Coast Panel Warns Approval Needed for Beach Curfews : Regulations: Commission tells agencies in O.C. and elsewhere that their closures are illegal without its OK and that it has no plans to allow any long-term use restrictions.

Responding to a growing trend among local governments to limit beach access through curfews, parking lot closures and other means, the California Coastal Commission has issued a warning that such curfews are illegal without commission approval.

In a letter sent to 73 cities and counties along the state’s 1,100-mile coastline--including the four Orange County communities that have imposed curfews this year in fear of late-night crime--the commission indicated that approval for any long-term closures would not be forthcoming.

“The commission is extremely sensitive to the budgetary and public safety concerns of local governments,” wrote Peter Douglas, commission executive director.

“At the same time,” he added, “the commission must carefully balance those concerns against broader public interests relative to public use of and access to public coastal resources such as beaches and state waters.

“It is for this reason, among others, that the commission has not approved any request to close public beaches to the public on a continuing basis. On the other hand, the commission has approved the closure of public beach parking lots at certain hours during the night,” Douglas advised leaders of coastal communities.

The Coastal Commission’s ruling has no immediate effect on beach curfews. Except in the case of Long Beach, Douglas said, the commission has not taken a position on the specific actions of cities and counties that have imposed curfews--or taken other actions that affect beach access.

“We haven’t gone that far,” Douglas said. “All we’ve said is that we consider them illegal under the Coastal Act.”

However, Douglas said, each local government may have to apply for a permit in order to keep enforcing the curfews.

Reaction to the commission’s decision was almost uniformly negative in Orange County.

“As far as I’m concerned, the state is really overstepping its authority,” said Seal Beach Councilman William J. Doane. “There are already so many state agencies dictating what the city must do that it’s pathetic.”

Doane said he continues to support Seal Beach’s 10 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. curfew as a way of reducing crime in the beach area at night.

“I could see how (the commission) would want to regulate it if this was a state beach. But it’s not. The city pays for all the upkeep of the beach. It’s a city issue, not a state issue.”

Ron Hagan, the director of community services in Huntington Beach, said that “if the Coastal Commission is now going to mandate operational hours and procedures, then they better be prepared to fund them. We’d like nothing better than to open the beaches 24 hours a day if we had the money and staff.”

Hagan said Huntington Beach is trying to organize a meeting next month with officials from Seal Beach, Newport Beach, San Clemente, the county and the state, which imposed curfews, to discuss the commission’s position and come up with a way of speaking with one “collective voice.”

Hagan said the city has always changed its hours and fees from season to season without seeking Coastal Commission approval. “The Coastal Commission has never gotten into operational issues,” he said.

Mike Tope, chief ranger for the Orange Coast district of the state Department of Parks and Recreation, said district officials plan on making no changes to the 10 p.m. curfew at the Bolsa Chica and Huntington Beach state parks unless “forced to.”

“We’ve only got a certain amount of resources to operate these beaches and maintain a safe environment,” he said. “We have to work within our resources.”

The commission, Douglas said, understands that spreading urban violence has begun to spill onto the beaches of Southern California. Police chiefs, cities and county authorities have the ability to temporarily shut down beaches or impose a temporary curfew, he said.

“Nothing in what we have said here interferes with or prevents a law enforcement agency from taking any and all actions it deems necessary to address a particular public safety emergency, including any action to close to all public use a beach, parking facility or park,” Douglas wrote in his Oct. 29 letter.

“Similarly . . . if a local government takes an action to close a public facility pursuant to a legally approved declaration of ‘public nuisance,’ no (commission approval) is required. We should caution, however, commission staff will look carefully at any action using the ‘public nuisance’ exception. . . .”

But what is troubling, Douglas said in an interview Tuesday, is that there seems to be an growing trend among local governments to limit beach access, either through curfews, parking lot closures or other activities, and no one has been keeping track of such actions at the state level.

Some parking ordinances in beach cities have been decided on nothing more than complaints by neighbors, he said, at a time when a growing population demands greater access to coastal areas.

“The problem,” Douglas said, “is when there’s a long-term restriction on the use of beach or coastal areas that that is the kind of change we have to review under the Coastal Act. The commission is attempting to strike a balance between local governments and the public’s right to beach access.”

Douglas said the commission has received numerous inquiries from governments under increasing pressures to charge fees or modify hours of operation based on budgetary as well as public-safety concerns.

