Owners of a seaside apartment complex will pay $1.45 million to settle allegations that they failed to maintain access to a public beach for more than a year.
The California Coastal Commission on Thursday approved the penalty settlement with owners of OceanAire Apartments in Pacifica.
The apartments sit above a beach reachable only by a staircase down a 75-foot bluff. Authorities say shoddy construction coupled with winter storms and tides caused it to collapse in 2016.
Authorities say OceanAire's began making repairs late the next year to the stairway and a seawall but without getting development permits. They said crews illegally graded the beach and dumped 2,400 tons of boulders on it.
Apartment complex attorney Dave Goldberg says work's begun to restore beach access in a few weeks.