He must also create a beach-mapping app for the state agency that busted him.
Parker, who also co-founded the pioneering music service Napster, agreed to do the high-tech form of community service as part of an unusual legal settlement with the California Coastal Commission, which was inked last year. New details of the deal were released this week.
The agency accused the billionaire of failing to get permits for his lavish $10 million wedding in June 2013 at a private campground, where he built props that encroached upon potentially sensitive redwood forest.
“We’re now working with his technical team, which is orders of magnitude beyond what we would be able to summon in terms of technical expertise within our agency,” said commission spokeswoman Sarah Christie.
The mobile app that Parker and the state are developing, Christie said, will help beach-goers navigate the sometimes tricky routes around private property to California’s always-public coastline.
“It was a creative resolution ... that will ultimately benefit public access,” she said.
Part of the Coastal Commission’s job is to ensure beach access, as witnessed in the agency’s recent showdown with land owner Vinod Khosla, the Sun Microsystems co-founder, over a gated private road to Martins Beach near Half Moon Bay.
Also as part of the legal settlement, Parker and his wife, Alexandra Lenas, will give $1.4 million to eight conservation programs, including $345,000 for the San Francisco-based Save the Redwoods League. The group will rebuild a section of Big Sur’s popular Pfeiffer Falls Trail, which was damaged by a 2008 wildfire.
Work on other nearby trails will also be funded, as will several groups serving at-risk youth in the area.
“We are pleased that the Parkers are committed to supporting the good work of these important organizations,” Coastal Commission Executive Director Charles Lester said in a statement.
The remainder of the settlement represents fines against the owner of the property where the wedding was held, the Ventana Inn and Spa. Parker indemnified the hotel against any unexpected costs related to the event.
After taking a beating in the press for not seeking approvals for constructing the ceremony sets, Parker told The Chronicle last year that he had gone out of his way to seek advice from conservationists and the property owner about how to minimize his impact on the land. As it turns out, he was incorrectly told he did not need permits, he said.
“Two people do not go to enormous lengths to get married in a redwood grove only to run roughshod over it,” Parker said at the time. “They do so out of respect, because they love the redwood forest, feel a connection to the forest, and want to share that with their friends and family.”
In a statement this week, Parker wrote that he and his wife were “proud” to hand over settlement money that would benefit the coast.
©2014 the San Francisco Chronicle