In his letter, Douglas informed local governments that the imposition of any new fee, or a substantial increase in any existing fees for beach parking, pier or boat ramp use, or for beach or shoreline park use, could result in a change in access to state waters. Therefore, approval of the California Coastal Commission is required.

“Similarly, any action changing the hours of operation or availability for public use of, for example, any beach, shoreline park, parking facility, pier or boat launching ramp or facility requires” commission approval.

Under the 1972 California Coastal Act, Douglas said, approval from the commission is required whenever a “change in the intensity of use of water, or of access” is being considered.

Tight budgets, as well as a spate of drunken brawls and a few shootings, prompted the state Department of Parks and Recreation to impose a curfew at state beaches in Orange County last April. The department decided to advance the closing hours of Huntington and Bolsa Chica state beaches from midnight to 10 p.m.

The cities of Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Seal Beach, which had curfews of 11 p.m. or midnight, promptly followed, fearing that those turned away from the state beaches might just move down the sand.

In Long Beach, the commission ruled in October against the city’s new beach curfew, imposed in June in reaction to the slaying of a young man in a seaside neighborhood.

Since the mid-1950s, Long Beach had closed its beaches from midnight to 5 a.m. When it imposed the new curfew two hours earlier, running from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., the move was rejected by the commission, which ruled that the city did not have good reason to close its beaches at night or reduce hours in most of the parking lots.

Long Beach officials said they did not know they must secure a permit from the Coastal Commission before restricting access to beaches or beach parking lots.

“Some local jurisdictions have had this curfew for decades,” Douglas said. “In the case of Long Beach, it predated the establishment of the commission. But it was modified only this year . . . and that’s what the commission said they couldn’t do without a permit.

“My guess is, we’ll be dealing with lots of them in the future,” Douglas added.

Newport Beach last week decided to enact new rules after it wrestled with a decision to impose a curfew on its pier in the wake of two gang shootings last summer and complaints from nearby merchants about people sleeping in the area overnight.

The Orange County-based Surfrider Foundation voiced support for the Coastal Commission’s intent to monitor the growing number of beach curfews, fee increases and restrictions.

“It certainly concerns us,” said Pierce Flynn, a Surfrider spokesman at the organization’s national office in San Clemente. “We’re an environmental group of beach users of all types--beachcombers, windsurfers, divers and surfers. And, to be honest, quite a number of our groups use the beaches at night.”

Flynn said Surfrider is engaged in negotiations with the state of New York to help regain beach access on Long Island. Locally, Surfrider has become involved in preventing closures or access limits at Malibu and Seal Beach, where the Navy attempted to close Surfside Beach to surfers and residents.

“We’re concerned that the people who use the beach responsibly get access,” Flynn said.

Douglas said each situation will be reviewed on a “case-by-case” basis to determine if application to the commission for a coastal development permit is required.

“At this point, they should contact us, to determine whether or not a permit is required,” Douglas said. “If one is required then . . . we have to determine what steps they next need to take.”

Correspondent Shelby Grad contributed to this story.

Closing Early

Beach curfews up and down the coast could be affected by the Coastal Commission’s ruling that such closures are “illegal.” Here’s a list of Orange County beaches and when they are closed to the public: Beach: Hours closed Sunset Beach: 10 p.m.-6 a.m. Santa Ana River jetty: Midnight-6 a.m. Aliso Beach: 10 p.m.-6 a.m. South Laguna Beach: 10 p.m.-6 a.m. Thousand Steps Beach: 9 p.m.-6 a.m. Table Rock Beach: 10 p.m.-6 a.m. Salt Creek Beach: Midnight-6 a.m. Capistrano Beach: 10 p.m.-6 a.m. Seal Beach: 10 p.m.-4:30 a.m. Bolsa Chica State Beach (summer): 10 p.m.-6 a.m. / (winter) 8 p.m.-6 a.m. Huntington State Beach (summer): 10 p.m.-6 a.m. / (winter) 8 p.m.-6 a.m. Huntington City Beach: 10 p.m.-5 a.m. Newport Beach: 10 p.m.-dawn San Onofre State Beach: 10 p.m.-6 a.m. San Clemente State Beach: 10 p.m.-6 a.m. Doheny State Beach: 10 p.m.-6 a.m. Crystal Cove State Beach: 10 p.m.-6 a.m. San Clemente: Midnight-4 a.m. Laguna Beach: No curfew Source: City, county and state beach officials

Researched by SHELBY GRAD / For The Times