“Bike and Walking Path,” Permanent Dunes, One-Way Street for Section of Sunset Cliffs Proposed — Plans Workshop in Pacific Beach
Under the guise of something called “San Diego’s Coastal Resilience Master Plan,” the City of San Diego is bringing back the idea of a “boardwalk” across the beachfront of Ocean Beach.
It’s purpose is worthy and is to help mitigate sea-level rise and loss of beaches due to the climate crisis.
But just the mention of a “boardwalk” across OB raises old wounds that many thought had been dealt with.
It’s called a “multi-use path for walking and biking” — nowhere near the title of something the city wanted to build decades ago and met with a tsunami of opposition when proposed.
Just to back up, “the San Diego Coastal Resilience Master Plan contains a concept for Ocean Beach including a permanent sand dune, a path for walking and biking, and dune restoration near Dog Beach. The project proposed for OB includes an ongoing sand dune along the landward edge of the beach, the addition of a multi-use path for walking and biking, and dune restoration near Dog Beach,” as the OB-Pt Loma Monthly outlined.
Residents and property owners of OB fought resoundingly against a boardwalk when the idea surfaced waaaay back in the 1990s. The idea of a boardwalk, like the one in Mission Beach and PB just didn’t sit well with many back then.
Perhaps, someone in the city doesn’t remember or perhaps thinks that now is the time to bring it back up as all those opponents are now in their graves, rocking chairs or have moved on. David Diehl, for instance, was one of the key organizers of the opposition and he passed away a few years ago.
The city calls it a “path” and a “multi-use path,” and doesn’t that sound much more benign than a “boardwalk”? The so-called path would be next to a permanent dune the city wants to build across the waterfront. Is this what the neighborhood wants?
Here’s more of the article from the Monthly (published by the U-T):
The ideas include an ongoing sand dune in OB and a temporary one-way stretch of Sunset Cliffs Boulevard.
Ocean Beach and the Sunset Cliffs area in Point Loma may get renovations in coming years as part of the city of San Diego’s Coastal Resilience Master Plan intended to mitigate the effects of expected sea-level rise.
The in-development plan is to include concept-level designs for six locations along San Diego’s coast, including OB and Sunset Cliffs. The city is seeking the public’s input and holding meetings to provide information.
According to the city, “the plan will identify nature-based solutions [projects or approaches that mimic or are designed after natural ecosystems and processes] for locations along San Diego’s coast to improve the resilience of our communities to sea-level rise while also benefiting wildlife, habitat and natural coastal resources.”
Funding for development of the plan is from grants from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the California State Coastal Conservancy.
The proposed dunes would have native plants and be designed to provide increased protection from storm flooding and sea-level rise, according to the city.
The project would include pedestrian and emergency access points and maintain existing parking, the city says.
A stretch of Sunset Cliffs Boulevard in Point Loma would be temporarily one way southbound, with the addition of a multi-use path protected by new fencing, as part of San Diego’s Coastal Resilience Master Plan.
The proposal for Sunset Cliffs would temporarily, as a pilot project, turn the two-way Sunset Cliffs Boulevard into a one-way street southbound roughly between Guizot and Ladera streets, with the addition of a multi-use path protected by new fencing.
Native plants would be established as possible habitat enhancement as invasive vegetation is removed.
The “lane diet” with a linear park would “improve public safety, enhance mobility options and access and implement drainage elements to better reduce erosion forces from the top of the bluff,” according to the city.
Community outreach and a transportation study would accompany the pilot project to help decide future phases, the city says.
Ocean Beach was chosen because it is “currently susceptible to flooding and erosion impacts,” according to the city. “These impacts are anticipated to worsen with sea-level rise” linked to expansion of warming ocean water and increased melting of glaciers and ice sheets.
Sunset Cliffs was selected because of impacts of coastal erosion.
I went to the city website for this Master Plan and could not find a better map of the proposals.
Workshops on OB and Pt Loma in PB
From City of San Diego website
Community Workshops
The City will hold two community workshops to share about the project purpose, planning process, and seek feedback from the community on the draft project designs for each of the sites. Workshops will be held in person. Feedback from community members will help inform the project designs. Please reach out to plntranslation@sandiego.gov if you will need translation services at this workshop.
