Advertisement
California

Homeowners encroaching onto public sand

A resident waves to a neighbor from the balcony of her beachfront home on Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach. Recently, the California Coastal Commission sent letters to homeowners along East Oceanfront, saying that the lawns, shrubbery and flowers they installed are "unpermitted landscaping on public beach."

A resident waves to a neighbor from the balcony of her beachfront home on Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach. Recently, the California Coastal Commission sent letters to homeowners along East Oceanfront, saying that the lawns, shrubbery and flowers they installed are “unpermitted landscaping on public beach.”  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Share

The Coastal Commission is taking aim at Newport Beach homeowners who have extended their backyards onto the sandy beach, effectively privatizing the public shoreline. The agency is ordering dozens of residents near the Wedge on Balboa Peninsula to remove grassy lawns, landscaping, stepping stones and irrigation systems they have planted in the public sand.
See story

Private art, public beach

A metal shark sculpture on East Oceanfront in Newport Beach might be on public land.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Landscaping the beach

Landscaper Ron Rogers mows a lawn on East Oceanfront. Some neighbors said they are mobilizing as a community and hiring a lawyer to fight the Coastal Commission’s crackdown.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Out to the sand

A fire pit, shrubs, flowers, trees and an underground irrigation system extend out onto the beach. When Newport Beach put up “public welcome” signs several years ago to remind people whom the beach really belonged to, most disappeared in the middle of the night.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Beach basketball

A child’s basketball hoop, beach chairs and a spacious lawn sit on the public beach behind a home on East Oceanfront.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Natural state

This view behind a house on East Oceanfront shows very little alteration to the public beach. Private property ends at the low brick wall.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

California

More From the Los Angeles Times

Advertisement