Readers React: A new front in the fight for beach access

To the editor: I applaud the state Legislature for giving the California Coastal Commission more power to deal with the intransigence of wealthy oceanfront homeowners who block beach access. I wish that the late Coastal Commission director, Peter Douglas, had lived to enjoy it. (“Will the threat of big fines force better beach access?,” Editorial, July 1)

Unfortunately, the Coastal Commission and we citizens will now face expanding challenges, beyond the 650 existing access cases, as rising seas destroy the “neutral” zones between the mean high tide line and residents’ yards and homes. That interface has already been eliminated in Malibu along Broad Beach.

In part because septic leech fields were in danger of erosion, Malibu has allowed sea walls to be constructed out beyond the mean high tide line. We can no longer walk the beach from mid-tide to flood tide without getting soaked or swept away; yet the high walls support expanded private yards.

Whether it is because of sewage or rising ocean, the Coastal Commission is going to have its hands full if the people of California are even going to keep the beach access they already have.

Jack Fenn, Montecito Heights