‘Hidden’ Malibu Beach Opens to the Public After Homeowners Blocked Access

Due to its location right on the beach, the home features a three-car garage to protect vehicles from the salty environment. (The Luxury Level, Toptenrealestatedeals.com)

Beachgoers will now have access to California’s “hidden” beach after homeowners blocked public access and were fined by the state.   

On June 7, the California coastal commission approved an agreement with the two current homeowners to grant public access to the beach.

The homeowners were ordered to build a public pathway for beach access, which is estimated to cost millions of dollars. The homeowners were also ordered to pay a fine for the violations.

“Beaches are California’s crown jewels, and public access is a core mission of our law. Access is for everyone, whether you live down the street, in the Central Valley, or visiting from across the globe,” Donne Brownsey, the California Coastal Commission chair, told The Guardian. “We hope this enforcement action sends a message to other property owners who may be hiding or blocking access to the coast that it’s time to return those beaches to the public.”

Manhattan Beach, Calif., on May 25, 2014. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

The Escondido beach has been inaccessible to the public since the 1980s when homeowners in the area cut it off from the public, despite California law requiring that land below the high tide line remain open to all.

Marilyn and Roger Wolk and Ken and Jeannette Chiate were the first beach house owners cited after wrongly recording the location of the easement with the commission more than 40 years ago, according to a report from the commission (pdf).

The report describes various violations throughout the years, including performing “an unpermitted lot line adjustment,” installing a metal fence and paving driveways over the easement to keep beach access obscured.

“Escondido Beach means ‘Hidden Beach’ in Spanish, and the lack of public access here kept it hidden from many people that could not find a nearby public trail to the beach, or even a public parking spot, over the decades,” a Commission’s staff wrote ahead of the decision.

“Even if the public knew that the vertical public access easement was here, they could not physically use that easement,” enforcement analyst Robert Moddelmog told the commission.

State officials say it’s a major victory for the public, as well as the California Coastal Act, one of the nation’s strongest land use laws and one that seeks to maximize and protect public access to the coast.

“It’s so hard for us to get new access to the coast, and new vertical accessways are like unicorns—they just don’t exist, especially in Malibu,” said Lisa Haage, chief of enforcement for the Coastal Commission. “Settling this case without litigation is huge. This is like flying to the moon or something.”

The two families will remove their encroachments and restore the public’s easement. According to the agreement, they will install five new public parking spots, a public restroom, and signage along the highway.

Alan Block, an attorney for the Mancuso family, said he was unaware of the violations when he purchased the property.

“The Mancuso family has never done anything on the property whatsoever—they bought it the way it is—but they understand the law, and they’ve worked out an agreement, and they hope the commission will approve it,” Block said ahead of the decision.

The public can now appreciate this hidden beach as climate change affects coastal conditions driven by sea level rise and erosion.

“We are in a really big hurry to open up as much access as possible because of sea level rise and climate change,” Haage told the LA Times. “People need beaches more than ever, and we want to get people out there while there’s still a beach to go to ... [t]he future of access in California is uncertain, so we’re trying to do all we can now to protect it going forward.”