Improvements Costly to Users : $3 Beach Parking Charge Raises Anger in Cardiff

With a seamless carpet of sunbathers, a small navy of surfers and a nasty rip current, Tower Six used to be the meanest territory on all of Cardiff Beach.

“Why, they would never let a rookie like me take Tower Six before this year,” said first-year lifeguard Will Norris.

“They told us that anytime you work Tower Six, you better be ready to save someone every five minutes. Now there’s no one to save at all,” he sighed, waving at the deserted strip of beach.

According to Norris, his section of the beach is the victim of the first phase of the state Department of Parks and Recreation’s plan to renovate the parking areas bordering Cardiff State Beach. The unfinished, slick asphalt and piles of rubble that back this section of sand have caused locals to boycott it.

On July 17, the newly asphalted lot in the northern part of Cardiff State Beach along the coastal highway and another lot at Moonlight Beach at 4th and C streets in Encinitas will open to the public--for a fee of $3 per day.

While the price might seem to be small change to some, it has sparked a minor political uproar in a community normally concerned with little more than the absorption of ultraviolet rays. Local surfers and bathers say they will go elsewhere rather than pay the fee, and the Cardiff Town Council has sent an angry letter to the California Coastal Commission protesting a second parking lot conversion scheduled for next year.

“What they label an improvement seems to us to be entirely inappropriate for that sort of beach,” said Richard MacManus, president of the Town Council.

“This is a very popular area for surfers, fishermen, joggers--people who come there every day and just won’t pay three bucks for what they regard as a natural right. People want to hold on to the North County atmosphere, and paved parking lots with heavy fees just aren’t part of that.”

In essence, the conflict involves two very different visions of what a beach should be.

On one hand there is the Parks and Recreation Department favoring “high quality facilities” and a broad spectrum of visitors and user fees. On the other are local citizens who would jealously guard the exclusive atmosphere that primitive facilities guarantee.

The renovations are part of the Parks Department’s General Plan, a far-reaching document that was derived after years of on-site tours and community meetings, according to Jim VanSchmus, chief ranger for the San Diego Coast District.

“It was decided then that there was a general need to refurbish the beach facilities in the San Diego area,” VanSchmus said. “According to our guidelines with the Legislature, the department is supposed to, wherever it is practical, collect about half the cost of operation in fees.”

Thus a deal was struck: In return for paved lots, outdoor showers and toilets with running water, beachgoers would be charged $3 a day to park near the beach. When the project is completed next year, the state will have spent more than $2 million and the vast majority of beach parking will be for hire.

Even with the fees, however, the renovations will remain a losing proposition for the state. The 110-space north Cardiff Beach parking lot is projected to collect $36,000 annually while requiring additional expenses of $38,000, and the proposed 550-space lot at South Cardiff will take in $147,000 per year, with additional expenses of $161,000.

It is a trade-off whose wisdom has been questioned by many Cardiff residents.

“Those damn bureaucrats can’t stand for anything to be natural,” said Paul Devich, a bare-chested, bewhiskered local sun-worshiper. “If they had their way, this beach would have nothing that had the hand of God in it. It used to be first come, first served to park here; now it’s who has the money.”

Asked whether he thought some rebuilding was desirable, Devich stormed on, “Sure we could use a new bathroom, but the way they build it, it ends up costing 20 times more than it should. Why, we’ve got a bloody billion-dollar bathroom! A mausoleum of a bathroom!”

The idea of paying to park along “their beach” is abhorred by many Cardiff residents.

“Three dollars a day is a lot of money for some people, especially if they’re young and surfing all the time so they can’t have a job,” said Madison de Jonge, who has come to Cardiff all of her 14 summers. De Jonge said that her family has been reduced to walking the mile from her house to the beach since the Cardiff lot closed for renovations.

Others worried that the upscale atmosphere would detract from the laid-back culture they cherish.

Politely turning down the throbbing strains of his car stereo, Jeff Gudgeon said he feared that the pay lot would be filled with “gnarly tourists” from Escondido.

“Aw, it’s going to be a full tourist beach now. That place used to be the rage. Now it’s totally dead. No local’s gonna be dumb enough to pay for the beach! The only thing it’ll be good for is picking up tourist chicks,” he mused.

But his friend, Zac Lennox, appeared to be unconcerned. “It’s just going to wash away anyway,” he said. “We’ve got a killer surf here in the winter, so nothing’s really permanent.”

The Cardiff lot’s chances for survival have been the source of a schism in the Parks Department as well, VanSchmus said.

“There was one faction that felt that we should construct a small sea wall to protect the lot, but it was felt that anything that prevented erosion from occurring would threaten the beach’s ability to replenish itself,” VanSchmus said.

In the end, the Parks Department decided to take its chances and build the lot without a sea wall. “If we lose it, well, that’s nature’s course. People may criticize us for building something that may not make it through the first winter. But then again, no one can tell us for sure that it won’t be there 20 years from now,” he said.

Barring budget cuts, VanSchmus said that the South Cardiff lot should be installed by next summer.

While most residents seem resigned to having the north Cardiff lot--at least until winter, the conversion of the much larger southern lot, bordering what is considered to be the most distinctively local stretch of beach, could become the focus of a political showdown, according to MacManus.

“For us it’s a major public-access question. It means cutting low-income users off from the beach and it means that people are going to be hiking it in instead of driving--creating all sorts of problems,” he said.

VanSchmus countered that several options will be available to local residents, including a $40 annual parking permit and off-peak use.

“We’re only going to be collecting fees when it is cost-effective to station people there. As the plan stands now, we will only be charging from 10 in the morning to 6 at night. So during your prime surfing hours, people are still going to be able to park for free,” he said.

As to the charge that the pay lots will reduce Cardiff to a “full tourist beach,” VanSchmus replied:

“This is a universal issue all up and down the coast. People who live by the beach think that anyone from more than a mile away is a tourist. But these sort of social issues just aren’t our primary concern.”