Marin beachgoers met with fences along property lines
On Labor Day, thousands of people flocked to Bay Area beaches to take in the sunny weather. But at Stinston Beach in Marin County, there is a minor controversy brewing over an attempt by some seaside property owners to keep the public at arm's length.
Dino Columbo lives in a house right on Stinson Beach, and on beautiful, crowded days like Monday he had a lot of company. But despite all the signs posted on the raised building to keep dogs and people out, he must still regularly rake up all the dog poop and garbage left under his home by beachgoers.
"You have full, entire families having picnics under there," he said. "Yeah, on a hot day, it's the only shade on the beach right there."
But he said it gets much worse than that.
"People just put all their garbage in there, use it as a port-a-potty, as a restroom, because there's no restrooms on the county beach," said Dino. "Yeah, they have bonfires under here or they'll have barbecues, for sure. They'll tear shingles off to make a bonfire right here."
His landlord erected a rope fence during the pandemic to keep people back from the property line, and lately he's noticed that some other neighbors are doing the same thing.
"A couple of them seemed to kind of appear recently," Dino said. "And they're pretty far out. They look farther out than what their property line is."
That's the problem. A seaside property line is based on the "mean high tide" and some beach goers are complaining that the new fences seem to be randomly placed. One official complaint to the county states, "The issue is that these 5 people are "claiming" the public beach as their own property without anything that substantiates the location of their posts/ropes."
The county has served notice to six property owners to remove the rope barriers or apply for a permit. That, in itself, would likely require a survey to determine the legal boundary. The county says even those fences that are on private property are still illegal because they were erected without a permit. But the fee for the required "coastal development permit" starts at about $6,000.
Elise Sobral, visiting from San Anselmo, thought the beach was big enough that the fences weren't really impeding access.
"I don't see it as a huge deal," Sobral said. "But I just think they're just trying to say...to make sure that everybody still has public access. So, they don't want people to start making it private."
A group of international tourists felt the rope barriers were meant to send a message.
"It says, 'We are different from you and this is our line and you cannot cross over there.' Which, if it's a public beach, I don't know..." said Mustafa Akan from Turkey.
"My reaction was, 'Oh, ok, you are really, really rich to have a piece of this thing," said Argentinian Sofia Fornaresio. "Like, you already know that's someone's property. I don't know if you really have to limit it that way."
Some of the fences have reportedly been there for decades without complaint. But with more of them popping up, the county is getting involved. Property owners who fail to legalize their fence voluntarily could face fines.