For people who didn’t see the previous discussion in this ongoing saga:
The historical nature of the property, and the legal issues that creates, are discussed in depth in that thread.
At the very end of that thread, I posted what I believe is a reasonable solution to this problem. It’s called an Offer to Dedicate. Basically, the landowner signs over the land needed to form an easement with beach access, and then a private trust or non-profit pays for upkeep.
That would take care of both sides of the argument. The beach would remain open and the maintenance would be paid for by private interests rather than by the landowner (who did buy the land knowing about the public nature of the beach). Also, if no one claims the easement for maintenance, it will revert back to the landowner.
The new law demands the Khosla update his land to get a proper permit to keep people out, which makes sense because prior landowners at that site had allowed beach access since the 1930s. Also, there is no “parking lot” on Martin’s Beach Rd. It’s only a road - one that includes a colony of rental properties near the shore. I suggest people enter the name of the road into Google maps and try satellite view.
