Saturday, June 11, 2005

NBC 4 - Weather - Malibu Beach Battle Erupts Over Homeowners' 'Sand Grab'
Fred Pilot sends this fascinating story from Malibu, California. Is it privatization when an HOA takes sand from a public beach and piles it on their property?

The Broad Beach homeowners association has used skip loaders to move tons of public beach sand, as high as eight feet in some places, in front of their ocean-front homes. The California Coastal Commission sent a letter to the homeowners, ordering the work stopped. The commission says not only has public access to the beach been blocked, but moving the sand has harmed local wildlifre and put adjacent public beach under water. Broad Beach homeowner and former coastal commissioner Marshall Grossman says the homeowners weren't trying to block public access, but were restoring sand dunes that had washed away during last winter's storms.

No comments: