La Conchita Given 1 Month to Solve Deck Dilemma

Residents of this tiny coastal community can keep the redwood deck they built illegally on Caltrans land near the Ventura Freeway only if they can persuade another state agency to assume responsibility for it, a Caltrans official warned Monday.

“I’ve been issued a ticket. . . . If nothing else is done in 30 days I will have to remove the deck,” said Caltrans West Region Manager Dave Servaes, speaking to about 40 residents of La Conchita who gathered on the inland side of the freeway to discuss the fate of the deck. Ventura County has put Caltrans on notice that the deck is illegal.

Built without a permit by residents, the deck on the ocean side of the freeway is illegal and must be removed because Caltrans does not allow such structures on its land, Servaes said.

“I really have only one option, and I should have done it already if I was doing my job correctly,” Servaes said. That option is to remove the structure, and the process could begin as early as Oct. 23.

That is unless some other state agency, such as the Parks and Recreation Department, takes over ownership of the land, maintenance of the deck and its surroundings and the liability that goes along with public use of the land.

Getting to the deck is easy for residents of La Conchita: They crawl through a 4-foot-tall culvert that runs beneath the four lanes of traffic of the freeway. Once there, they have a view of waves, sunsets and an occasional dolphin. There are also a barbecue and holders for fishing poles.

Senior citizens like taking the culvert because it bypasses dangerous boulders on the side of the road. Youths say the culvert makes taking a surfboard to the beach a lot easier. And everyone who uses it says crawling beneath the roadway is a lot safer than running across--which is legal on the stretch of road through La Conchita.

“I use [the culvert] all the time. If you walk across those boulders with your surfboard you could break your leg,” said 12-year-old John McColm.

Such arguments, however, are not enough to sway Caltrans.

“Whether it’s safe or not is not the issue. The deck is built on a Caltrans right of way and it’s not legal there,” Servaes said. And because the culvert beneath the freeway was designed as a drainage ditch and not a pedestrian passage, “you’re trespassing when you’re going over there,” he said.

The deck has become a symbol of rebirth for the residents of La Conchita, who watched as the winter storms of 1995 brought a hillside down upon them.

“It’s been our community center, the place where everyone sees people they haven’t seen all week long,” said Randy Stone, a general supervisor for Southern California Edison and one of the builders of the deck.

Stone heard the Caltrans message loud and clear and says he will begin working to find a state agency to take it over, although he realizes that’s easier said than done.

“I guarantee you we will start looking. The deck has been a positive thing for the community, and it’s brought us together since the disaster that happened to us in 1995,” Stone said.

Not everyone agrees. One complainer, whom Caltrans officials will not identify, brought the deck to the agency’s attention in mid-August, said Caltrans District Supt. Wayne Johnson. No immediate action was taken to remove the deck because Caltrans wanted to give residents the opportunity to find some other way to resolve the problem.

The problem, according to Dixie Zimmer, 71, is that a single naysayer has tarnished the one thing that many residents believe has brought the community together.

“This just says that lots of times the law gets in the way of people’s privileges,” Zimmer said.