MENDOCINO CO., 10/15/26 — Kai Poma, the tribal nonprofit that took ownership of Blues Beach from Caltrans in July, has asked the California Coastal Commission for permission to put a steel swing gate at the beach entrance.
Kai Poma filed the application Sept. 14. The gate would “manage access and protect natural and cultural resources in compliance with Streets and Highways Code Section 118.9,” according to a coastal commission staff report dated Sept. 18. The commission could hear the request “as early as November 2026,” the report says. It doesn’t say when the gate would be closed or whether it would stop people on foot as well as vehicles.
Kai Poma is governed by members of the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians, the Round Valley Indian Tribes and the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians. The deed for the 136-acre property, about 2 miles south of Westport, was recorded July 6.
What the law requires
Section 118.9, which carries out the 2021 state law that allowed the transfer, says the owner “shall restrict public access from sunset to sunrise,” citing “the remoteness of the Blues Beach property and the exceptional vulnerability of the resources.”
The nighttime closure doesn’t apply to Native American cultural activities, which the law says include harvesting native plants and fishing. The owner may also close any part of the property that holds a Native American burial ground, and may not charge a fee to get in. The law doesn’t mention gates or vehicles.
What the 2025 permit covered
The gate request would amend the coastal development permit for Kai Poma’s management of the beach. A 2025 commission staff report said that permit authorized “implementation of the nighttime access restriction codified in SHC Section 118.9 and installation of signage,” with later development coming back to the commission “as necessary through an amendment.”
The draft access plan attached to that report said Kai Poma “will allow for continued informal public entry to Blues Beach via the access road,” and that in the first phase “no other changes to public access will be made” apart from emergency work. It doesn’t mention a gate.
The 2025 report, citing county law enforcement and local fire personnel, said it is not uncommon on summer weekends for the access road to be lined on both sides with parked cars, with more cars on the sand. Caltrans has put boulders and other barriers along the road to keep vehicles off the beach, and “many of these barriers were subsequently moved or removed by members of the public,” the report said.
For now, Caltrans’ page for its Westport landslide emergency project says vehicle access “is restricted to the designated parking area at the entrance of Blues Beach Road.” People on foot use a path and footbridge. The page lists the emergency work as running through December 2026.
The fee and the hearing
The Sept. 18 report, on the commission’s Oct. 7 agenda, dealt only with the filing fee, estimated at $1,626. “Kai Poma operates on a limited budget by grants and donations,” Chair Eddie Knight wrote in a Sept. 15 letter asking for a waiver.
Staff recommended waiving the fee for this and future amendments to the permit, noting that a waiver “would not constitute approval of development.” As of Oct. 11, the commission’s online agenda marked the North Coast deputy director’s report, which included the request, as concurred with but listed no separate result for the fee waiver.
The gate itself will get a public hearing, with public notice, at a later commission meeting. The commission’s North Coast District office in Arcata, which is handling the application, can be reached at 707-826-8950.
There is a gate there across the parking lot to prevent cars from driving down…at least it was there in July