Beach Encroachment Wrangle : Del Mar Council Wraps Up 15-Year Feud

After 15 years of sparring between oceanfront property owners and inland residents over the problem of private seawalls that encroach on public beaches, the Del Mar City Council has finally approved a plan that it hopes will provide a solution.

Instead of using condemnation proceedings to acquire the expensive land, the proposed beach overlay zoning ordinance (BOZO) approved late Monday night would zone a section of the beach to achieve the same ends.

Council members said they believe the plan strikes a balance between the needs of private landowners and the desires of beachgoers.

Del Mar Mayor Ronnie Delaney was elated. “We made a unanimous decision on an issue that is extremely complex,” said Delaney, who was sworn in earlier in Monday’s meeting. “Judging (by) the unanimous vote, it’s something we can live with.”

Councilwoman Brooke Eisenberg said: “For me it was a very, very, big disappointment. It was a toothless ordinance that settled nothing. The public beach interests were not protected for the future.” The reason the controversial matter had never been resolved is the crazy quiltwork of easements and sidewalks granted to oceanfront property owners over the years, Councilman Scott Barnett said.

Barnett, who has worked on the BOZO plan for three years, called the situation “a mess. Every property has a different history, a different problem.”

On Monday, spokesmen for 20 oceanfront land owners voiced their opposition to BOZO. Attorney Ferdinand Fletcher represented 10 property owners who spent $196,000 several years ago to build a 170-foot seawall. Fletcher said the proposed ordinance “leaves us sort of dangling.”

Under the proposed plan, everything west of a shoreline protection area line, drawn down the length of the beach, would be considered to be in the public domain. All existing private structures west of the line must be removed by the owners. Along most of the beach, the so-called “BOZO line” coincides with the owners’ property lines. But on the northern and southern ends of town, the zoning will correspond with the mean high tide line.

The proposed ordinance requires that structures not in compliance with the zoning be removed according to a schedule based on their cost. For every $5,000 of initial construction costs, a structure “may remain for one year following its initial construction; not to exceed 10 years,” according to the plan.