If someone steps on the manicured lawn in front of your home, you would be perfectly within your rights to tell them to get off your lawn.
But do you yell at someone to get off your property when it’s a public beach? That could bring down the wrath of the California Coastal Commission.
A woman who was filmed yelling at beachgoers at Laguna Beach recently to get off “my property” has received a letter from the California Coastal Commission instructing her to stop blocking access to a public stretch of sand, KCAL-TV reported.
1976 California Coastal Act protects public access to the state’s beaches. According to the law, people have the right to use the beach as far as the mean high tide line, which is generally considered to be the wet or damp sandy area of the beach. Oceanfront homeowners cannot legally prevent people from planting their umbrellas and blankets on that sand.
According to the Coastal Commission’s website, the investigation can impose administrative penalties of up to $11,250 per day for any violation of the law’s publicity provisions.
A TikTok video filmed on July 19 shows the woman shouting at a group of people: “I’m not kidding! It’s not harassment on the beach, it’s harassment throughout my property. Get out of here! Now!”
The video then shows the woman, whose name has not been released, produce a rope to block off some of the sand, resulting in the group of people getting up to leave. She continues to yell at them as they leave.
Last week, the California Coastal Commission sent the woman a citation saying she was “verbally harassing those beachgoers,” according to KCAL.
The ropes shown in the video blocking part of the sand near the woman’s home are also not legal and must be removed by September, the commission’s letter to the woman said, according to the television station. She had until Aug. 16 to respond to the notice of violations, KCAL reported.
A spokesperson for the California Coastal Commission confirmed they sent the letter to the homeowner but declined to share it with The Times until the agency receives a response.