The South Orange County SurfRider Chapter encourages everyone who wants access to Strands Beach to attend the City council Meeting tonight Tuesday September 16 2014 at 6:00pm. “Very important meeting at Dana Point Community Center, 6pm this evening (Tuesday 9/16). This is a City Council meeting. Come to speak out about the gate at Strands and how the city needs to take the gate down, apply for a permit like everyone else does in California, and change the hours to better suit all the user groups. Give the public its access that it was PROMISED!”
The Dana Point City Council Meeting will be held at the Dana Point Community Center.
The Dana Point Community Center is located at 34052 Del Obispo.
The South OC Surfrider Chapter reports that
“The Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world’s oceans, waves, and beaches for all people, through conservation, activism, research and education.
Strands Gate
In March 2010, the Dana Point City Council voted to maintain limited public access hours to the mid-Strands Vista gated accessway between 8am-5pm. South Orange County Surfrider supports the California Coastal Commission’s view that these hours are unnecessarily strict and violate the California Coastal Act.
In June 2011, the Superior Court of San Diego ruled that the City of Dana Point’s reasons for limiting access hours were unfounded. They were ordered to take down the gates and apply for a coastal development permit. A 14 day Writ of Mandate was formally served to the city on August 9th, 2011. The city continued to ignore the public’s interest in regard to beach access, not to mention expended several hundred thousand dollars in legal fees.
Then on Thursday, June 20th, 2013 the Honorable Terry O’Rourke and Cynthia Aaron of the Appellate Court concluded that the Coastal Commission has the authority for oversight of beach access at Strands Beach. This effectively means that if the City of Dana Point continues to fail to open the locked gates and expand the restrictive access hours for Strands Beach, the Coastal Commission can take an enforcement action.
Since the rulings the City of Dana Point has tried to hide these facts from public knowledge, while the gate continues limited hours, restricting public access to the beach. We urge residents of Dana Point and the surrounding area to voice their opposition to limited access hours by signing the petition and contacting council members directly. Come to one of the Dana Point City Council meetings and speak to the council directly. Share this with your friends and neighbors!”

Find out for yourself what is happening at Strands Beach. Ask the Dana Point City Council about Strands Beach. You have just read the Surfrider position on Strands Beach. Go to the meeting tonight and ask you city council if this is true. Find out about Strands Beach and other happenings in your city. Please attend. It’s not hard. It’s harder to find out after it is too late to reverse government decisions. The City Council is there to represent you. Go tell them what you want so they can represent you.

For more information please link to Dana Point
Please link here to the complete Agenda
For more information of the South OC Surfrider Chapter Link to southocsurfrider