By Geoff Page
A volleyball company’s use of OB’s sands to make money has residents who live nearby upset. This was all detailed in The Rag’s February 22 piece. It appeared that this problem was solved recently when the city denied Volo Sports, the subject of the previous Rag story, a permit to use “pop-up” volleyball nets.
The immediate issue, the apparent reason why the city denied the permit, was a safety concern brought forward by the lifeguards. The official word from the lifeguards is not forthcoming, but it is known the objection had to do with “pop-up” volleyball nets.
It is not difficult to discern the safety issue when looking at a pop-up net. It consists of a pole and at least two, or three, guy ropes tied to stakes or buried weights under the sand. When Volo’s business is in full bloom, there is a forest of these guy ropes everywhere.
By contrast, the city’s permanent volleyball courts have solid, single poles sunk in the sand with no guy ropes at all. The city’s permanent courts are in two places. There is a series of courts along the west side of the beach parking lot from Brighton Street north towards Dog Beach.
There are also four courts to the east of the Brighton Street beach bathroom shown in the following picture.
This picture also outlines the area in contention. Residents say that Volo’s pop-up volleyball nets monopolize the beach making it impossible for anyone else to enjoy that stretch of sand. Volo has since moved over to the city’s permanent courts, monopolizing that area now to the detriment of other volleyball groups.
The safety issue is apparently under discussion between the volleyball groups and the city. Another volleyball group, Social Beach Volleyball San Diego, has entered the fray.
Social Beach Volleyball San Diego formed the San Diego Beach Volleyball Action Committee. https://sites.google.com/view/sdvb-committee/home just this year to focus on volleyball use of the beach, the permitting process, and solving the safety issue so pop-ups can be used. For some reason, there is no mention of the Action Committee on the Social Beach Volleyball San Diego website.
This Action Committee has met with the city’s Parks and Recreation Department (P&R) twice, once in March and again in April. The website recaps the first meeting, March 20, as follow:
Minutes
- Lifeguards were not in attendance
- P&R referenced safety issues coming from lifeguards regarding popup nets
- P&R requests community to propose an approach to permitting that would represent a compromise among interested parties
- Community members requested re-issuance of permits to move Volo to OB back beach where they can set up popups
- P&R doesn’t see permits for popup nets as a likely solution
- P&R will connect with lifeguards to determine feasibility for Volo to use permitted pop-up nets
(Bullet four expresses a desire to get pop-ups approved so Volo can be moved back to the disputed area and off the permanent courts freeing up the permanent courts for other groups.)
Action Items
- Community will strive to create an advisory council for ease of communicating with P&R
- P&R will investigate with lifeguards to determine root cause / safety issue and resolution options (including popup nets)
- Community will summarize challenges, court demands, and permitting solutions
The following is the recap from the April 10 meeting:
- Update on “Safety Issues” raised regarding Volo’s use of pop-up nets
- Reassess permits issued to Volo and work to liberate city’s facilities for public use once again
- Document best practices for public to use pop-up nets for broad dissemination among volleyball groups
- Discuss “Beach Volleyball Rules” for challenge courts at SMB and poles at OB and strive toward transparency on who needs a permit to use those courts
- Deep dive into Permit Challenges and Recommendations compiled by community members (see other pages in this site)
Bullet number two was very telling, “Reassess permits issued to Volo and work to liberate city’s facilities for public use once again.” Social Beach Volleyball is looking to liberate the courts from Volo so they can use them.
What Does the Law Say
City of San Diego Municipal Code Article 3: “Public Parks, Playgrounds, Beaches, Tidelands and other Property,” Division 1: “Use of Park Areas,” §63.0102 “Use of Public Parks and Beaches Regulated,” states:
(c) It is unlawful for any person within any park to do any of the acts listed in San Diego Municipal Code section 63.0102(c).
(14) Commercial Activity and Services. Except expressive activity authorized by Chapter 6, Article 3, Division 5 of this Code and sidewalk vending authorized by Chapter 3, Article 6, Division 1, it is unlawful to carry on or conduct commercial activity, to provide any service, or to solicit offers to purchase, barter, or to require someone to negotiate, establish, or pay a fee before providing a service, even if characterized as a donation, without the written consent of the City Manager. Written consent of the City Manager includes commercial activity and services allowed as part of a lease, permit, or other written permission from the City.
The Municipal Code clearly requires a permit sign off from the City Manager. (Of course, San Diego doesn’t have a city manager currently.) There is no indication that anyone other than the Parks and Recreation Department was involved granting the the Volo permit.
There appears to be a great deal of confusion over use of the existing, permanent volleyball courts and the use of pop-up nets, in areas not specifically set aside for volleyball, is adding to the confusion.
The essential question is, how much more of the sand should the city allow volleyball enthusiasts to monopolize, beyond what the city has provided? Equally important, should any commercial volleyball organization be allowed to profit over its virtually free use of the beach, to the detriment of the beach-going public?
Residents believe volleyball should be limited to the permanent courts and the expanse of sand previously used with pop-up nets should be left open free space for the public to use however they wish. For example, the farthest a person can sit away from the ocean is in this stretch of beach. Some people like that.
A Public Records Request was submitted asking for the communications between the Parks and Recreation Department and Volo and Social Beach Volleyball San Diego. The public deserves to know what kind of deals the city is making with the volleyball groups concerning OB’s beaches. Up to now, the public has not been involved or informed.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I think it’s always been illegal to do organized sports on the beach, outside of a location intended for it, due to safety for other beachgoers.
This should be allowed with permit, and limited in size so they don’t take over the beach, which is pretty small here. And the fees should be significant enough to benefit the public at large by helping fund maintenance and improvements to those areas. This is how Rec Councils used to operate until the city put all their money into a slush fund to send outside of the community.
What about surf contests?
Great article. It’s amazing that volleyball was allowed to take over the beach for years in violation of city ordinances. Make no mistake, there is a lot of money on the line for the “for profit” volleyball organizations. They are well organized and will fight hard to regain control of the beach at the foot of Cape May Ave. If you are concerned about this, please contact Park and Rec on their website and let them know that you oppose any sport being allowed to use the beach except in specific areas clearly designated by the city for that sport. At present, that is the situation, however as the article pointed out, the volleyball groups are lobbying Park and Rec ( in private meetings, with no public input) for a return of the Beach to “for profit” groups. We have a unique opportunity to maintain public use of the beach by letting Park and Rec know that the community is opposed to such action.