Two Malibu property owners fined $5.1 million for blocking access to public beach

[SunSeeker]

A beachgoer walks along Carbon Beach in Malibu, also known as "Billionaires' Beach." The Malibu Beach Inn is seen in the left background. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)A gate on the Lent property blocks public access to the beach in Malibu. (californiacoastline.org)


Commissioners described the Lent case as “very egregious” and a “flagrant violation” of state law because the couple had long refused a commission request to remove an unauthorized gate, fence, stairway and deck that blocked an easement required by a coastal development permit issued to a previous owner. The fine was far more than the $950,000 recommended by the agency’s staff.In one of those decisions, the commission had battled for nine years with Dr. Warren M. Lent and his wife, Henny, before unanimously approving Thursday’s cease-and-desist order for the couple and fining them about $4.2 million for diverting a public easement to private use at an expensive oceanfront rental they own at Las Flores Beach.

Commissioners described the Lent case as “very egregious” and a “flagrant violation” of state law because the couple had long refused a commission request to remove an unauthorized gate, fence, stairway and deck that blocked an easement required by a coastal development permit issued to a previous owner. The fine was far more than the $950,000 recommended by the agency’s staff.

Commission officials said the couple made money at the public’s expense by, in effect, converting the easement to private use. For years, the couple rented the house out to vacationers for about $1,000 a night and advertised on real estate websites that the “romantic, gorgeous” property has access to a private beach.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-headlines-coastal-fines-20161208-story.html

[lonestarnot]

1. Pay up motherfuckers!

[SunSeeker]

2. Yep. So proud of my state that these grifters didn't get away with that shit.

[lonestarnot]

3. I think when I retire I'm moving to CA!

[SunSeeker]

4. You may have to. It may be the only livable state in 4 years.

I'll leave the light on for you.

[lonestarnot]

5. How sweet! Thanks!

[petronius]

6. I hope they're really made to pay it - I'd add a 100% surcharge

for an 'egregious bullshit' foul as well:

According to the case, the Lents spent nine years arguing against the removal of the obstructions, saying they never installed them and never desired to keep the public out.

“We were not trying to block the easement, but trying in good faith to resolve the situation,” Lent, a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, told the commission.

I'm not an expert, but it seems that, perhaps, just maybe, REMOVING THE GATE would be a pretty obvious way to make a good faith effort...

[SunSeeker]

7. Indeed. The Lents are greedy scum.

They thought they were above the law and could literally steal a public beach.