in denials, outrage
Critics say the extensive removal of shoreline sand at Broad Beach by the Trancas Property Owners Association was just another tactic to keep the public off the beach, but association members call the situation a “shock” and vow to work with the Coastal Commission on restoration.
By Stephen Dorman/Special to The Malibu Times
Following years of litigation between the California Coastal Commission and the Trancas Property Owners Association over public access issues at Broad Beach, a new dispute arose last week after the homeowners association contracted skip loaders to move tons of sand from the shoreline along Broad Beach and form berms near private beachfront homes.
As first reported in last week’s Los Angeles Times, the Coastal Commission quickly issued notice-of-intent orders that abruptly put an end to the sand relocation, but not before a large sand berm, approximately eight feet in height in some places and 1.1 miles long, had already been constructed.
Immediately following the construction of the large berm, water began to get trapped in and around the beach’s tidal zone-the section of beach where the public is allowed to congregate-making public access to the beach extremely difficult.
This activity follows The Malibu Times coverage of a negative report, co-authored by a Surfrider Foundation chapter director and a public advocacy group, accusing Malibu of anti-beach access practices. The report describes the public path to Broad Beach as looking “like the entrance to a garbage dump” to mislead people from thinking it accesses the beach. Some critics say that’s what the attempt was with the sand relocation. However, the Trancas Property Owners Association says it was just replacing sand dunes that were washed out by heavy winter storm rains and covering exposed storm drains.
Aaron McLendon, the Coastal Commission’s statewide enforcement analyst, said the actions of the homeowners association are considered a violation of the Coastal Act because the work was done without a coastal development permit.
“From viewing the photos, they were clearly removing beach area state tide lands, taking that public beach and putting it onto private property to create a large berm,” McLendon said from his San Francisco-based office.
McLendon added that the timing of the sand removal was very bad from an environmental perspective.
“They couldn’t have picked a worse time to do this,” he said. “It was following one of the first major grunion runs, so any eggs laid during that time would have been killed.”
The Trancas Property Owners Association had received a right-of-entry permit from the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors prior to the project being started on June 1. However, according to Beaches and Harbors public information officer Dusty Crane, that permit only gave the hired earthmovers the ability to enter the beach from the parking lot at Zuma Beach. The right-of-entry permit did not allow the contractors to move any sand on either beach, Crane said.
“We don’t have any authority to tell them they can move any sand. That is [up to] the California Coastal Commission,” Crane said. “We don’t own the beach. We can’t regulate it. It’s not within our power.”
Marshall Grossman, an attorney and board member of the Trancas Property Owners Association, said the heavy winter storm season had washed out larger portions of the dunes along Broad Beach, and the adding of large storm drains located on various parts of the one-mile stretch of coastline had also caused extensive damage to the dunes, sometimes blowing them out entirely. The ultimate goal of the homeowners, he said, was to replenish the dunes and cover up any exposed storm drains or pipes.
“The berm that was placed there was not anticipated, not requested, and came as a complete shock to the association,” Grossman said. “We are in total agreement with the Coastal Commission that there must be appropriate repair and restoration from the grading and the appropriate removal or reshaping of that berm.
“We are committed to this. We have told the Coastal Commission that we will cooperate in every way. And the Coastal Commission has told us that they appreciate our commitment and will be working closely with us to remedy the situation,” Grossman said.
Mayor Andrew Stern, who sits on the Beaches and Harbors Commission, as does Councilmember Jeff Jennings, said his office had received only two complaints following the Times’ article, adding he had no prior knowledge of the work the homeowners had planned to do because those are issues left up to the Coastal Commission.
“I received two anonymous, nasty phone calls on this issue from someone who refused to give me his name or his phone number,” Stern said. “I don’t really know if it’s the same person who called twice or two different people.”
However, several prominent Malibu residents, who were quoted in the Christian Science Monitor, expressed their distaste with what the Trancas Property Owners Association has done and the damage done to the beaches ecosystem.
For several years, the Coastal Commission and Trancas Property owners have squabbled over the homeowners’ privacy rights and the rights of public access to the beach. The Broad Beach battles, as well as other right-to-access legal disputes, including Carbon Beach where David Geffen fought and eventually failed to deny the opening of a vertical accessway, have been highly publicized in the media.
As recent as late March, both the Coastal Commission and Trancas Property Owners Association had reported good progress in the ongoing efforts to develop a universal easement plan along Broad Beach. Currently, 52 of the 108 properties along Broad Beach have lateral access easements, which make for a puzzle-like configuration of private and public property lines that are tough to distinguish.
While the sand replacement incident didn’t help strengthen the progress of the easement talks, Grossman said he remains confident a deal can be reached despite the latest set of circumstances.
“I have committed to the Coastal Commission, and our staff has committed to me, that this incident will not derail or interrupt the positive and constructive discussions that are ongoing between the homeowners association and Coastal Commission in respect to the various access issues that we are working to compromise and resolve,” Grossman said.