Bluffs Inspection Prompts City Action

City officials visited the beach north of Golden West Street on Friday and decided to take emergency measures because eroding bluffs above the area could pose a public safety threat.

The one-mile stretch of bluffs from Golden West north to Bolsa Chica State Beach is crumbling at a rapid pace, officials said, and in some areas the erosion has reached the pedestrian and bike path.

The area draws large crowds because it offers spectacular views of the coastline. Also, the beach below the bluffs is popular with surfers and is the city’s only seaside area where dogs are allowed.

“We should maintain public access to the area, but it’s going to be costly to do it,” Community Services Director Ron Hagan said.

Areas where erosion already has reached the path will be fenced off, Hagan said, and the path will be rerouted around large cracks that have appeared in its surface.

Officials also determined that the safety railing along the edge of the bluff top must be replaced, a project that they estimated will cost at least $500,000.

The galvanized steel railing, installed about five years ago, has been corroded by salt air and in many places is broken, but the city does not have the money now to replace all 6,000 feet of the barrier, officials said.

Until it does, Hagan said, he will seek legal advice from the city attorney on the liability risk if the railing were to be removed. Additional signs would almost certainly have to be installed to warn people away from the unstable cliffs, he said.

The Army Corps of Engineers study last spring recommended building a $10-million sea wall to stop the erosion problem. The study also suggested that, as a temporary solution to slow the rate of erosion, the city use rubble to compress the bluffs.

“But we haven’t been able to find a cheap source of rubble,” Hagan said, adding that a minimum of 1,000 tons of material would be needed to fill in the canyon areas.

Hagan said the study also showed that, if permanent improvements are not made, within 25 years the erosion would reach Pacific Coast Highway. In half that time, he said, the erosion would extend to the nearby beach parking lot and would eliminate the path.

The city has applied for federal money to pay for improvements and is on a waiting list to receive funding, Hagan said.

Improvements planned for Blufftop Park, adjacent to the bluffs and parallel to Pacific Coast Highway, are also on hold because money earmarked for the project was frozen by the county’s December 1994 bankruptcy filing.