POINT LOMA – Last September, the City Council unanimously passed a Coastal Resilience Master Plan, adopting nature-based solutions to flooding and erosion risks.
The CRMP was adopted to counteract the effects of climate change on six pilot sites in Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach, Mission Beach and La Jolla.
City spokesperson Peter Kelly noted that the four project sites moving forward under Phase 2 are Tourmaline Beach in PB, Dog Beach in Ocean Beach, the Ocean Beach beachfront and Sunset Cliffs.
“Phase 2 is fully grant-funded through a State Coastal Conservancy grant,” said Kelly. “Work will be completed in January 2027…. This work will also include determining a rough order of magnitude for construction costs for each of the Phase 2 project sites.”
Sunset Cliffs’ plans include developing a separated pedestrian path, removing west side parking, and creating one lane for southbound vehicular travel on Sunset Cliffs Boulevard.
Responding to that roadway-altering proposal, Leon Scales, chair of the Sunset Cliffs Natural Park Council overseeing Sunset Cliffs’ future development, offered an anecdote.
Scales said someone told him recently that they “would love to live on it (Sunset Cliffs Boulevard).” Scales asked, “If you did, would you be concerned that ‘cliff retreat’ would threaten your home and investment?”
The man responded that he would be dead before a cliff collapse occurred that was serious enough to affect his home, and added that he’d be much more worried if he lived on a street above the boulevard after it became a one-way passage, with all the reverse-direction traffic — and parking — in front of his house.
The master plan was “developed to help the city brace for the impacts of a warming climate,” in anticipation of rising sea levels in San Diego, which experts predict are “expected to rise five to 14 times faster this century than the last,” significantly increasing the risk of flooding and erosion.
Scales said this latest CRMP proposal is giving him deja vu. “We’ve heard this before,” he said. “It may be typical, but one way or another, homeowners on Sunset Cliffs Boulevard seem to be generally opposed to any conversion to one-way traffic.”
The Coastal Resilience Master Plan would remove popular west side parking on Sunset Cliffs Boulevard. (Photo by Thomas Melville/Peninsula Beacon)
Other OB residents concurred with Scales’ perspective on the impact of turning Sunset Cliffs Boulevard into a one-way street.
“I live in the area and use Sunset Cliffs Boulevard regularly,” said Susan Winkie. “Just after sunset, traffic is gridlocked north on Sunset Cliffs and east on Hill Street. “The congestion is real, but it’s concentrated around sunset and isn’t an all-day problem. Making the road one-way permanently will just shift the traffic into residential streets, mainly Cornish and Devonshire. I’d be interested in solutions that focus on peak-hour demand instead of a permanent change.”
“This is a very bad idea,” said Sally A. Bixler, a Point Loma native. “Erosion of the cliffs is an issue, but I do not think that eliminating the northbound lane on Sunset Cliffs Boulevard is part of the solution.”
Aaron Null, owner of Vervor Design & Shop on Voltaire Street, agreed. “This idea will completely transform how the area is used and significantly impact the neighborhoods around who will see a huge uptick in people parking there instead of the lots, as well as egress once people get to the base of the cliffs,” he said. “I do love the idea of there being a much wider pedestrian and bike path along the cliffs and if people can adjust over time, that could make for a much more tranquil experience down there.”
Kelly said the CRMP is currently in Phase 2 of work, noting that Phase 1 included development of concept-level designs for six locations along San Diego’s coast, a pilot project, and completion of a California Environmental Quality Act analysis.
Phase 2 of the planning effort builds on the work of Phase 1 and includes continued community and stakeholder engagement, tribal coordination, additional environmental analysis, initial engineering for four of the project sites selected by the council as part of the adoption of the Coastal Resilience Master Plan and technical studies to inform project design. Future phases of work will include full design, permitting and construction.
