California state agencies are scrutinizing Huntington Beach for allowing the air show operator to limit access to the city’s beach and pier during last year’s event.
The California State Lands Commission and the California Coastal Commission each sent letters in February to city leaders and the Pacific Airshow’s operator, Code Four. In the letters, the agencies ask that the city and air show work with them to not limit access to the shoreline and the Huntington Beach Pier, and to make sure that future events don’t have aircraft flying over the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve.
The air show sells tickets for seating on the pier and in viewing areas on the sand. Brian Bugsch, with the State Lands Commission, wrote in the letter that the 2023 air show was an unauthorized use of state land and outside the city’s rights without permission. The state leases the city the right to operate the pier since it extends over public land.
The city told the agency’s staff that access to the pier would still be available, but “photographs of the pier during the event do not indicate that public access was provided,” according to the letter.
“This degree of restriction on public access and recreation along the beach and in the ocean, where boating was also restricted during the event, is not authorized by the city’s lease,” Bugsch wrote.
The state commission also said repeated low flyovers over the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve “harassed” many birds there, including threatened and endangered species.
The California Coastal Commission said in its letter that people were prohibited from crossing the shoreline and accessing state tidelands, seaward of bleacher seating. Spenser Sayre, an attorney with the Coastal Commission, requested the city and the air show’s executive director, Kevin Elliott, meet with the agency’s staff before the next air show planned in October.
The California constitution guarantees public access to tidelands, which begins at…
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