Workshop 1: This workshop will focus on the Sunset Cliffs and Ocean Beach project sites.
Date: June 24, 2024
Time: 5 – 7 p.m.
Location: Pacific Beach Taylor Library, 4275 Cass Street, San Diego CA 92109
Workshop 2: This workshop will focus on the La Jolla Shores, Tourmaline and Mission Beach project sites.
Date: June 25, 2024
Time: 5 – 7 p.m.
Location: La Jolla Riford Library Community Room, 7555 Draper Ave, La Jolla CA 9203
Instead of a new pier, why not build a walking/biking bridge (draw bridge?) over the San Diego river to connect to the Mission beach boardwalk?
Nice. You’re aware of the old, former bridge from OB to South Mission? The city tore it down for the yachts of the rich and promised all the fishermen who used the bridge that they would build a fishing pier — and that’s why we got the OB Pier, opening in 1966, about 15 years after taking the bridge down.
Cannot believe no one has talked about this. Was the OB Planning Board aware of the proposals? Was Mainstreet? Incredible.
This just ticks me off. Not only has it never been proposed to the OBPB but the public meeting for it is in PB?! It’s obvious they don’t want OB to have any say.
In fact, in the spring of 2012, the city brought to the OBPB the following:
First on the agenda is something called the “Ocean Beach Waterfront Master Plan” – a plan for the ocean front of OB being rolled out from the Design Committee of the OB Mainstreet Association.
Among the elements of this so-called “Master Plan” is a recommendation for a “soft path connecting Dog Beach and the Santa Monica Lifeguard Tower”. This could be controversial as a similar idea of a boardwalk was floated years ago but was brought down to defeat by last-minute grassroots’ opposition.
I’m a life-long beach person, so I feel I can offer my thoughts.
I think a pathway from the Brighton Street parking lot to the main guard tower parking lot would be a good idea. Just a concrete pathway five or six feet wide. My run always took me down to the beach via the river bike path, across the Brighton St. parking lot, then across one expanse of sand before getting back on firm ground at Saratoga Park. I think it would be a good thing for everyone to put in this one piece of pathway.
As for the dunes. I hate it every year when the city puts up the protective dunes, which block the ocean view from ground level east of the dunes. But, I also understand the need for them, so I’ve accepted it. For the same reasons, I’d hate to see permanent dunes but would also understand it. OB is facing a serious future if sea level rises as expected.
The cynical side of me questions the timing. I usually pay attention to the news and there have been no serious inundations causing costly damage that I’ve heard of. There may be another reason. As recounted, the city builds dunes every year, usually in October, and removes them the following March or April. Think of the savings if the city only has to build them once and then just maintain them. This may also seem like a good idea to some people but it would be nice to know, why now?
I think some of the funds for these changes are years off in the future. Could be wrong.
The article states: Next steps
The city is creating a draft environmental impact report that is expected to be released for public review this fall (2024). Soon afterward, it will be presented to the Resiliency Advisory Board.
In the first part of next year (2025), there will be public hearings, followed by a presentation to the California Coastal Commission.
Could this idea be associated with the City’s support of removing the 30-foot coastal height limit? The EIR caught my eye. With it in place, a developer might not have to face EIR appeals as they build their boardwalk high-rises.
Perhaps you’re not aware that the city cannot modify or remove the 30′ coastal height limit without a citywide majority vote of San Diegans. The coastal height limit was established in 1972 due to a citizens’ initiative. The lifting of the height in the Midway/Sports Arena area, well removed from the coastline, barely squeaked through with a majority yes vote.
This sounds pretty great to me. We have so many parallel north-south arterials for cars and no consistent end to end walking/biking path. Let’s get on it!
Read more of the proposal. The path would be alongside the “permanent dunes.”
That does seem like an odd choice. Abbot and Bacon are so primed for one-way treatment instead of paving over more of our natural space.
I remember the furor over the previous proposals for a “boardwalk” or public path between the parking lot and the existing boardwalk nearer the pier and I offer the following thoughts.
