Environmental Law
Envt'l Law News Spring 2019, Vol. 28, No. 1
Content
- 2018-2019 Environmental Law Section Executive Committee
- Bioenergy Is Crucial to Meet the State's Climate Goals—So Why Isn't California Doing More to Support It?
- California Adopted the Nation's First Comprehensive Methane Standards for the Oil and Gas Industry—and They Will Be Meaningful for the Energy Sector Going Forward
- Editor's Note...
- Environmental Law News Publications Committee
- Shoring Up Sgma: How Advocates Might Use the Holding in Environmental Law Foundation v. Swrcb to Support Sustainable Groundwater Management in California
- Table of Contents
- The 2018 Environmental Legislative Recap: the End of An Era
- The Muddied Text of the Clean Water Act Spells Trouble Ahead
- Shifting Sands: Appreciating Nuance with Respect to Implementing the Coastal Act's Mandate for Public Beach Access
Shifting Sands: Appreciating Nuance with Respect to Implementing the Coastal Act’s Mandate for Public Beach Access
by Marisa Choy* and Mark Massara**
I. INTRODUCTION
In October 2018, coastal access advocates celebrated when the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in Martins Beach 1 LLC et al. vs Surfrider Foundation ("Martins Beach").1 An eight-year legal drama, Martins Beach featured San Francisco Bay Area surfers opposite a Silicon Valley billionaire, and focused national attention on key legal issues involving the delicate balance between private property rights and the mandate of the California Coastal Act to maximize public access to the coast.2
Under the 1976 California Coastal Act (the "Coastal Act") and the California Constitution, the public has the right to access to all lands seaward of the mean high tide line.3 In this article, we use Martins Beach as a case study to examine several other high profile ongoing controversies over public access along the California coast, including Lunada Bay in Palos Verdes (Los Angeles County), Opal Cliffs (Santa Cruz County), and Hollister Ranch on the Central Coast (Santa Barbara County).