State officials are asking for public input on how to provide beach access through Hollister Ranch, reviving a decades-old planning effort for one of California’s most restricted stretches of coastline.
The Hollister Ranch Public Access Program (HRPAP) released a planning update in September outlining the next phase of a decades-long effort to establish land-based access to six public beaches along 8.5 miles of the Gaviota Coast. The beaches lie within the 14,400-acre Hollister Ranch subdivision, a private, gated community west of Gaviota State Park.
Guided by the California Coastal Commission, California Coastal Conservancy, State Lands Commission and California State Parks, the program will review access options such as trails, shuttles and limited vehicle entry, with public input being collected through a series of open-house workshops in November.
The Hollister Ranch beaches remain one of the most inaccessible stretches of California’s coast, according to the Coastal Commission and state lawmakers. Currently, the only way to legally reach the beaches is via the Pacific Ocean.
Originally adopted by the Coastal Commission in the early 1980s to comply with the California Coastal Act, HRPAP has sat largely dormant for decades. Multiple attempts to establish a public route to the shoreline have stalled over the years due to private property disputes, contested legal settlements and regulatory review processes.
In 2019, the state Legislature passed Assembly Bill 1680, which required the California Coastal Commission and State Coastal Conservancy to develop a public access plan by April 2022. That deadline passed with no implementation.
In response to these setbacks, HRPAP has launched a multi-step planning and environmental review process, with the first step focusing on gathering public input and identifying a preferred access plan.
The goal is to utilize the public input to help shape a refined set of access options to aid in the environmental review process and better contend with potential future legal obstacles, according to HRPAP.
In-person workshops are scheduled for 5-8 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 12, at Oak Valley Elementary School in Buellton and on Thursday, Nov. 13, at the Goleta Valley Community Center.
A virtual session will be held from 6-7:30 p.m. on Nov. 17, via Zoom.