Silicon Valley billionaire fights to block the public from accessing the beach

Daily Mail

A billionaire technology tycoon wants to lock the public out of a stretch of Californian beach his $32.5million mega-mansion sits on so he can have it to himself.

Sun Microsystems co-founder, Vinod Khosla, wants to keep all the sun to himself along Martins Beach near Half Moon Bay where his estate is located.

The owners previous owners had allowed public access to the beach for 70 years but Khosla slammed the gates shut resulting in a long-running dispute.  

A California courts ruled it should open it’s gates to the public but now the case may be heard by the highest court in the country, the U.S. Supreme Court.

‘No property right is more fundamental than the right to exclude,’ lawyers for Khosla said Thursday in asking for the case the be reviewed, according to SFGate.

Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla has been trying to legally block the public from accessing the beach in front of his $32M property in California for years 
The previous owners of the property allowed the public to access the gorgeous beach for 70-years before Khosla first tried to shutter out the public in 2010

His attorneys argue that the state courts erroneously decided that ‘owners of private beachfront property in California may not exercise that right without first obtaining the government’s permission.’

Khosla purchased the property along with the Martins Beach and surrounding coastal lands from the previous owners in 2008, and he shut the public access gate in 2010 citing the cost of maintenance and liability insurance.

Several rulings regarding the beach transpired in the years that followed the billionaire shuttering access to the public.

In 2014, a San Mateo County court ruled that he should obtained a permit from the California Coastal Commission before closing off access.

Martins Beach sits along the California coastline just near picturesque Half Moon Bay 

Martins Beach sits along the California coastline just near picturesque Half Moon Bay

Then, a state appeals court upheld that ruling in August, saying the closure was a type of property development that needed the commission’s approval.

‘One of the basic goals of the state for the coastal zone is to maximize public access to and along the coast and maximize public recreational opportunities to the coastal zone,’ said the three-justice panel of the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco.

Khosla again tried to appeal the ruling but the state Supreme Court denied review of Khosla’s appeal in October.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5431065/Billionaire-wants-public-accessing-beach.html#ixzz584P8NCow
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4 thoughts on “Silicon Valley billionaire fights to block the public from accessing the beach

  1. This piece of shit knows if he wins, the price of this property quadruples. This non American ass wipe should never have been allowed the sale of this property. Fire bomb this commie non Americans house, burn the damn thing to the ground, then put his ass on a bamboo float and shove his commie ass out to sea.

    You want to play American Nationals like this? We will stretch your neck MTFRK….

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