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State Agency Is So Over That Notorious Palos Verdes Surfer Gang
Lunada Bay in Palos Verdes (Photo by tiarescott via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr)
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The Coastal Commission has weighed in on the notorious, middled-aged surfer gang that haunts Palos Verdes' Lunada Bay. The Bay Boys are a group of middle-aged surfers who, according to locals, harass any outsider who tries to come and surf the waves of Lunada Bay, via verbal abuse, rock throwing, vandalism and occasionally, violence. Palos Verdes' new police chief, Jeff Kepley, has vowed to bust them and has been checking out a little stone structure that may be their fort of sorts.
Now, it appears the Coastal Commission, which is responsible for protecting the coast, is weighing in the on the Bay Boys and their supposed fort, too. Jordan Sanchez, who works as an enforcement officer for the Commission, sent a letter to Palos Verdes Estates officials, according to the Daily Breeze.
Precluding full public use of the coastline at Palos Verdes Estates, including the waters of Lunada Bay, whether through physical devices ... or impediments, such as threatening behavior intended to discourage public use of the coastline, represents a change of access to water, and, thus, constitutes development.
A meeting is planned between Sanchez and city officials to discuss how to curtail the Bay Boys' reign of terror by enforcing codes and busting any malevolent wave czars, according to the L.A. Times. Other proposed action includes providing clearer pathways for visitors and adding signage, which the Commission has funding to do, but policing the area and tearing down the fort is up to the city.
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Kepley said he believes the Bay Boys view the structure as their "private clubhouse," but doubts removing it would change anything.
"If that stone patio got removed today, not only would they attempt to rebuild it, but the behavior may not change. Those people who have been enjoying that spot for 30 years, we could take their stone patio away, and they would sit and camp on the rocks and do what they do now without their patio," he told the Daily Breeze.
Kepley hopes to make an arrest soon.
PVE City Manager Tony Dahlerbruch said that the fort, which seems to be about 30 years old, will need to either be demolished or go through a permitting process, but should be accessible to all visitors until then.
Andrew Will, also an enforcement agent for the Commission, said told the Times that he believes that if the Commission and the city cooperate, there should be no need to fine or punish anyone.
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