Carlsbad Moves Ahead With Plan to Construct Second Seawall

Carlsbad, where a half-mile-long seawall has become a massive gallery of graffiti, is pressing ahead with a $3.2-million plan to build yet another vast wall along the beach.

The City Council has approved an agreement with the state to design a 2,400-foot wall to prevent high waves during winter storms from forcing the closure of Carlsbad Boulevard, the community’s main coastal route.

“Waves sometimes go 7-8 feet high,” project manager Pat Entezari said Wednesday, recalling that stormy seas once washed out a 300-space parking lot and last year caused the boulevard to be closed for several days.

“During winter when there are high tides and storms, the surf has closed that road because it lies so low,” he said.

The city is concerned both about keeping the boulevard open and safeguarding a $3-million investment it made by recently beautifying and widening the roadway from two to four lanes.

About 20 feet of the new wall would be hidden beneath the sand with only 3 1/2 feet of smooth concrete visible, Entezari said. The wall would be placed directly across the boulevard from SDG&E;’s Encina power plant and extend northward.

Under the agreement the council passed Tuesday night with the state Department of Boating and Waterways, $300,000 in state funds will be spent to design the wall by the end of 1990.

However, it was not certain whether an additional $2.17 million would be available in the state budget toward actual construction. The city would be required to contribute $725,000 for the project.

Carlsbad sought construction funds in the last state budget but came up empty. The city is now trying to secure the money in the proposed 1991 state fiscal plan and has been told the project has a high ranking.

“Although not assured, there is increasing optimism that the project application will be approved and funded by Boating and Waterways in the upcoming year,” according to a city staff report.

The wall would be located just south of the city’s existing $3.5-million, half-mile-long seawall that ranges in height from 12 to 17 feet and has a walkway on top. Since it was erected two years ago, it has become such an invitation to graffiti artists that the city, in frustration, hired a contractor for $48,000 last November to clean the wall and treat it with a protective coating.

With that experience in mind, Entezari said, “we are planning to put graffiti proof material on both sides of that wall.”