Laguna Beach : City’s Approval Sought for Agate Beach Surfing

For Robert McMahon, the beach off Agate Street is one of the best surfing spots in Laguna Beach. Although the three beaches where surfing is allowed offer good waves, few compare with the Agate Street beach, he said.

“When it’s good, it’s smoking,” said the 25-year-old Laguna Beach attorney, who plans to ask the City Council on Tuesday night to make it legal to surf there.

Just a year out of law school, McMahon tries to hit the waves whenever he can. “I surf after office hours. And if the waves are good, I’ll surf in the morning,” he said.

McMahon said he drafted a petition requesting that the city open the beach to surfers between sunrise and noon and again from 4 p.m. to sunset, with swimming allowed in between.

Tim Merchants, a city lifeguard, said surfers are not the only ones who like to use the beach, which is designated as a swimming beach only. “It’s kind of a real hard issue, because a lot of older people swim there and the surfers want to surf there,” he said.

McMahon, however, said he rarely sees swimmers out there. “I can say for a fact that Agate is not used as a swimming beach, because the bottom is so rocky.”

Although he hasn’t begun collecting signatures, McMahon said he plans to present the council with plenty of them Tuesday.

“It’s not going to be a lot of trouble getting a couple of hundred signatures,” the devoted wave-rider said. “I can go to the beach and get the little whippersnappers to collect signatures.”

Although the Agate Street beach already is a popular spot for surfers, thrill seekers face stiff fines if caught surfing there. City Manager Ken Frank, however, is recommending that the council vote on an amendment to the municipal code at its Aug. 20 meeting that would permit the sport there.

If the amendment were approved, it would have to undergo a second reading and a final vote Sept. 3. It would become effective a month later, probably too late for many surfers who would like to see their use of the Agate Street beach legalized this season.