April 1 has come and gone, the date set in Assembly Bill 1680 for Hollister Ranch to open its fabled beaches and surf breaks to anyone and everyone. But, with some members of the public asking if the date was an April Fool's stunt, in actuality, the Coastal Commission decided in March that an environmental report was needed before breaching the gate to Santa Barbara County's Shangri-La. What might happen when hundreds of surfers and beachgoers arrived at a place unprepared for them became a clear concern for the participants who, for the past two years, have been meeting to determine the details for public access.
California's beaches belong to the public by law, but Hollister's remote 14,000 acres — which start where Highway 101 makes a sharp turn at Gaviota and heads north and east — have been run as a cattle ranch since Spanish times and remained so after the property was split into housing lots in 1971. It is off the beaten track, and relatively few people have ever lived or visited there. Those who do value the privacy and the unique vestiges of coastal California still remaining on the ranch lands.
It was questions about the residents, their holdings, their guests, their water wells, their livestock, and other inquiries from coastal commissioners that led to the CEQA environmental report gambit and the missed deadline. The commissioners wanted information on present conditions at the ranch, but the residents — through the Hollister Ranch Owners Association attorney — objected that the answers were of a personal nature and would eventually appear in a public document, in violation of their homeowner rules and California law.