Wealthy Malibu Homeowners Who Intentionally Blocked Beach Ordered to Build Expensive Public Access

Wealthy Malibu residents whose homes intentionally block access to a beach were ordered by the State of California to build a parking lot and public route to the water likely to cost several million dollars — the culmination of a four-decade legal battle.

A report by the California Coastal Commission and California State Coastal Conservancy released Wednesday said that the homes along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu are supposed to provide public access to Escondido Beach, but the former owners went to great lengths to keep it private.

Beginning in the 1980s, the owners did everything from making an un-permitted lot line adjustment, installing a metal fence, and paving driveways over the easement to hide beach access

Lawyers for the current owners said the violations weren’t disclosed to the current owners when they purchased the properties, the Los Angeles Times reported. But the current owners agreed to pay the costs outlined in the report.

One of the current owners, movie mogul Frank Mancuso, former CEO of Paramount Pictures and MGM, was ordered to pay a $600,000 fine and remove the driveway blocking the easement. 

The other owners, the heirs of Bally Total Fitness founder Don Wildman, have to pay an estimated $3 million in costs to build a path to the beach and a parking lot.

“Escondido Beach means ‘Hidden Beach’ in Spanish, and the lack of public access here kept it hidden from many people that could not find a nearby public trail to the beach, or even a public parking spot, over the decades,” commission staff wrote ahead of Wednesday’s decision, the LA Times reported.