Newport May Allow Illegal Beach Patios--for a Fee

For decades, hundreds of people who own expensive beachfront homes have been allowed to build illegal patios, wooden decks, fire pits and brick barbecues on public beaches from the tamed Santa Ana River to the grinding surf at the end of the Balboa Peninsula.

Now, a special advisory committee of the City Council has proposed that the offenders pay fees of $50 to $200 a year for the privilege of keeping their patios--some with elaborate landscaping and sprinkler systems--on turf that isn’t theirs.

Critics say the idea is nothing more than a giveaway of prime beachfront that will boost land values for 295 people who already own some of the choicest property in Orange County. What is worse, they contend, the token policy will just become an incentive for another 300 homeowners to lop off their own portion of beach and convert it to private use.

“I feel the law is the law,” said Max Morgan, a local developer and vocal opponent of the proposal who would like tougher restrictions and higher fees. “If you are encroaching, I don’t think there is any room for plea-bargaining. Why don’t we count the additional land people take in their property tax bills?”

But members of the Ocean Front Encroachment Committee, which wrote the user fees, herald the proposal as an equitable way to end a problem long unchecked by the city and state. After all, they say, the impact will be minimal because the structures are on beaches the public doesn’t use.

“I think it’s a reasonable solution,” said Sterling Wolfe, whose red brick patio encroaches 16 feet beyond the property line of his two-story West Newport home. “The city has let people do this for 40 years. Even inspectors have turned their backs to it. Besides, the beach looks better with the improvements, and it would be a shame to lose our privacy.”

The encroachments run along a 30-foot-wide right-of-way for parts of a beach road that have never been built. They started 40 years ago when the owners of oceanfront property built two- to three-foot-high barriers on the beach to protect their homes from windblown sand and high tides.

Eventually, wooden decks, fireplaces, barbecues, planters and spas went in behind the fences. And, as new homes were built, some owners installed more illegal patios to keep up with their neighbors.

Today, 295 of 600 beachfront dwellings between the Santa Ana River mouth and the Wedge, a popular surfing spot, have encroachments of up to 27 feet along a three-mile stretch of shoreline.

They range from concrete-slab patios for “tear-downs”--Newport parlance for decrepit beach houses--to fully equipped decks of used brick and redwood that front two-story luxury homes.

City officials say all the improvements were built without permits, and the state Coastal Act of 1976 prohibits construction of private structures on public beaches without authorization. Penalties of up to $10,000, plus daily assessments of $50 to $5,000 for continued abuse, can be imposed for violations of the act. Yet no one in Newport Beach has ever been fined.

The problem has been ignored for years, city officials say. Higher priorities in government, few complaints and very little checking by building inspectors have allowed the encroachments to continue.

“No one was really paying any attention,” said Mayor Ruthelyn Plummer, who represents West Newport. “As time went on, people have just done it. Some knew it was wrong, but did it anyway. It’s one of those things that just happened.”

The encroachments first came to the City Council’s attention five years ago when a homeowner tried to install an elaborate lighting system for a patio encroachment. Neighbors complained, and the council ordered a survey. But the issue was later tabled without action or public hearings.

Since then, the Coastal Commission, which regulates development along the coast, has asked the city to reinvestigate the illegal encroachments and find solutions. The result was the Ocean Front Encroachment Committee.

The panel of five homeowners, City Council member Evelyn R. Hart, a tidal-committee member and two city officials has drafted some restrictions and a schedule of fees that depend on the size of the encroachment. Details of the proposals, which have yet to be approved, will be discussed at 7 tonight at City Hall.

The plans call for annual permits that could be revoked. No encroachment greater than 15 feet would be allowed, making it necessary for 61 property owners to remove some structures. Fences and walls higher than three feet would also be banned.

All structures would be approved by the city, and property owners would be required to assume all liability for injuries or property damage from the encroachments. Proposed user fees range from $50 to $200 a year and would help the city pay for beach improvements.

“It’s been a challenge trying to find something the city, the Coastal Commission, beach-goers and homeowners are happy with,” said committee chairman Jerry L. Cobb, whose patio for his West Ocean Front home encroaches 13 feet onto the sand. “It’s a very complex issue.”

Critics say the proposals would allow homeowners to continue to reap a windfall at the expense of the average beach-goer, who probably would never use someone’s illegal patio although the land underneath it is public.

Encroachments “are a concern to the Coastal Commission because they are seen as encroaching on the public access mandated by the Coastal Act,” said Vicky G. Komie, a program analyst for the commission. “In the case of these particular encroachments, the impact on the beach-goer is largely psychological. That is, they believe the property is private and stay off of it.”

Morgan, who led an unsuccessful petition drive several years ago for a beachfront sidewalk, said he would rather see the city charge property owners $750 a year, limit encroachments to 10 feet and build a bike trail along the beach.

He contends that to do otherwise would let homeowners continue to claim plots of sand for $200 a year when they are worth at least $70,000 to $80,000, based on current property values for beachfront lots. At the proposed user-fee rate, he says, more people would do it, not fewer.

“Why should you get it for that?” said Morgan, who has stayed within the property lines of his beachfront home on Seashore Drive. “There are about three acres of public beach that people have taken for their own use. The seashore homeowners just think it’s their beach.”

But Councilwoman Hart and other city officials handling the encroachment issue say the situation is much more complicated. The beach, Hart said, is on an easement, which gives the city more discretion about its use.

“I don’t know if there is that much public benefit to be gained from a lot of that property,” Hart said, “and being an easement is different than the lands we hold in trust for the state.”