Street-view and Google maps shows a road, but it goes to a bunch of houses. Did the rich guy buy all those houses?
Public != Free
Yes, it's my understanding that Khosla owns the entire compound and all of the houses. It's one property and was operated as a business by the former owners, the Deeney family.
The previous court case that (SCOTUS declined to hear) was really about whether Khosla needs to apply for a permit for his development work that changes public access to his property. SCOTUS declining to hear the case essentially means that Khosla needs to apply for the permit for these changes -- the implication is that until this happens, the case is not actually ripe for review. If he's unable to obtain the permit, then Khosla may be able to pursue his argument that the state's mandated public access is an unconstitutional "taking" of private property. (IANAL)
It seems if he had been more careful with his approach he could have kept the beach clear during winter just like the previous owner did without any legal hassles.
Still doesn't explain all the houses and cars directly on the beach. Does he own all those houses too?
I'm not sure about the law in the US and California, but in some jurisdictions you can't just move an easement. There was an easement running through his property from the road to a specific point on the beach. He can't just move the ending point of the easement to a different spot on the beach.
Couldn't the state just come in and make their own road? Where I live access roads are common on private property, but the are on the borders of the property between private owners.
Is he just that petty that he truly doesn't want others to have access to the beach? Or is it more complicated than that?
Either I'm vastly underestimating how much property on Martins Beach Rd that Khosla owns, or it's poor journalism with a half explanation of the issue.
The 3D map view shows it better. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Martin's+Beach/@37.3749952...
From what I can see, it's either: 1. The stretch of Martins Beach Rd that runs along the beach, or 2. The tiny road above the row of houses that runs parallel to the stretch of Martins Beach Rd that runs along the beach.
I don't know how it would be 1, as Martins Beach Rd would be a government funded and managed road. According to the map though, both roads are named the same. Somehow I doubt this though, and one of these roads is private, the other is the real Martins Beach Rd.
However, it still doesn't answer why Khosla would be able to close a whole private road when there's what looks like 22 properties on the upper Martins Beach Rd, and 13 properties on the lower Martins Beach Rd - does he own all of them? Really confusing!
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Martin's+Beach/@37.3759307...
From the LA Times, the "Gate in dispute" is right off highway 1: https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/1d63e71/214...
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-martins-beach-supr...