Although Californians have had legal access to all beaches in the state since 1976, locals are still fighting for their access rights to Carbon Beach, also known as the billionaires beach in Malibu.
In 1972, Californians approved an electoral initiative to regulate development of the state’s coastlines and preserve public access. In 1976, the state created the Coastal Commission to support these initiatives.
Despite these protections, the Carbon Beach controversy is not unique. For the past two decades, private property owners and beachgoers have clashed over access to beaches from San Diego to San Francisco.
Currently, one government department accuses another of failing to help the public access the beach at a Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) condominium complex called the Malibu Outrigger.
The Mountain Conservation and Recreation Authority (MRCA), a public body dedicated to preserving, managing and guaranteeing access to parks and beaches, has denounced in a statement from instagram to the city of Malibu for not yet approving a permit to build a public path to the beach in the Outrigger area.
A Press release from the MRCA sent to Telemundo 52 states that “the promised beach access still has pending approval at the Malibu City Planning Department pending a building permit submitted by Outrigger in April 2023,” says the release.
Although Outrigger is less than a five-minute walk from public access points on either side of the property, “it is a matter of fairness to provide places for all people to access the beach to take a break from the heat, relax and exercise, and just enjoy our beautiful Malibu coastline,” Elena Eger, special adviser for coastal projects for the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, said in the news release.
When asked for an interview, Mark Myerhoff, the city’s media information officer, responded with the following statement: “The City of Malibu fully supports public access to Malibu’s beaches, which is protected by law. state, as well as the entire California coast.
A representative for the Outrigger Owners Association declined to comment.
Why has it been a problem for 50 years?
The story of this conflict between city and state authorities and the owners begins in 1972, when the owners of a Malibu beachside motel and apartment building began the process to convert the property into a condominium complex.
Coastal development meant that its owners had to apply for a permit to the Coastal Commission. In the submitted application, the owners wrote: “The project will increase beach access by allowing a 10-foot gap across the property for public beach access that now does not exist.”
Meanwhile, the owners had also signed a lease on a portion of neighboring land to build a private sewage system, a parking lot, and concrete walls; All these additions were made without authorization from the Coastal Commission, according to a 2019 report.
When the properties changed ownership, and the Sterling Family Trust took ownership of neighboring land from the now 42-owner Malibu Outrigger condominiums, the two groups engaged in a years-long legal battle over use of the previously leased parcel.
The Commission alleges that the Malibu Outrigger placed an unauthorized breakwater on both properties in the late 1980s, adding to its list of waterfront development violations and creating another physical barrier preventing public access to the beach. In the 2019 report, officials noted that this type of construction “often causes increased erosion rates,” narrowing strips of sand “until ultimately there is no beach left.”
Sometime before 2002, Outrigger extended the walls around the off-limits parking and added a gate with a walk from the lot to the beach on a path intended for the original public passage. This gate gave condominium residents and their guests private access to the beach when it was open to the public.
Between 2015 and 2017, the Coastal Commission, Outrigger, and Sterling met to discuss how best to resolve violations of the Coastal Act with existing zoning and development regulations in the city. In addition to having to pay fines, Outrigger agreed to eventually build an access road, above the original required easement.
What is the beach access like at Outrigger currently?
Malibu Outrigger is located between two places where the public can access the beach. The first pass is 0.2 miles, or a four-minute walk, from the property.
The other access is just 0.1 miles, or a two-minute walk, and is known as Ackerberg Access, after the Ackerberg family.
Lisette Ackerberg had originally fought against the construction of an right-of-way next to her home, arguing that it should be opened at the Outrigger complex, as the Commission had originally envisioned. In the end, she lost and had to pay $1,100,000 for the new access road.
Proposed areas where temporary and permanent public access trails could be added to the beach are included in the MRCA press release.
“The Commission requires a ‘provisional’ temporary access easement for the public to access this beach during the development of permanent access that includes benches and a shade structure,” the statement said.
Outrigger submitted a building permit to the City of Malibu in April 2023, but there have been no updates on a new easement.
“During one of the hottest times on record, with near-daily heat advisories, people need access to Malibu’s beaches, which are always about 20 degrees cooler than inland Los Angeles,” Eger said.
