California homeowners raise stakes – and a fence – in beach access battle

Feud with coastal commission goes back almost 45 years, with HOA blowing off $4.7m fine and drawing line in sand - a chain-link fence

A beachfront homeowners association in northern California locked in a longstanding feud over public access to the beach has drawn a line in the sand: a chain-link fence.

Late last year, the California coastal commission doled out a $4.7m fine to the community in Santa Cruz county for blocking beach access, in a clear message that the HOA should remove the barriers it had set upon a path giving access to the Pacific Ocean.