LAGUNA BEACH : City Delays Seawall for Scenic Bay

The City Council has decided that further environmental reports are needed before a 380-foot seawall is built in Crescent Bay, one of Laguna’s most picturesque coves.

The unanimous vote came Tuesday after testimony from about 20 residents, most of whom asked the council to reject the wall. While applicants said the wall was needed to protect their homes in coming winter storms, most speakers insisted that seawalls do more harm than good.

Opponents voiced concerns about the effects the proposed wall would have on adjacent properties, on the beach itself and on the aesthetics of the popular cove. The council heard widely conflicting testimony that Crescent Bay bluffs have either been unaffected or have eroded up to 50 feet over the past half century.

Without rejecting the project outright, the council finally agreed that further information was needed before construction could go forward. Allowing the wall to be built without such documentation would set a precedent which could affect beaches throughout the city, said Councilman Robert F. Gentry.

“This is a very, very sensitive part of our community and whatever we do needs thorough evaluation,” said Gentry, who suggested that alternatives be explored. “The minimum we ought to do is an environmental impact report.”

The seawall, a joint project of six Crescent Bay homeowners, was unanimously approved by the design review board last month after three previous public hearings. Hundreds of signatures have been collected by residents who oppose the wall and who maintain that seawalls actually hasten erosion. When wave energy is deflected, they say, erosion is accelerated in adjacent areas and more sand is lost.

Doris Boisseranc, who has collected information from experts statewide regarding seawalls and erosion, said the city must protect the seashore as it does other environmentally sensitive areas. “It would be tragic to save the canyon and lose the beaches,” she said.

Richard Barrett, who lives in an end house in the cove, 150 feet above the ocean, refused to participate in the seawall project.

“Where do you stop? Do you have to wall all of Crescent Bay?” he asked. “It’s an environmental issue. There’s no quick fix to this thing.”

Two smaller seawalls exist in the cove, a cloistered neighborhood of 14 houses. The proposed wall would be built on both sides of the existing walls. A city staff report says the homes are “increasingly susceptible to damage caused by overall bluff or slope failure.”

Jack McNaughton, one of the property owners proposing the wall, said applicants care as much about the cove as do seawall opponents, but projections of large storms in the coming winter have made them “frightened to death” about the fate of their homes.

“After all, we live on the beach and we love that beach also,” McNaughton said. However, he added, “We can’t afford another delay.”