City Tears Down Beach Fence That Was Over the Line : Public access: Volleyball players hail removal of condo security barrier that was on public property.

City crews Thursday finished a job that an irate beach-goer had started last week, tearing down a chain-link fence on Sorrento Beach that got between beach volleyball players and their courts.

City officials determined that the 60-foot-long fence, built Sept. 4 by owners of the Sorrento condominiums at 723 Pacific Coast Highway for security reasons, was on public property. The owners said they had thought the fence was on their property.

On Wednesday, City Atty. Robert M. Myers, a city engineer and other officials surveyed the area and found otherwise.

“I suspect (the condominium owners) were trying to test the (legal) waters,” Myers said.

If so, the attempt backfired. In the course of their survey, city officials discovered not only that the chain-link fence was illegal, but that an older white fence built to protect ice plant at the back of the condominiums is illegal as well.

Officials say the older fence stretches about 10 feet onto public property. By law, Myers said, it should come down too.

“Had they not put this (chain-link) fence up, I don’t think we would have immediately caught this other encroachment on public property,” the city attorney said.

Steve Agnew, president of the condominium owners group, said the group does not agree with the city’s findings. But he said it decided to “go with the flow” and take the chain-link fence down.

The city set a deadline of 10 a.m. Thursday for the fence to be removed. After the condominium owners said they could not find workmen to do the job before next Tuesday, city crews tore down the fence at noon as Myers and other city officials watched.

Myers said the city will bill the condominium owners for the cost of removing the fence. As for the older fence, Myers said, “we’ll look at that later.”

Volleyball players on nearby courts watched the chain-link fence fall with relief. “It was so ugly, it looked like a dog pound,” said veteran player Dave Heiser.

The fence had already been damaged. On Sunday, someone had used wire cutters to get through it.

Myers said condominium owners’ threats to have the person who cut the fence jailed are meaningless. “Prosecution is not appropriate for someone attempting to create public access over public property,” he said.

By law, all land seaward of the 1921 mean high-tide line is public property. Every few years in Santa Monica, there is debate over just where that line is.