A new California law may threaten the rights of a historic ranch’s private owners.
Hollister Ranch spans 14,400 acres of California coastline just north of Santa Barbara. The ranch has been a working cattle ranch for 100 years and was subdivided in the ’70s into 100-acre parcels, which are now held by private owners.
Hollister Ranch includes 8.5 miles of publicly owned shoreline along the Santa Barbara Channel in Santa Barbara County. It is this shoreline that is the subject of a lawsuit against the state of California by Hollister Ranch owners.
The California Constitution guarantees that, “No individual, partnership, or corporation claiming or possessing the frontage of tidal lands of a harbor, bay, inlet, estuary, or other navigable water in this state, shall be permitted to exclude the right of way to such water whenever it is required for any public purpose…”
The California Coastal Commission has said for a variety of reasons a public access program has never been implemented on the property and, “the public has never been able to exercise their constitutional right of access to the beaches at Hollister Ranch.”
“It’s an intrusive way to create a public access program—that’s not coordination, that’s just running right over [ranch owners].”
Hollister Ranch representing attorney J. David Breemer of the Pacific Legal Foundation told WLJ the ranch stakeholders don’t have an issue working with the state to implement a public access program. Rather, they take issue with how the state is choosing to conduct their program research.
“The lawsuit doesn’t challenge the state’s desire to work with Hollister Ranch to come up with a program to increase public access to the beaches in some way,” Breemer said.
The suit instead challenges the means and tools authorized in the bill, such as allowing state officials the authority to search all the ranch’s commonly owned areas, which include employee’s houses, cabanas, historic houses, and offices. No warrant or prior notice is required to be given before entering and searching the property.
“That’s unconstitutional—you can’t search people’s private property without permission or without a warrant just because you want to. It’s an intrusive way to create a public access program—that’s not coordination, that’s just running right over [ranch owners].
“Another provision in the law penalizes the ranch property owners and employees if they do anything to get in the way in the state’s efforts,” he added.
For every day that “action by a private person or entity [is taken] to impede, delay, or otherwise obstruct the implementation of the public access,” a fine of $22,500 will be imposed.
AB 1680
Assembly Bill 1680 was introduced by Assemblywoman Monique Limon (D-37) and signed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) in October 2019 to develop groundwork for allowing public access to the Hollister Ranch beaches. The bill allows public access over Hollister land by April 1, 2022.
“We are disappointed in the governor’s decision,” Monte Ward, president of the Hollister Ranch Board of Directors, said after the bill was signed. “As we indicated in our letter to the governor requesting a veto, we believe the courts will conclude that AB 1680 is unconstitutional.”
The bill would require four California state agencies—California Coastal Commission, California State Coastal Conservancy, California Department of Parks and Recreation, and State Lands Commission—to develop a public access plan by April 1, 2021.
Breemer told WLJ one of the ranch’s main concerns with the bill is the unclear statement of: “A private person or entity impeding, delaying or otherwise obstructing the implementation of the public access or other program requirements constitute a violation of the public access provisions of the Coastal Act.”
Regarding that statement, Breemer said, “It doesn’t specify what actions are problematic. Would videotaping a state official be obstruction? Are litigating, lobbying, ‘no trespassing’ signs, asking state officials to come back another time—are those obstructions? It’s unclear whether this is illegal activity and we are trying to get clarity on what [the owners’] rights are now.”
Hollister Ranch is suing the state of California and the four other state agencies involved in the bill, claiming AB 1680 violates the Fourth Amendment, the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause, and the First Amendment, all incorporated against the states by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
“There are lots of large parcels left along the California coast that are not totally accessible to the public because they’re not publicly owned,” Breemer said. “If [the state] can do this to the ranch because they want to create a public access program, what will stop them from doing that to any coastal property in California?” — Anna Miller, WLJ editor
