Neighbors object to sea wall plan

San Diego Union Tribune

By Angela Lau

November 17, 2006

ENCINITAS – A proposed sea wall that would shore up the sagging Beacons Beach bluff hit a glitch last night when residents who live near the beach strenuously opposed the idea and Planning Commissioners urged city staffers to look at other options to save the bluff.

The commission met to review a draft environmental impact report on the sea wall, which the city has proposed to protect the bluff at Beacons, a popular city beach located at Neptune Avenue and Leucadia Boulevard.

Commissioners did not make a decision on the plan but are expected to do so when the final environmental impact is presented at a later date.

The $5 million project would include stabilizing the upper bluff with steel anchors tied to the bedrock. Stairways replacing the existing trail would be built from the blufftop parking lot to the beach. The city also proposed a lifeguard tower and showers.

Last night, immediate neighbors of the beach said they fear a sea wall would concentrate wave erosion on their properties and cause bluff failures.

“You are protecting Beacons at the expense of serious damage, if not destruction, of homes in the vicinity,” said John Wigmore, who lives south of Beacons.

Matthew Gordon, who also lives near the beach, suggested securing the bluff with plants the same way the Self-Realization Fellowship stabilized its bluffs.

Todd Cardiff, a member of the advisory board of Surfrider Foundation's San Diego chapter, urged city staffers to include in the final report a timetable that would show how soon the narrow beach would disappear if a sea wall is built.

Surfrider has consistently taken the position that sea walls should be avoided because they stop waves from naturally eroding bluffs and making sand that replenishes beaches. It sued Solana Beach in 2004 for allowing owners of bluff-top homes to build sea walls without studying their impacts.

Even the environmental impact report prepared by city staffers acknowledged a sea wall could lead to the eventual loss of the beach and suggested regular sand replenishment to keep it there.

Commission Chairman Gene Chapo and Commissioner Tom McCabe suggested studying in greater detail other bluff-stabilization methods that do not require a sea wall.

However, Charles Marvin, who represents Leucadia 101, a booster association for merchants of Leucadia, and Fred Caldwell, a Leucadia business owner, urged the city to build the sea wall.

“Beacons Beach is critical to our members,” Marvin said.

The proposed 450-foot-long sea wall would run the length of the beach and would be 17 feet high, but only about 6 feet would be visible because most of it would be under sand.

City officials have said the 85-foot bluff is in danger of collapsing at any time.

The project needs approval from the City Council and the California Coastal Commission before the wall could be built.

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