Court of Appeal Upholds Public Access Way to Carbon Beach in Malibu

A California Court of Appeal upheld a ruling this week that ordered Lisette Ackerberg of Malibu to open up public access from Pacific Coast Highway to Carbon Beach through her property.

The decision was filed Monday by a three-judge panel on the Second District Court of Appeal, according to court records.

A 2009 Coastal Commission order, which was upheld by Judge James C. Chalfant’s decision and now the State Court of Appeal, required that Ackerberg allow public access from the PCH to the beach and remove the obstacles blocking the path.

In 2009, Access for All, a non-profit which manages and maintains several of Malibu’s public access ways, filed a lawsuit against Ackerberg to compel her to remove a series of developments that blocked the path to the beach, including a concrete slab, generator, light posts and a 9-foot-high wall, according to court documents.

Dianne Abbitt, an attorney for Ackerberg, said previously that Access for All settled the lawsuit under the stipulation that the non-profit would attempt to open another public access way located 500 feet from Ackerberg’s property.

The other access way is owned by the county and runs across portions of the Malibu Outrigger Condominium’s parking lot, Abbitt said.

Abbitt said Ackerberg paid the non-profit $125,000 to construct the path and another $125,000 to maintain it. However, the county access way was never opened and on July 8, 2009, the CCC filed its own separate administrative cease and desist order against Ackerberg.

The attorney said her client has been a philanthropist and staunch environmentalist for a long time and that the main issue with the lawsuit against the 2009 Coastal Commission order was about private land rights.

According to the CCC, the public access point is about one third of a mile from the Zonker Harris public entry point and half a mile from the David Geffen entrance point to the coast.

Both the county access way and the one on Ackerberg’s property lead to Carbon Beach.

Read the full decision in PDF form above.