The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from Silicon Valley multi-billionaire Vinod Khosla, who will now have to open a gate and allow beachfront access to Martin’s Beach in front of his private compound.
Khosla. with a net worth of $2.3 billion is rated by Forbes as #35 on the Midas List for top tech influencers. But he has been battling with a scruffy group of suffers, fishermen, sunbathers and local government officials ever since he used a series of limited partnerships to buy the cliff-side Martin’s Beach compound in 2008, and then decided to lock the gate and put up “no trespassing” signs on the only road that leads down to the California state beach.
The family that had owned the property in front of the ¾-mile long beach, with its famous rock arch and tide pools, since the 1900s, originally operated a store and charged a day fee. Before Khosla bought the property, the gate was open during daylight hours so that visitors could walk down for free and cars could drive down and park for a fee.
There are about 50 private homes along the beach lasting that now pay Khosla each month — until 2021. It is unclear what the venture capitalist plans to do then, but the leaseholders currently have the right to use a gate along Highway 1.
A local group associated with the Surfrider Foundation began battling with Khosla in 2010 to keep the gate open. San Mateo County and the Coastal Commission backed the surfers, who finally won a Superior Court decision requiring the gate be opened in 2014. But Khosla again locked the gate and appealed to higher courts.
Staff members from CaliforniaBeaches.com parked above on the coast road during daylight and stepped over the gate to reach Martin’s Beach in 2016. Security guards escorted them off the property, but local police refused to punish them for trespassing.
Khosla lost another state court appeal in August 2017 and the California Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal. He then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court for a review of the case, but the highest court refused to hear an appeal on Monday, the first day of the winter term.
The Surfrider Foundation’s lawyer, Eric Buescher, told Reuters: “We’re grateful the California Coastal Act’s promise that a beach cannot be bought, but instead belongs to the public, has survived a billionaire’s whims, which risked gutting the statute’s protections.”
Khosla’s partnership lawyer said his clients were disappointed at the court’s denying the owner property rights. But he stated the partnerships intend to apply to the county for a property access permit that will again open Martin’s Beach to day visitors.