If someone steps on the well-kept lawn in front of your house, you have every right to tell them to get off the lawn.
But yelling at someone to get off your property when it's a public beach? That could draw the ire of the California Coastal Commission.
A woman who was recently filmed yelling at beachgoers in Laguna Beach 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.
The California Coastal Act of 1976 protects public access to the state's beaches. Under the law, people have the right to use the beach up to the mean high tide line, which is generally considered the wet or moist sand zone of the beach. Oceanfront homeowners cannot legally prevent people from placing their umbrellas and blankets on that sand.
According to the Coastal Commission's website, the commission can impose administrative penalties of up to $11,250 per day for each violation of the public access provisions of the act.
In a TikTok video filmed on July 19, the woman is seen yelling at a group of people: “I’m not kidding! This is not harassment on the beach, this is harassment all over my property. Get out of here! Now!”
The video shows the woman, whose name has not been publicly revealed, pulling out a rope to cordon off a section of sand, prompting the group of people to get 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 beachgoers,” according to KCAL.
The ropes shown in the video blocking off a portion of the arena 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 was given until Aug. 16 to respond to the notice of violations, KCAL reported.
A spokesman for the California Coastal Commission confirmed that the letter was sent to the property owner but declined to share it with The Times until the agency receives a response.
