Kayakers paddle near Alamitos Bay in Long Beach, Calif. 

An exclusive waterside neighborhood in Southern California has finally reached an agreement with the California Coastal Commission over whether it can restrict access to its long-gated shoreline — nearly 50 years after the fight began. 

The almost half-century-long battle concluded quietly in a Ventura County chamber this week, with formalized plans for new signage, unlocked gates and a promise to involve the public in what has, for decades, been a homeowner-only slice of the shore.

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Bay Harbour, a community nestled within the larger Alamitos Bay area of Long Beach, has long been an inconspicuous hideaway for discerning Southern Californians, with homes in the tight-knit neighborhood selling today for well above local market prices. 

Originally conceived in 1976, Bay Harbour — then known as Costa Del Sol — was a planned community meant to give the city a bayfront subdivision to be proud of, complete with walking paths and a greenbelt for the entire community to access. 

A long-standing Coastal Commission cease-and-desist order noted that, while “the public access easement was accepted and the pathways were built” at the development’s onset in 1976, they were quickly “blocked by locked gates and signs restricting public access” once the development came to fruition in 1978 and homeowners started to move in and stake........

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