any of this behavior and the owners on the beach are very upset about it,” Mayor Paul Grisanti explained. The mayor said multiple residents of the neighborhood had called him about the situation.
Grisanti described the new fence the laborers put in as having had “arms to accept barbed wire.”
“Whoever thought they were doing a good deed by replacing the old fence with a new fence screwed all their neighbors,” the mayor said. “Whoever did it obviously has no understanding of what the laws are and who they were dealing with.”
Grisanti hoped a solution similar to that of Malibu Road—where a gate that is opened to the public at dawn and closed at dusk—could be found, but he said he did not know what the city could do about the situation, given that the area is state-owned property.
“What it comes down to is, we’re all searching for a solution but there doesn’t seem to be an obvious one,” Grisanti said.