Nudist Colony Wins Delay of Shutdown

Attorneys for a Topanga Canyon nudist camp won a court delay Wednesday of Los Angeles County orders to shut it down.

In granting a motion by attorneys for the secluded Elysium Institute, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Irving A. Shimer ordered county supervisors to reconsider their Jan. 29 vote in light of new evidence to be presented.

The Board of Supervisors, in voting not to extend the camp’s operating permit, had ruled that the private nonprofit facility is a “commercial intrusion” in the rural unincorporated area. The supervisors also cited a preliminary county report in concluding that geological problems contraindicated widening of the narrow road to the camp, a condition the county Regional Planning Commission imposed in extending the camp’s operating permit last year.

Part of the new evidence lawyers for the institute want reconsidered is the county’s own geological report of April 10, which they say presents favorable findings that the road could be safely widened.

The attorneys also say they have evidence of “overwhelming” support of canyon residents for the institute.

Shimer’s order does not require the supervisors to conduct a public hearing on the matter, but it stays implementation of the ruling to shut down the camp pending further orders of the court.