Martins Beach could be restricted again after billionaire Vinod Khosla wins appeal

A man fishes along Martin's Beach in Half Moon Bay, California on September 19, 2018. A man fishes along Martin's Beach in Half Moon Bay, California on September 19, 2018. Photo: JOSH EDELSON/AFP Via Getty Images Photo: JOSH EDELSON/AFP Via Getty Images Image 1 of / 10 Caption Close Martins Beach could be restricted again after billionaire Vinod Khosla wins appeal 1 / 10 Back to Gallery

The Martins Beach saga will not end.

On Monday, the San Francisco-based 1st District Court of Appeal ruled in favor of billionaire Vinod Khosla, who has been arguing for nearly a decade that he, not the public, owns the only road down to the stretch of idyllic beach south of Half Moon Bay.

In 2008, the Sun Microsystems co-founder paid $32.5 million for a 89-acre property that includes Martins Beach Road. He then gated off the road, cutting off access to the public. The move has prompted continued legal action to get the road reopened, and last year it seemed the case had finally been resolved in the public's favor when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up Khosla's case.

But the appeals court decision Monday upheld an earlier trial judge’s ruling in Khosla’s favor.

The Friends of Martin's Beach sought to prove the public has a right to use the road because of "public dedication." In property law, this dedication can either be explicit (a land grant by the owner, for example) or implied. The Martins Beach case was one of implied public dedication; the Friends argued because previous owners allowed beach-goers to use the single road down to Martins Beach, that constituted public dedication of the road.

The court ruled this was not the case, as the owners were charging a parking fee.

“Payment of a fee to access or use property implies that such use is not a matter of right but instead is a permitted use,” the appeals court wrote in their ruling. “A party who pays for a privilege and is granted the privilege in exchange for the payment is not acting as though he or she had an unfettered right to exercise the privilege.”

"Because the public’s use of the road and beach was thus permissive, it did not ripen into a public dedication that would give the public a permanent right to use the property," the ruling continued.

As Bloomberg notes, the ruling "strengthens Khosla’s position if and when he obtains a permit from the California Coastal Commission to restrict the hours when a gate at the top of the road is open."

Martins Beach, sheltered on two sides by bluffs, has long been popular with surfers and family picnickers.

Katie Dowd is an SFGATE Senior Digital Editor. Contact: katie.dowd@sfgate.com | Twitter: @katiedowd