County beach officials, lifeguard chiefs and sundry departments came to Topanga Beach last week to meet with the surf locals to discuss some beach beautification activities by the Topanga locals over the year.
Quietly, the locals raised money and put sweat equity into beautifying the county beach, which had been planted with several palm trees and smaller plants. The group also constructed two small, open beach shacks — called palapas — one, an open shack typically seen on the beaches of Baja, and another, an umbrella made out of fan-palm leaves with a seat underneath referred to by the locals as the love seat for obvious reasons.
County officials initially said everything must come down, or they would bulldoze it, but compromise was reached after tense negotiations. It was reported by the locals and confirmed by the county that the trees and landscape will be allowed to stay but the structures have to go, perhaps to be replaced later with an appropriately designed and Coastal Commission-approved structure. The locals agreed to remove the structures, and to begin the design and permitting process to raise the money to replace them.