LAGUNA BEACH : City Rejects Appeal on Beach Markers

Beachfront property owner Robert Krutoff may own a slice of the sand but he can’t put a fence around it, the Laguna Beach City Council decided this week.

The South Laguna resident, who lives in a cove at Thousand Steps Beach, had erected wooden posts in the sand last spring to define his property line.

While most of the 20 or so Paradise Cove property owners have marked off their boundaries with fence posts and ropes, Krutoff’s stakes particularly irked beach-goers, partly because they cut into what had been for decades a popular sand volleyball court.

“It’s really been an issue and a lot of people are really upset,” said Gary Arthur, a Laguna Beach resident who has played volleyball in the scenic cove for years with his family. “We don’t go to the beach there anymore.”

The city became involved because, unlike the other property markers in the area, Krutoff’s stakes were planted without a permit after South Laguna was annexed in 1987.

Although he removed the stakes at the side of the property, Krutoff asked the city for permission to keep five wooden markers in the sand. Krutoff said his attorney told him that he could be held liable if his property was not marked off and someone unknowingly wandered onto the property and was injured. In addition, Krutoff said, his insurance company told him that his rates will rise if he removes the posts.

“It seems to me the city and myself should cooperate, and all the other landowners,” he said. “Whatever is fair, I’m willing to go along with.”

The city’s Design Review Board, however, rejected Krutoff’s appeal 5 to 0 in October, and the City Council followed suit Tuesday night.

“We know when we put man-made structures on the beach where they interact with the ocean, the only thing that loses is the beach,” Mayor Robert F. Gentry said.

Tuesday’s public hearing pulled into focus the larger question of what rights property owners can claim when their property includes a sandy beach. Some residents and council members said they object to any structures on the beach.

“The placing of stakes and ropes on this beach makes it appear like a series of small pig pens,” resident Gilbert Brown wrote the Design Review Board.

“It’s a real hot issue,” said Myron Wacholder, a Paradise Cove resident who objected to the loss of the volleyball court.

Wacholder said he would be willing to donate the sandy part of his property to the city to show that an individual can eliminate the threat of liability without erecting a fence. Transferring ownership from a private individual to a public entity would also transfer the liability.

The council directed city staff to work with the property owners to resolve the larger issue regarding fences on the beach. During the meeting Tuesday, City Atty. Philip Kohn said residents’ donating the land to the city would be “a most innovative and satisfactory” way to resolve the problem.

Allan Tebbetts, an attorney for Krutoff and for other Thousand Steps Beach property owners, said he will discuss the idea with his clients. “We’re willing to explore it,” he said, “but I’m pessimistic.”

Community Development Director Kyle Butterwick said the California Coastal Commission is investigating the circumstances surrounding the construction of the other fences.