Topanga Canyon : Nudist Resort Gets Permit

Elysium Fields, the 24-year-old Topanga Canyon nudist resort, has received a five-year operating permit from the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission.

A similar permit was issued by the county in 1984 after years of squabbles over whether the resort had a right to exist, but that permit and its 27 conditions were challenged in a lawsuit filed by the resort’s owners. That suit ultimately ended with a court ruling that a new conditional-use permit hearing should be held.

The latest permit, approved unanimously last week, appears to end the protracted fight for now, although neighbors and former neighbors of the resort have indicated they want to appeal the decision to the County Board of Supervisors. Several want the resort shut down.

Like the original permit, the latest version requires the resort to widen its one-lane access street--Robinson Road--and screen the seven-acre site from neighbors. However, the screening now can be done with plants instead of a wall.