Martins Beach: Judge rules against Khosla, orders gate opened

Posted: 09/24/2014 03:55:42 PM PDT

Updated: 09/24/2014 04:02:27 PM PDT

REDWOOD CITY -- A San Mateo County judge delivered a major victory to the Surfrider Foundation and coastal access advocates on Wednesday, ordering venture capitalist Vinod Khosla to reopen his private road leading to Martins Beach.

Superior Court Judge Barbara Mallach ruled that Khosla must seek a coastal development permit to close the gate. She did not levy any fines against him.

'This is a great victory for the people of California in the fight to restore public access,' Surfrider attorney Joe Cotchett said Wednesday afternoon in a phone interview. 'This decision is reverberating all over the coast.'

The Surfrider Foundation, represented pro bono by the high-profile firm of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, sued Khosla in 2013, claiming the venture capitalist needed a coastal development to bar access to the picturesque cove south of Half Moon Bay.

Khosla bought the 89-acre property in 2008 for $32.5 million from the Deeney family, who for nearly a century had allowed the public to visit the secluded beach using a private road -- in exchange for a parking fee.

The Silicon Valley magnate initially continued that practice, but cut off access in 2010 after San Mateo County made what Khosla viewed as unreasonable demands. The county instructed Khosla to keep the beach open year-round, when the Deeneys had closed it during the winter, and charge only $2 for parking, the cost back in 1973 when California's new coastal development laws took effect.

Khosla's property manager locked the gate on the private road off Highway 1, painted over a billboard advertising the beach, and occasionally placed security guards by the gate. These actions required a permit, Surfrider contends, because they changed the degree to which the public accessed and used the ocean at Martins Beach.

Attorneys for Khosla argue there is no legal right for citizens to visit the beach, since the previous access existed by invitation of a private landowner. And they claim there is no public land there for people to enjoy.

The area between the high and low tide lines in California are typically held in trust for public use, but Khosla's legal team maintains Martins Beach is exempt. The attorneys say the land has special status because it passed into private hands, courtesy of a federally patented Mexican land, before California became a state in 1850.

Mallach's decision comes more than two months after attorneys delivered closing arguments in the trial, which was highlighted by Khosla's testimony in May that he could not recall key decisions about public access at the beach.

The Surfrider case is one of four fronts in the battle over Martins Beach. A second lawsuit, brought by a group called Friends of Martins Beach, is under appeal after San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Gerald Buchwald ruled in Khosla's favor. That suit argues Khosla violated the California Constitution.

Meanwhile, Gov. Jerry Brown has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto a bill by state Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, that would ask the State Lands Commission to negotiate access with Khosla and possibly use eminent domain to acquire it. And the California Coastal Commission is investigating whether the public's historical use of the property has created what's known as a prescriptive easement, or right of access, there.

Contact Aaron Kinney at 650-348-4357. Follow him at http://ift.tt/1mtQzRV.