California courts say Martins Beach, a picturesque haven near Half Moon Bay, should have its gates opened to the public, despite the objections of its billionaire owner. Sometime in the next few months, the nation’s highest court will decide whether to weigh in.
“No property right is more fundamental than the right to exclude,” lawyers for Vinod Khosla said Thursday in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to grant review of the case. They said the state courts, in their rulings against Khosla, wrongly decided that “owners of private beachfront property in California may not exercise that right without first obtaining the government’s permission.”
Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, bought Martins Beach and surrounding coastal lands from their longtime owners for $32.5 million in 2008. He shut the public access gate in September 2010, citing the cost of maintenance and liability insurance. The previous owners had admitted the public for at least 70 years.
After a series of back-and-forth rulings, a San Mateo County judge ruled in 2014 that Khosla should have obtained a development permit from the California Coastal Commission before shutting the gates. A state appeals court agreed in August, saying the closure was a type of property development that required the commission’s approval.
Source :- sfgate
“No property right is more fundamental than the right to exclude,” lawyers for Vinod Khosla said Thursday in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to grant review of the case. They said the state courts, in their rulings against Khosla, wrongly decided that “owners of private beachfront property in California may not exercise that right without first obtaining the government’s permission.”
Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, bought Martins Beach and surrounding coastal lands from their longtime owners for $32.5 million in 2008. He shut the public access gate in September 2010, citing the cost of maintenance and liability insurance. The previous owners had admitted the public for at least 70 years.
After a series of back-and-forth rulings, a San Mateo County judge ruled in 2014 that Khosla should have obtained a development permit from the California Coastal Commission before shutting the gates. A state appeals court agreed in August, saying the closure was a type of property development that required the commission’s approval.
Source :- sfgate
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