solved the issue the following way:
% Create binaryOccupancyMap
myMap = binaryOccupancyMap(xRange, yRange, 10);
% occupy the path I know will be available
myMap.setOccupancy([path(1,:)' path(2,:)'], ones(length(path), 1))
% inflate the path to create a corridor
myMap.inflate(0.4)
% Invert Map to Clear Path and occupy the rest
myMapInv = ~myMap.getOccupancy
myMap.setOccupancy(myMapInv);