Finding Common Ground on the Bridge : Everyone Agrees Safety is Priority; Preservationists, Officials Can Work From There

Both the sentiment and the symbolism represented in an old hand-built footbridge at Crystal Cove State Beach are powerful, indeed.

Opponents of reconstruction of the weakened structure by the State Parks and Recreation Department are so adamant that they say they won’t give up their fight even if the California Coastal Commission next month rejects their bid to block the work. And they already have plans to seek a restraining order if necessary.

The wood bridge, which traverses a dry creek bed and connects some cottages to the beach, has been posted as unsafe. That hasn’t deterred people from using it anyway, and the state is worried that it might fall down one of these days with someone on it.

At the same time, it’s hard to find much fault with officials for their attentiveness to the historical charm of this structure that lies within a national historic district. The state is not planning to put up a kind of unsightly steel footbridge in place of the rotting but charming old one. It merely wants to restore the bridge so that it is safe.

Opponents are disturbed nonetheless that no original materials would be left in a restoration. That seems to be the basis of the objection raised by the residents.

Of course, there are larger concerns about the fate of the entire district and its 45 cottages. Once leases granted to residents by the state expire in 1993, the land will become public. All the more reason to have a sturdy bridge. Every effort should be made to preserve the charming atmosphere of a 1930s coastline that prevails.

The concern about change and development along the California coastline that this debate represents is real. The excesses of coastal development elsewhere make many people hanker, quite literally, for the old days. But restoration at a charming, old bridge need not be incompatible with safety. It serves no purpose to wage a preservation battle at a historic bridge where both sides quite evidently are on the same side.