I was a participant in the design charette and the walkway was received pretty positively by those citizens who were involved in that process. It was only when it went out to the rest of the community that it met with resistance. I think a lot of the opposition to the walkway stemmed from the proposal to incorporate a seawall along the shoreward side of the path. A lot of people (myself included, although I supported the walkway) feared that it would would be used in a manner similar to the wall by the pier or the walls in MB/PB, which have some generally unsocial behaviors (smoking, drinking, etc. – and if I remember correctly this was prior to the beach alcohol ban).
Second, there was a lot of misinformation regarding where the walkway would be located along the beach – there was a perception that it would be much further out on the beach than was actually proposed. There was also some very loud opposition from the property owners of the properties located along the beach (as would be expected).
Some sort of resilience project is probably going to be necessary sooner rather than later as we experience more sea level rise and greater storm activity.
You do have to admit that having a workshop / community meeting on these proposals in Pacific Beach is pretty insane. OBceans ought to be shaking the tree to get the meeting moved to at least OB. Sure, there’s more workshops later in the year but geez!
Agreed.
They want input from community of OB/PL, but we’d all have to drive to PB to do that? What’s wrong with these people!?!? (Be sure to go all electric ?). Will this be a raised permanent walkway so users can see the ocean? How many people will loose their views? I’m sure there are some Vernal Pools somewhere that could kill the project. Generally I like walkways, but I don’t know if it would bring more problems.
The workshop has been moved to the OB Rec Center, same date and time.
Maybe OB just isn’t that important? Population of PB must easily be 2 or 3 times that of OB. Sorry but you guys have horrible attitudes towards the city is it a surprise they don’t want anything to do with you?
On some level, this is actually funny and somewhat true. But it’s not a generalization that rings truthful. Municipal government responds to the “creaky wheel” very often. For instance, code enforcement is driven by resident complaints. Code enforcement officers don’t spend their time on the clock driving around neighborhoods looking for violations.
And often it’s those with the “horrible attitudes” who speak up and force the government and ruling elites to make changes. For instance, that’s what happened in the mid-1970s; OBceans spoke up and demanded that the community have a say in development coming its way — which finally led to the creation of the very first democratically elected neighborhood planning board, the OBPB.
Keep removing the actual residents with short term rentals and ADUs, there won’t be any opposition to a new boardwalk. Yet, some of these responses are very thought provoking. I was not involved on either side back in the day (law school) but I do recall an OB newspaper called “The OBcian” (yeah, they “misspelled” it) which led the opposition.
Should we dare hope for presentations to the coastal Planning Groups! Oh sorry. Lost my head!
No
Leave natural areas natural. This is being proposed to infer that’s what the pier will do. It’s intended for tourists. Not locals.
No, never build access across the river to MB. No. Tried that in the early 70s. We don’t want access to PB/MB. No, no, no
Removing natural sand with a 3 foot concrete wall will not stop ocean rising & flooding on ground level.
Nothing should obscure the view. Sunset cliffs 1 way is probably ok. But it’s not at the end of Santa Monica. These are 2 separate issues. This disguise is purely for Gov’t/WA funding. If a leader can’t get money for a pier rebuild. Why then would one “need” to create for concrete walk wall ways that have nothing to do with the beach.
Access can be given in other ways. ADA ramps on the sand(hard semi permanent would be fantastic by tower 2 or 4.
This proposal has only to do with downtown. No environmental need.
Ridiculous.
The city has one solution for anything that appears natural – cover it in cement. It couldn’t be a wooden walkway. If you to to Cabrillo Monument, many of the walkways on the hillside are entirely natural with board-earth stairways . The City’s answer is that it has to be ADA compatible for wheelchair users, and cement is the only option. But natural and cement are not the same things, are they?
If only there were some kind of local planning organization to collaborate with on these ideas. Like maybe some people that actually live here and understand these locations and have their pulse on the community. But alas…
First the modernist, two story pier design to let us walk up stairs
to see the ocean through glass windows. Architects trying to compete
with the ocean’s natural beauty.
Now city hall’s attempt to resurrect the infamous “street pier”
idea Obecians wisely rejected years ago. Result: OB traffic gridlock.
Next will be city plans for highrise hotels on the new boardwalk.
Yup, make it all nice and pretty and get those tourists coming for more TOT. You are right Scott they’ll be working on the height limit so all the “visitors” can have nice views – you’ve been around a long time and know how it all operates! The developers and mucky mucks keep those campaign contributions coming to bring all these great ideas for the vacationers.
