Panel Approves Trial Booze Ban at La Jolla Beach : Government: Action by a City Council committee is a response to complaints of drunkenness and rowdy behavior at beaches and parks.

Venturing more tentatively into the explosive subject of alcohol consumption at San Diego beaches and parks, a City Council committee Wednesday agreed to an experimental six-month booze ban at La Jolla Shores beach and a yet-unidentified park in the city’s 3rd Council District.

The alcohol ban, which must receive approval of the full council, would contain an exemption allowing organized groups to imbibe at outings for which they obtain a city permit.

The pilot project approved by the council’s Public Facilities and Recreation Committee is a scaled-back version of the citywide drinking prohibition the same five council members sprang on the public without warning in a unanimous December vote.

That proposal was rejected by the full council in January after a huge public outcry, with all five committee members--Abbe Wolfsheimer, John Hartley, Bruce Henderson, Judy McCarty and Bob Filner--reversing themselves and voting to rescind the proposal.

Wednesday, grateful La Jolla Shores residents, who have complained of crime, noise and property damage they say is caused by drunken revelers, endorsed the committee’s latest decision, which came on a 4-1 vote, with only Filner dissenting.

Disappointed Mission Beach activists--who wanted the alcohol ban extended to their neighborhoods but ran into opposition from their councilman, Henderson--saw the move as a prelude to a wider anti-alcohol policy.

“This is certainly a start in the right direction,” said Brian O’Donnell, a La Jolla Shores resident who testified for the drinking ban Wednesday. “But I think they will ultimately come to some form of citywide ban.”

“It’s better than nothing,” said Jeanne Lenhart-Wright of Mission Beach. “They’ll see how beneficial it is.”

In the months since January’s council vote, City Manager John Lockwood’s office surveyed community groups and held three public forums, determining that only 21% of 675 respondents favored an alcohol ban in parks, and 24% wanted one at beaches. In a report, Deputy City Manager Coleman Conrad opposed a citywide drinking ban.

“We have a political problem,” Councilman Judy McCarty said Wednesday. “These (advocates of the drinking ban) have to recognize that all hell broke loose when it was proposed last time.

“It’s very difficult to move on a full ban at this time, knowing that so many people oppose a full ban,” McCarty added.

Only Councilman John Hartley voiced support for a citywide ban Wednesday, but he settled for assurances that part of the pilot project would be carried out in a park in his district, most likely City Heights Community Park or Colina del Sol Community Park in East San Diego.

“We have an incredible problem,” Hartley said. “We’ve really created an area of lawlessness at the beach, almost encouraging alcohol use at the beach.”

The ban at La Jolla Shores beach also would extend to adjacent Kellogg Park. The council also approved a package of other beach and park regulations, including recommendations for high priorities on night police coverage and a recommendation to establish an unarmed park ranger program. Filner’s dissent on the alcohol ban was based on his belief that this package was adequate to control public drunkenness.

In contrast to Henderson’s reluctance to ban drinking at Mission Beach, Wolfsheimer eagerly proposed the protection for the La Jolla beach in her district.

“When someone is already drunk, lying on a park or beach, you can’t take them to jail because there is no jail space,” she said.

Henderson maintained that better enforcement of existing public drinking regulations would best serve Mission Beach without depriving city residents unable to live near the beach of the enjoyment of a beer or glass of wine there.

“If I had my druthers, we would deal with the abusers and let the decent people drink at the beach,” he said. Henderson nevertheless voted for the pilot project.

Under the pilot project, the city would beef up enforcement of alcohol regulations at Mission Beach and compare the results with the alcohol ban at La Jolla Shores and the inland park. Although most Southern California communities already prohibit alcohol consumption at beaches, the city’s existing restrictions ban drinking between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. at beaches north of the Mission Bay channel entrance and prohibit alcohol possession on Santa Clara point in Mission Bay park.

Mission Beach parking lots have been closed at night because of complaints of rowdiness, gang activity and drug and alcohol use.

Mayor Maureen O’Connor will oppose even the pilot project when the issue reaches the full City Council, said Paul Downey, O’Connor’s spokesman.

“She does not want to infringe upon the rights of the vast majority of responsible drinkers because a small minority cannot control their drinking,” Downey said.

The ordinance will come back to the committee May 23, after city staff members develop procedures for the exemption permits and select an inland park for the experiment. If approved again, the measure will go to the full City Council for consideration.