Coast Highway Closure Frustrates Merchants

Although the skies began clearing Tuesday, the forecast was still gloomy for about a dozen business owners along a vital stretch of Coast Highway that remained closed for the 25th straight day.

The 2.6-mile leg from Avenida Pico in San Clemente to Palisades Drive in Dana Point was closed Jan. 16 because of storm damage to the roadway and to several homes perched atop the unstable bluffs bordering the highway.

“They’ve been telling us for the last three weeks that it would be open next week,” complained Jim Nudo, owner of Herbie Fletcher Surf Shop, located off the highway near Avenida Pico. “People are avoiding this end of town, and this is a gateway to the city. They should have this thing wide open.”

Nudo, who has owned his shop for 13 years, said he has lost most of his business since the highway closed, and has had to temporarily lay off three employees.

“Everybody has had it,” he said.

Depending on the weather, however, officials in San Clemente and Dana Point hope to reopen the highway by week’s end.

With the closure, road crews in San Clemente have also been working to finish a 10-month-old South Coast Water District pipeline project, which has contributed to the delay in reopening the highway.

“It just took longer than everyone anticipated to do the water line project,” San Clemente City Engineer William Cameron said.

This week, crews are painting new stripes on the road and putting up fences to help keep mud and other debris from slipping onto the road. Costs of the cleanup are hard to estimate because different agencies are involved in the work.

For the businesses depending on customer access from the highway, the closure has been a costly ordeal that several owners have been through before.

Across the highway from Nudo’s surf shop, next to where Ernesto’s Italian Villa and an adjoining motel used to stand before being destroyed in last month’s storms, Keith Jones said business has been off by about 80% at his flower shop.

“I’m just hoping I can have some sunny weather for Valentine’s Day and make up for some of my losses,” he said. “This has been devastating.”

Recently, Jones, Nudo and the owners of Ichibiri Japanese Steak House and Sushi Bar have put large, handwritten signs in front of their businesses letting motorists know they’re open, despite the highway closure.

The closure has also hurt San Clemente businesses located off the highway along Camino Capistrano and Avenida Vaquero, where access is limited to a potentially confusing route off Interstate 5 via Avenida Estrella.

Rocky Sabo, owner of Rocky’s Surf & Sport at 224 Avenida Vaquero, said he plans on moving his shop because of frustration with the highway problems.

In the five years since he moved his shop to Avenida Vaquero near the Department of Motor Vehicles, he figures the highway has been closed a total of six months because of problems with the bluffs and flooding from aging storm drains.

“It’s just the last straw,” he said.

A sign in his window clearly expresses his frustration. Under a big picture of a bull, he’s written: “We will be closed on Monday until the powers that be decide to repair or reopen PCH.”

“I don’t know if it’s mudslinging or mud slipping,” he said. “It’s a catastrophe.”