Build the library and the lifeguard station and then talk about future projects!
Not sure if you were being sarcastic or not but figured I’d say something so people don’t mistake what you said for fact. The upper level of the pier would be accessed by ramps, not stairs. I, personally, believe this part of the design needs to go, because of cost.
And, the piece of boardwalk being discussed is very short, on the sand. No one will be putting high-rises there. What it will do is make it possible for people to easily walk along the beach off the sand. Sand is a barrier for many people.
I’f the already existing issues of full time campers aren’t addressed, this is just going to bring the blight at the end of Newport into the residential zones to the north. That has to be addressed before anything should be modified.
WHY? is the most important question. Why do these improvements to OB benefit the developers/city all of a sudden? Is OB the new target for development?
One real logistical and practical problem I see is that without some kind of protection, the pathway will be constantly filling up with sand — so who will be sweeping the sand out? Who will be maintaining the pathway? This is a similar issue with the ramped “pathway to no where” over at Dog Beach that constantly fills up with sand – and no one clears it.
There used to be a Dog Beach Committee and fund account with OBTC when I was on the board. Not sure when this was eliminated/dissolved or where the money went. $$ used to hire cleaners to sweep the paw at dog beach in addition to hold community events like Sandy Paws, clean ups etc.
You are right Frank, who is going to clean this boardwalk on a daily basis? The entrance way to OB that cost over $Million seldom gets maintained and is deteriorating. Who is supposed to take care of this area?
https://www.obcdc.org/ob-entryway
https://www.obcdc.org/990 2022 and 2023 tax filings not posted the website
This is a no-brainer: A wide, deep foundation, steel reinforced, concrete, multiple use pathway from Niagara Street, north up to the south side of the flood control/San Diego River pathway. What has been the hold-up? And while we’re building this pathway, put in a performance venue right at the “Avalanche” area.
Unfortunately, the city’s only idea for a pathway (or anything) is cement. In fact, every aesthetic improvement made by the city is cement. Some people like wood. It is possible to make more natural structures, such as some hillside pathways below Cabrillo Monument. That will not happen in OB.
This is one I always feel compelled to correct. Cement is one ingredient in concrete, along with aggregate, sand, and water. The pathway would be concrete. Something like this is not an aesthetic choice. Wood is wonderful but requires more maintenance and is very hard to keep smooth for travelers in wheel chairs or strollers. The goal here is accessibility.
Geoff, many beach communities on the east coast do not seem to have a problem keeping their wooden boardwalks in decent shape. I am thinking Ocean City, MD, Rehobeth Beach, DE and Wildwood, NJ. They also have to contend with winters and snow and the ice melts to keep them safe. So, it is possible to keep a wooden boardwalk safe and aesthetically pleasing. Whether the City of San Diego can do it is another topic. Which is most likely why they choose concrete so often.
Yes, I agree it works in some places but you can’t compare what they are talking about here to the boardwalks on the East coast. This will just be a pathway the city will have to maintain. The East coast boardwalks are lined with commercial and entertainment businesses that surely contribute to the upkeep.
Until hurricanes sweep in, like Sandy did that not only removed the wooden boardwalks up and down the coast but undermined and broke up the concrete slab ones, too, and dragged them out and buried them in the sand. Remember that picture of a roller coaster sticking up out of the ocean a hundred feet from shore? That should have made an impression on people to think things through more competently.
And those East Coast communities spend huge amounts of cash on trucking sand in to re-invent their beaches that wash away every year after the winter storms. And after hurricanes…the costs are extreme.
San Diego destroyed every natural dune on the coastline but is lucky in having a cold current that (mostly) keeps hurricanes from slamming the coastline. Notice that hasn’t stopped the ‘atmospheric rivers’ from battering the hell out of it, though?
The way it’s been looking lately, there is going to be a hell of a fight coming soon over ’eminent domain’ when the railroad has to be moved inland through people’s homes and neighborhoods. And the I-5 eventually, too, I would imagine. Too many low spots that could easily disappear that nobody even notices. Be a LOT of bridge-building needed. But Geography is boring, yes? Pay no attention until it’s too late is our species mode of planning it seems.
