Let's say you live on a private island off Newport Beach, with just 23 other homeowners. You don't even allow cars on this island, everyone has to hoof it (or golf cart it) over on a 130 foot long bridge. You'd want to keep the riff raff out, right? You would't want them using your nice bridge certainly. Well, the Coastal Commission is trying to force the residents of Bay Island to do just that, at least if they want a seismically-sound bridge that complies with the American With Disabilities Act. The Bay Island Club, the island's homeowners association, applied for such a bridge in 2009, reports the Daily Pilot, but the Commission says they won't get it unless it remains gateless on the side that adjoins the city (on the Balboa Peninsula). The Commission says regular, non-island folk should be able to fish from or walk on the bridge, but the Bay Island Club says they don't want to get sued if someone slips and cracks his head open during one of those walks. So they're suing the Coastal Commission, claiming their easement lets them restrict who uses their bridge. Newport Beach, which owns the man-made canal that separates the island from the peninsula, is backing them up. The suit will be heard in September. [Image via Wikimedia]
· A bridge too private, for some [Daily Pilot]
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