In an ongoing legal battle over public access to a beach at Hollister Ranch, the Hollister Ranch Owners Association (HROA) has petitioned the California Supreme Court to disqualify Judge Colleen Sterne, who has presided over the litigation for six years. At issue is a privately crafted settlement agreement struck between the HROA and two state agencies — the Coastal Conservancy and the Coastal Commission — to expand guided-access opportunities for nonprofits while opening Cuarta Beach to the general public for daytime use. According to the settlement, the public would only be allowed to reach Cuarta Beach via small watercraft, such as paddleboard, kayak, or soft-bottom boat. The roughly four-mile round trip from Gaviota State Park would be through nearshore waters prone to suddenly changing conditions.
Last May, despite objections from both sides, Sterne ordered HROA and the state agencies to announce the settlement agreement in a series of newspaper notifications. She also allowed an ad hoc group, the Gaviota Coast Trail Alliance, to intervene in the case, a ruling called “unprecedented” and “new territory” by lawyers keen on the case. Among other issues, the Trail Alliance has argued that the settlement agreement is not fair because the general public was not allowed to participate in a negotiation that would require the state to abandon rights to an overland route to Cuarta Beach via a public-access offer established nearly 40 years ago when the Metropolitan YMCA of Los Angeles sought to build a recreation center on property it owned in Cuarta Canyon.
Led by attorney Barry Cappello in its move to oust Sterne, HROA’s petition states that her “ruling shows a bias in favor of the Trail Alliance position” and has “prejudged the [alliance] as a better representative of the public than the [Coastal Commission and Coastal Conservancy].” In a court appearance last month, Cappello addressed Sterne directly. “Your procedures have blown up this litigation,” he said.