The railroad tracks are barely hanging on in spots already. It may be scenic but along crumbling cliffs on an oceanfront?
But absolutely nothing, rock jetties, concrete footings, rip-rap, walls etc etc can stop the ocean from winning especially as the ocean IS rising and the scientists know it. Hotter ocean water causes expansion, melting land glaciers all over the planet including Greenland and Antarctica loose more H2O into the worldwide bucket we call an ocean. Latest on the ‘Doomsday’ glacier in Antarctica says that the Thwaites is fracturing with too-warm ocean water undermining it now. That glacier alone will raise the entire world ocean 10 feet…
I’ve got old photos of me standing on the sand under the MB Boardwalk wall unable to reach the top of it, by feet, taken in the mid-70s after storms sucked a few million tons of sand off. But tht wall is doomed as it will lose in the end to the power of the ocean. When is problematic but we’re seeing some troubling acceleration all across the world in this…
Pity our grandchildren I think. They will live in a very changed world.
sealintheSelkirks
You wrote: “I’ve got old photos of me standing on the sand under the MB Boardwalk wall unable to reach the top of it, by feet, taken in the mid-70s after storms sucked a few million tons of sand off.”
You’re referring to North Mission Beach. I lived in South MB at the time of the 3 major storms of the 80s and early 90s so I have photos as well, including of the bottom steps at access points through the sea wall in North MB, hanging 3-4 feet above the sand.
All of that sand, however, wasn’t sucked out to sea but swept down to the beach in South Mission Beach where the sand level reached the top of the seawall; a lot of that sand ended up on the boardwalk in So MB as well. It was pretty bizarre to see people walking on the sand at the south end of the beach with their feet level with the top of the seawall. The city managed to truck it back up to No MB although I expect the ocean & winds aided the process.
As for the seawall itself, it was built with footings at bedrock in order to avoid its being undermined by the ocean. Instead, the water over-topped the seawall at times and, over the years, washed sand out from under the boardwalk through the small gaps in the vertical footings, resulting in the need to remove sections of the cement walk in the 1990s(?) and the vacant areas filled with dirt so sections wouldn’t collapse.
Seems wooden sections of the Rockaway boardwalk (NYC) were removed and replaced with concrete some eight-ten years back. Ocean City boardwalk was repaired recently, though the “structure itself has a life expectancy of 20 years and the decking is only expected to hold up for 10 years”. Vero Beach is still trying to repair it’s boardwalk. Hurricanes damage the wooden boardwalks and docks.
Anyone who truly understands the ocean would agree with what you said, seal:
“But absolutely nothing, rock jetties, concrete footings, rip-rap, walls etc etc can stop the ocean from winning…”
Participate in this survey.
The City Planning Department is developing a Coastal Resilience Master Plan to address risk from coastal flooding while also benefiting wildlife and enhancing coastal access and recreation opportunities. We are currently developing concept level designs of nature-based solutions for locations along our coast and seeking feedback from the community on how they utilize these locations, what they value about the coast, and what they would like to see for the future. The City Planning Department will use the results of the survey to help inform project design. You may quit the survey at anytime.
This survey is for the Ocean Beach project sites.
https://datasd.typeform.com/oceanbeach?typeform-source=www.sandiego.gov
Survey questions:
1. How do you primarily use the OB Dog Beach?
A. Leisure activity (picnic, bird watching, etc.)
B. Athletic / sports (surfing, volleyball, etc.)
C. Community events (gathering with friends and family)
D. Other (YOU CAN MODIFY THIS WITH MULTIPLE ANSWERS)
2. What activities do you do at the OB Dog Beach?
A. Yoga/Stretching
B. Volleyball
C. Walking
D. Biking
E. Surfing
F. Picnic
G. Swimming
H. Running
I. Relaxing
J. (YOU CAN MODIFY THIS WITH MULTIPLE ANSWERS)
3. What is the most important feature of OB Dog Beach to you?
For example: walking paths, volleyball courts, native vegetation..
Type your answer to this question (Such as Surfing, Less Density, etc.,).
4. How do you access / visit this location?
A. Public Transit
B. Car
C. Bike
D. Walk
E. (YOU CAN MODIFY THIS WITH MULTIPLE ANSWERS.)
5. What would make it easier to access OB Dog Beach?
You’ll type your answer to this question (Such as Surfing, Less Density, etc.,).
