Taking On the Marines : Surfers Are Battling Plan for Base Housing Near Trestles Beach

The surf rolls in here like a symphony, and it probably still will after the houses come.

The surfers will still drag their boards to Trestles, as the beach is called, to ride its wonderful waves. Hardly anyone, really, is going to notice the 400-odd people who will be moving in just over the bluff.

So say the U.S. Marines, who are planning to build 128 homes on a piece of Camp Pendleton next to San Onofre State Park. The Marines say they need the homes for their officers. They say they need to build the houses right here.

The soldier in charge of the operation, Col. Wayne Spencer, says he is sensitive to those who think the quiet beauty of Trestles is worth saving.

“We are not going to change anything,” said Spencer, who as a teen surfed Trestles himself. “We are trying to be good neighbors.”

Try as they may, the Marines’ plan for beachfront housing is stirring local opposition from residents, environmentalists and surfers. Those lining up against the project say building a neighborhood--with all its people, cars, dogs and kids--will shatter the spell of Trestles and spoil the nearby marsh.

Camp Pendleton has 125,000 acres, they say. Why can’t the Marines build the houses somewhere else?

“I say keep it pristine,” said Greg Taglienti, packing up his board after a day of surfing at Trestles. “It’s their land, and progress is progress, but a bunch of houses here will ruin the ambience.”

The question will come to a head next month, when the Marines seek approval before the California Coastal Commission.

Despite limited parking and a long walk to the beach, Trestles’ waves have made it one of the West Coast’s most popular surf spots. Even before the beach was opened to the public, surfers used to sneak past the Marines, who controlled the land, and slip their boards into the water. The waves were that good.

The Marines opened the area to the public in 1972, at the prodding of then-First Lady Pat Nixon, who grew fond of the stretch of beach below her home, La Casa Pacifica, also known as the Western White House. It sits a few hundred yards up the beach.

Now, the surfers have to lug their boards along a 1 1/2-mile trail to make it to the water. The train tracks that run along the ocean give the beach its name.

*

The Marines want to build 128 townhouses on the bluffs above Trestles. The 40-acre, triangular parcel, which runs along the Orange County line, was never part of San Onofre State Park. Until the mid-1980s, the Coast Guard operated a radar station there. Unlike the park, which is wooded and teeming with wildlife, the 40-acre triangle is mostly sandy and bare.

The Marines say it’s the perfect spot for their first-tier officers--lieutenants and captains--to live with their families.

“It’s the best,” Col. Spencer said.

Spencer says most of Camp Pendleton’s 125,000 acres are tied up for other uses. A big swathe in the middle, for instance, is used as an artillery firing range. The Marines use the beaches to practice amphibious landings. Other parts of Camp Pendleton are more environmentally sensitive than Trestles, he said.

And the base needs housing. Some 25,000 Marines and their families work at Camp Pendleton, and the base has room for only about 6,000. The rest live outside, and many have long drives to work.

The Marines say they’ve designed the new neighborhood to be as unobtrusive as possible. From the beach, only the tops of a few townhouses will be visible. Their studies show that wildlife in the area won’t be harmed. They plan to set aside eight of the 40 acres for nature and animals.

Finally, there are the surfers. The Marines say they won’t block access to the beach--before construction or after.

“People will be able to come and surf when they want to,” said Lt. Megan McClung of Camp Pendleton.

Opposition to the plan is being led by the Surfrider Foundation, a conservation group. It says the new neighborhood would wreck the nearby saltwater estuary, home to many types of wildlife and spawning grounds for many types of fish.

The homes will bring people, the people will bring cars and music and garbage, the group says, adding that the wetlands will be degraded, if not overrun.

Since the base sits on land owned by the taxpayers, they ought to have some say, the Surfrider Foundation said.

“Cats and dogs, air blowers, rock ‘n’ roll music--all that stuff scares away the wildlife,” said Dr. Gordon Labetz, a Surfrider leader. “Wetlands in California have been almost totally destroyed. This is a beautiful fish and game preserve. We should try to save it.”

*

Like many who are opposed to the project, Labetz wonders why the Marines, with all their acreage at Pendleton, can’t find somewhere else to put the townhouses. He suspects the Marines covet the ocean views.

After reviewing the application, the staff of the California Coastal Commission also wanted to know why the Marines can’t build the townhouses elsewhere. A hearing before the commission had been set for this month, but the Marines asked that it be postponed until August so they can answer that question and others.

On a breezy day last week, lines of surfers lugged their boards down the long path to the Trestles break. They had come from all over--there was even a trio from Japan--and the cars were stacked all the way into the parking lot at Carl’s Jr.

Surf conditions: 3-foot to 4-foot waves and smooth ocean surface. Not great, but good for a quick ride in.

Jeff Burke had surfed Trestles all day, much like he has for the past 12 years, and afterward he lay half asleep in the back of his flatbed truck. He didn’t want the Marine housing, but he said it wouldn’t keep him away either.

“They can put houses up, but it’s not going to keep anybody from surfing here.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Bluff Bummer?

Proposed development may affect Tresles area