Shifting Sands : Del Mar Bans Fires at Beach for Good

As Bill Perks sees it, the River Mouth Beach in Del Mar just won’t be the same anymore.

Earlier this week, the Del Mar City Council agreed to permanently ban bonfires on the popular stretch of sand in an effort to reduce wild nighttime parties and beach pollution. The move has Perks and other bonfire aficionados miffed.

“I think it’s bogus, completely unnecessary,” said Perks, 27. “I’m sorry to see them go. It was a nice thing to do on weekends.”

Nearby homeowners, meanwhile, agree that the beach won’t be the same without bonfires--and they’re overjoyed. They will hardly miss the raucous parties that would occasionally escalate beyond control, or the broken glass and other debris that accompanied the shindigs.

‘Combat Zone’

“A combat zone, that’s what it felt like,” said Dyan Allen, one of 3 dozen residents who signed a petition supporting the bonfire ban. “When you have to call the SWAT team in to restore the peace at the beach, something’s wrong.”

Members of the council, which voted unanimously Monday to make permanent a temporary ban they had approved in September, agreed that the prohibition seemed the only option.

“It was a mess,” Councilman John Gillies said. “We had a choice of either adopting the ban or doubling our expenditures for trash pickup and police down there. But it wasn’t just the filth, it was the partying into late evening and early-morning hours.”

Indeed, the bonfire gatherings have at times gotten more than a bit out of hand. Eight people were arrested at River Mouth in September during a confrontation with sheriff’s deputies that began as a protest over the proposed ban.

Straddling the mouth of the San Dieguito River, the beach is nestled at Del Mar’s northern border near Solana Beach. Through the years, it has become popular with the young set of North County. Historically, drinking and beach fires were allowed. Moreover, the area does not fall victim to the nightly high tide.

As Perks tells it, the nighttime bonfires at River Mouth are more a chance to kick back and enjoy a relaxing evening than a hard-charging opportunity to party.

“I’m not really into the bar scene,” Perks said. “But that’s what we’re limited to now. I’d much prefer to have a few beers and sit by the fire and talk to people. It’s just an alternative that’s been screened out.”

Fires, Problems Linked

Bradd Barmettler, 21, said the ban unjustly discriminates against people who act responsibly while enjoying a beach bonfire. Instead of paying more for nighttime enforcement of rowdies, the council resorted to the prohibition on fires “as the cheapest solution to get people off the beach at night,” Barmettler said.

“What gives Del Mar the right to tell the whole world they can’t come down and have a bonfire like people have been doing for years?” Barmettler said. “Bonfires are not the issue. It’s the people using the bonfires that are the problem.”

But city officials and homeowners contend beachfront problems and bonfires are inescapably linked.

Allen called the beach fires “a magnet for hooliganism” and a breeding ground for litter, giving River Mouth the dubious distinction of being “the filthiest beach in San Diego County.”

After a night of revelry around the flickering flames, party-goers would invariably leave the beach looking like a disaster area, Allen said. The sands would often be littered with shards of glass, spent charcoal, embers and twisted nails from the wooden pallets that are favored as firewood.

Beach-cleaning equipment was hard-pressed to tidy up. The raking sleds would simply stir the debris a few inches into the sand and make a mess of the smoldering chunks of wood. Even today, months after the initial ban went into effect, the beach is still strewn with the remnants of parties.

Bonfire supporters say the prohibition amounts to another step up the elitist ladder for Del Mar, putting the beach off limits for an activity that has proved a popular pastime for youths.

“Del Mar is becoming this ideal yuppie utopia,” lamented Perks. “It’s just becoming a boring place.”

But city officials and many residents say such arguments dodge the real issue--that the wild parties around the bonfires and subsequent litter problems were making the beach a less desirable place for everyone.

“Del Mar does not have a desire to close the beach,” Allen said. “We’re not talking about digging moats and keeping people out. We just happen to be the custodian of this regional resource, and as the custodian we have a responsibility to keep the beach clean and safe.”