7. What additional features would you like to see in this space?
You’ll type your answer to this question (Such as Swimming, Less Density, etc.,).
8. Do you have any additional feedback you’d like to provide on the proposed designs?
You’ll type your answer to this question.
So, do you guys want this thing built or not? A few of you seem in favor but others appear to think that nothing should be done at all because sea level rise will just destroy it eventually anyway. So, if that is true, then why bother doing anything near the coast at all? Why continue maintaining what is already there if the ocean will just destroy it when our grandkids are adults? I think this kind of thinking is kind of an excuse to do nothing and is pretty fatalistic.
James, there is not one view on this thing — there is no monolithic perspective emanating out of the sands of OB.
No Judy, this was in Middle MB, between Lido Court and Kingston Court. Winter 1975 or 76 I think it was.
The beach stairs at San Luis O. Pl. were way deep, and if you jumped over the wall without looking you’d break your leg from the fall. Even the new concrete lifeguard towers that were buried deep in the sand by some bright city planner whose idea completely failed that first winter; they were laying sideways and being sucked out by wave action (I have a pic of old surfer friend James standing on top of one as a matter of fact). A couple of those are probably still buried offshore I would guess.
This storm ripped sand offshore and did not transfer it down the beach! It was just gone…Poof! Straight out into the deep. Everything was gouged out all the way to the Jetty.
Remember, I lived in MB when there wasn’t a concrete sidewalk that connected the Boardwalk to the Jetty parking lot…you had to turn off where it ended when riding a bike or skateboard and go to the alley and then to MB Blvd to get around the house and out there. It was just a huge expanse of sand with houses sitting on it back in the 60s and early 70s. Before the city extended it. I was dating Theresa Bales whose family owned one, and it was like they had their own private beach. Big bonfires in the fire rings, fun parties and bbqs, and people could just set up their own volleyball courts or whatever anytime. The cops hated it because they had to get out of their cars and trudge (or chase people) through the sand like everybody else…and they weren’t fit enough to. Too many donuts with no exercise, and wearing stupid shoes!
And yes we did knew about the footings in bedrock, how tall the wall actually is. Old people bragged about how ‘safe’ it made them, that the MB wall would be there…well…until the end of time! Yes I actually heard people say that. Hilarious.
There were pictures on a wall somewhere that I remember, too, as a kid but I don’t remember what building they were hanging in then! Maybe the Santa Clara Rec Center? A number of those old photos were in the 2007 paperback book Mission Beach by Terry Curren & Phil Prather I was given for a b-day gift that year along with Surfing San Diego by John C. Elwell et al. The wall being poured is on pg. 27 after the photos of the 1922 & 1924 monster storms that just wrecked MB on pg. 26.
The ocean can eat anything. And it’s very patient…until it gets very angry. Look at the OB Pier pilings for an example, they’re concrete and rebar. True they are far more exposed but that’s a trifling point to the ocean I think!!
Since I was born in OB, the same person gifted me the Ocean Beach book by the OB Historical Society in 2014. Way cool.
But nobody had the science knowledge back then, didn’t have any idea about Global Warming or sea level rise that was already happening, so I forgive them. Doesn’t change anything, the future is not nearly as murky as it used to be.
Bluntly, at best humans can only delay (like Trump’s lawyers) the inevitable consequences of our behavior.
Enough reply. I do go on, don’t I? Four lightning T-storm fronts slammed here today, huge gray/black massive pillars probably topping 35,000 feet roared in with deluge-level rain, once with hail, but this time with nearly no wind. But ragged, ripped-apart clouds were tearing by overhead. High temp was 59’F except once when a hole developed overhead and the thermometer suddenly hit 70’F. Then the next one came in an hour later!
Last year on this date it was 96’F, and in 2021 the county record was set on 29June at 120’F. When I bought this property in 2004 nobody had AC. It just wasn’t needed. Now….everybody does. I may not have the ocean to worry about anymore but dang, heat and fires in these mountains are a very real threat! But you all, you get the worldwide Ocean that is coming for your beach fronts. Always risks wherever we live, isn’t there?
Do something fun every day down there.
sealintheSelkirks
sealintheSelkirks