By Phil Rockhold
I am opposed to all “for profit” commercial activity on public beaches.
Our beaches are San Diego’s most valuable resource, and as such, open access to the beach should be maintained at all times for the general public. The larger issue that is not talked about in current discussions of beach use, is the City and Park and Recreation Department’s designation of various activities as either “commercial” or “non-commercial.” There appears to be no logic whatsoever in the designation.
I live in Ocean Beach, and for years, an obviously “commercial” enterprise has completely taken over the beach at the foot of Cape May Avenue.
Six days a week during spring and summer, and weekends in the winter, the public use of the soft sand area on the beach is blocked by a forest of temporary volleyball poles and nets. The effect of this activity also has a massive impact on the already scarce availability of parking in Ocean Beach.
To add insult to injury, Permit/Contracts issued by the City of San Diego Parks and Recreation for volleyball on the beach in Ocean Beach, and provided by the city in response to Public Record Act Requests, indicate that for 6 months from March to September 2024, the permit fees for weekdays (Monday thru Thursday) were $5724.18. That represented a total of 600 hours of beach use, or $9.54 an hour. Permit fees for weekends in that same period were $4217.22 for 301 hours of beach use which amounts to $14.01 an hour.
Our beaches are being rented out to “commercial, for profit” entities for approximately the cost of two Starbucks coffees an hour. Those permit/ contracts are public record and can be requested from City of San Diego Parks and Recreation Department. The relevant permit/contract numbers are #145180 and #145181.
It is even a more amazing deal for commercial volleyball when you consider that the city foots the bill for all beach maintenance including trash pickup and removal. It is hard to imagine any business operating under more favorable conditions.
Commercial beach volleyball advocates are well organized and clearly feel that they have a unique right to play their sport on public beaches. This is illustrated by the fact that last year, the lifeguards apparently expressed concerns about the safety of the so-called “pop-up” nets that are used by the commercial volleyball companies. As a result, for a period of a month or so, the commercial volleyball was limited to the existing city designated courts near the parking lot for Dog Beach.
Ocean Beach residents were incredibly relieved that the beach was again open for the public. Private negotiations ensued between Park and Recreation and commercial volleyball advocates. The agendas for those private meetings were posted on local volleyball websites along with elaborate plans for expansion of volleyball in Ocean Beach. A request for a meeting with Park and Recreation by local media regarding volleyball was ignored.
Without any input from the public, commercial volleyball returned to the beach with even more nets than before.
The fact is, that virtually all of San Diego’s beaches already have existing areas with city-maintained volleyball courts and private volleyball facilities exist away from the beach to play volleyball on the sand. If asked, I’m sure that participants of any sport that might be played commercially on the beach would like the same sweetheart deal given to volleyball. Sports such as Over-the-line, Ultimate Frisbee, Flag Football, and Horseshoes, immediately come to mind.
As I said at the outset, I am opposed to all commercial activity on the city beaches. Recently, a lot of attention has been paid to the city’s battle with yoga practitioners at beaches in Pacific Beach and at Sunset Cliffs, however, virtually no attention has been paid to commercial volleyball on public beaches which represents a much larger problem.
I feel it would be very helpful if the Union Tribune would begin an investigation into the city’s process for granting use of the beach for obviously “commercial” purposes such as yoga, volleyball, or any other activity.
As a final note, San Diego Municipal Code Ordinance 63.0102 clearly prohibits any such commercial use, of public beaches, but it is clear that the enforcement is selective. The question is why?
Phillip E Rockhold is 76 years old, retired, and lives in Ocean Beach
The above was published as an Op-Ed in today’s San Diego U-T, Feb. 20, 2025
As a nonresident working for the Navy whose in and out of SD for decades, this is annoying. People that want to use the beach should have first option, esp parking for surfers, u literally cannot do this activity anywhere else not like yoga or volleyball. Seriously you can put up a volleyball net in any park and if you need sand find a place that’s no so popular, same with yoga ppl, they are just being selfish, if you need a ‘view’ to do yoga maybe your in it for the wrong reasons. next.
For many years volleyball competitions at the beach were run by fellows and gals who work at the city and ride around in those big red trucks with flashing lights and loud horns.
I’m not saying they get special treatment, but the fact that those burley fellows and gals work inside the city’s bureaucracy, understand how the system works, and all share the same @sandiego.gov email address tells me there’s an opportunity for reporters to start asking pointed questions about the beach volleyball permitting process. Just sayin.
Any city special use permit should be issued on a fair basis and the permitted use should not impose on regular beach/park users, and fees charged should be used to cover the cost of wear and tear and city supervision.
Am I against commercial use hogging public land? yes
But out of all areas this cape may area is really a dead spot, and it goes unused most of the time. Now maybe there should be a limit so local and non commercial uses can coexist with these commercial uses
For those that are not familiar with this area, they may think this is taking up the sand between dog beach and the bathrooms, but this area at the end of cape may is sub-prime real estate for rec volleyball and everyday beach goers.
Again all for limiting the ensuring public use, but lets not say that commercial use is taking over ocean beach. Actually in PB and in Mission I would say they problem is slightly worse as the beach there is more narrow, but specifically the area end of cape may is a non issue for me