MISSION BEACH – Nearly four months after a city of San Diego park ranger’s warning threatened to block South Mission Beach’s early-morning beach volleyball scene, athletes who gather at dawn along the sand in front of the 2600 block of Ocean Front Walk have won their point.
Joya Patel, director of strategic communications and spokesperson for Mayor Todd Gloria, confirmed that following a late-July conversation between Gloria, the city’s Parks and Recreation Department and representatives for the South Mission Beach volleyball regulars, the city has agreed to move the allowable start time for beach volleyball from 8 a.m. to 6 a.m.
Patel said the decision was communicated to players on Aug. 10.
“To ensure consistency, the revised start time will apply to the city’s other beach volleyball locations as well,” Patel said, referring to courts at Ocean Beach near Spray Street, Pacific Beach near Crystal Pier and at La Jolla Shores near Kellogg Park.
The decision effectively grants the ask behind a change.org petition launched by the South Mission Beach volleyball community including Sharon Hsia, Alfredo Vejar, Dan Palenchar and Anne Luempert. The effort has drawn nearly 3,000 signatures.
But it comes with an asterisk.
The Mission Beach Town Council in July had conditioned its support for the earlier hours on relocating the two South Mission Beach courts closest to the boardwalk so they will be farther from residences. But the city now says it isn’t pursuing that relocation.
Hsia said she was pleasantly surprised at the news, despite what she called “opposing messages from the Mission Beach Town Council.”
“I’m happy that the city listened to its residents,” Hsia said. “I love that they support volleyball as part of the culture of San Diego.”
How it started
The issue began in late April, when regulars at the South Mission Beach volleyball courts said a park ranger warned them they could be cited for playing before 8 a.m., the start time set by municipal code. Players traced the sudden warning to noise complaints from nearby short-term rental guests, and said it threatened a routine some described as their only window to exercise before work or school.
As many as 50 players arrive at the 14 South Mission Beach courts daily, as early as 5:30 a.m. They start play at 6.
Regulars like Lauren Duran, a South Mission Beach resident who has played in the early morning for about six years, and Hsia, who lives in Solana Beach but drives to South Mission for early play, said the courts operated for decades on an unofficial sunrise-to-8-a.m. honor system without enforcement or complaint.
“I think most residents don’t know that it’s happening,” Duran said. “I spend a lot of time with residents, a lot of homeowners and an older community. Most people don’t even know that volleyball’s going on. And most of the people we see are out walking and seem to love watching us play.”
Hsia said the early-start rule singled out volleyball while overlooking louder early-morning disruptions common to the beach — like maintenance equipment, sand tractors and planes taking off from San Diego International Airport. She also noted that surfers face no comparable restriction on when they can be in the water.
Hsia said that she was part of a month-long study of sound data at the beach done with a sound decibel meter. It showed that the ocean itself is louder than the volleyball play.
The volleyball courts have deep roots in San Diego beach culture: the first nets went up in 1965, and the count grew to 14 in 1977 with a push from the late NBA Hall of Famer Bill Walton, a beach regular.
The courts sit between the sand and the paved pedestrian boardwalk that starts near the jetty and the South Mission Beach Park parking lot, facing west toward the ocean. Residential cottages, condominiums and homes line the boardwalk to the east.
The neighbors
The change.org petition gathered more than 1,000 signatures in its first 12 hours in April and continued climbing through the spring due to word of mouth and social media exposure. But a more consequential venue was the Mission Beach Town Council, the resident-led group that advocates for the community and serves as a direct line to city decision-makers.
In June, Hsia and other volleyball players presented research and information to the town council, laying out arguments for and against an earlier start time, along with the noise study and proposed solutions.
Town council President Larry Webb said one proposal that came out of that process was to relocate the two courts closest to the boardwalk, creating more distance from residences. Some players were open to it, Webb said, but others — including Hsia — said any relocation needed to come with additional courts to make up for what would be lost near the boardwalk.
Webb said the board wouldn’t support that trade.
“Our board, the official decision is that we would support a 6 a.m. start if the two courts that are closest to the boardwalk were moved further to the west, away from residences,” Webb said.
The catch
That same condition showed up in writing from the city on the same day players got their answer. Karen Dennison, assistant director of Parks and Recreation, wrote in an Aug. 10 email to Hsia that the city would “only support a 6 a.m. start time if the two courts closest to the boardwalk are moved further west and no additional courts are added.”
Dennison called the no-new-courts condition non-negotiable, telling Hsia she wanted to see whether there was “any room for movement” on the relocation itself. She said city staff had determined internally that new courts could not be added “at this time.”
Duran said those two courts already differ from the rest — their nets sit about seven inches lower than the other 12, since they’re designated for women’s play.
City officials have previously said that any formal, permanent change to the court hours would ultimately require an amendment to the municipal code, a process that runs through the city council rather than Parks and Recreation alone.
Where it stands
As for the courts themselves, the city has since made clear the relocation isn’t happening — at least not soon. Patel said the city is not pursuing construction of additional courts or relocation of the existing ones “at this time,” noting that adding courts would trigger additional regulatory review, including a Coastal Development Permit from the California Coastal Commission.
That leaves the 6 a.m. start time as a standalone win, separate from the court-relocation proposal condition offered by the town council. Patel said the city remains open to further conversations with players, nearby residents and District 2 “about the longer-term use of the courts.”
“The goal throughout this process has been to find a reasonable balance,” Patel said. “Beach volleyball is an important part of San Diego’s culture and these are public recreational facilities that should be enjoyed. At the same time, we expect players using the courts early in the morning to be respectful of the people who live nearby and mindful of noise.”
Duran said players understand that and even police outside noisemakers.
She recalled that a few weeks earlier, when a group of about 100 U.S. Navy sailors were working out to loud music around 6 a.m., a regular from the volleyball group approached the service members and asked them to turn it down.
“We regulate out there on behalf of the residents,” Duran said.
