A park with waterfront views of Alamitos Bay could soon get major improvements paid for by the affluent housing development next to it, which illegally blocked public access for more than three decades.
The settlement, if approved by the California Coastal Commission on Thursday, would require Bay Harbour’s Homeowners Association to pay $2.5 million to construct and maintain a public restroom and add a slew of other amenities such as trees, benches and native plants at Jack Nichol Park, just off Pacific Coast Highway and south of Loynes Drive.
It comes as a repercussion for the HOA illegally restricting public access to a roughly 1,500-foot coastal path leading to the park from the early 1980s until 2024. The Coastal Commission, which regulates public access to coastal resources, first approved a permit for the nearly 200-home housing development on 28 acres next to Alamitos Bay in 1976. It did so on the condition that the HOA “provide multiple public bay access pathways,” according to a staff memo…