Opening Up the Beaches : In a judicious move, coast panel asks Laguna Beach to create access plan

The California Coastal Commission, which under state law has jurisdiction over development near the coastal areas, has begun pressuring Laguna Beach to open up public access to some spectacular but effectively private beaches and coves.

In the last two decades, the commission has secured public access in many newer coastal developments and in some older ones, such as Malibu, that had long been sealed. In other older places, coves or beaches still may be available only to homeowners in the neighborhood.

In a judicious recognition that opening up such traditionally private areas may take time, the commission is asking Laguna Beach to come up with a long-range plan. That could mean, according to commission executive director Peter Douglas, such things as providing parking or drop-off spots, bus stops or better access on foot through gated communities.

The panel’s request to the Orange County city represents the latest chapter in a continuing conflict between private and public interests that has played out along the state’s thousands of miles of coastline. It’s a debate that has its origins in California under the historic public trust doctrine, wherein certain kinds of property had to be reserved for public use.

The commission is right to begin prying open some of these enclaves, even if it does not have the power to force the granting of access. To see where all economic groups have mingled successfully, take a look at Salt Creek Beach Park, near the Ritz Carlton hotel, just below South Laguna. There public and private interests intersect with trails, parkland and beaches within earshot of multimillion-dollar estates. This was possible because the commission extracted a commitment to public access before anything was built.

Finding ways of opening public access to the neighborhood beaches in older, more developed communities will tax the political skill of local officials, who must figure out how to engineer the necessary changes. But neither the state commissioners nor local officials should shrink from this important task.