A Silicon Valley venture capitalist, locked in a battle with the State of California over access to a prime stretch of beach that was popular with surfers, swimmers and fishermen before he bought it and closed it, has proposed a price to restore public access: $30 million.
The offer by lawyers for the billionaire, Vinod Khosla, was the latest salvo in a case that has touched a nerve in California as resentment grows over issues of wealth, privilege and public land use. The case has generated years of protests as it wound its way through state courts, where two lawsuits aim to force Mr. Khosla, who does not live on the property, to let the public back in.
About eight years ago, Mr. Khosla, a founder of Sun Microsystems, snapped up a prime 53-acre parcel of Martins Beach for $37.5 million. The parcel, about four miles south of Half Moon Bay on the San Francisco Peninsula, includes the beach and the road. And for a century, California’s State Lands Commission said, the land had been a haven for the beachgoing public.