Its not just Encinitas, but Solana Beach and other areas in California blessed with magnificent ocean bluffs. To be able to dangle ones feet over the edge of the earth with nothing but endless ocean beyond is a singular experience. But to lose ones property to crumbling ocean bluffs is not the heartstopping experience we would wish on anyone.
Yet bluff collapse has been a reality for an unfortunate few during the history of North San Diego Countys ocean bluff living. And it has been a painful and controversial history, especially in more recent years.
In short digest format, the problem might be viewed from two perspectives:
- Environmentalists and the Surfrider Foundation believe that Mother Nature should have her way. After all, sand for the local beaches is provided by erosion from the sandstone bluffs at its shore. Rain, wind and storms are only doing what comes naturally: Smoothing out a craggy and cliff-fronted shoreline and naturally providing sands for the beaches below.
- Property owners believe they have an inherent right to protect their property and its boundaries. Theirs is a lonely fight because there is no insurance coverage if their home and land crumbles into the Pacific Ocean even if there if the property is mortgaged with debt. The most typical solution to prevent this natural erosion has been the construction of expensive sea walls, which are generally fought by the mentioned environmentalists along with the California Coastal Commission.
In 1942 Encinitas Self Realization Fellowship lost their Golden Lotus Temple after a waterlogged bluff gave way and the temple slid down the bluff towards the ocean below. The Fellowships pragmatic response was to:
- 1. Drill wells and pump away accumulated ground water (near the bluffs) into city storm drains
- 2. Plant indigenous vegetation on the bluff face to help hold it together
- 3. Build a wall of boulders on the beach below to break the oncoming waves.
It was a solution that has held the Encinitas bluff together for over sixty years.It is also one that many are considering as a solution today.
I was recently showing some luxury oceanfront condos on Fourth Street in Encinitas and where I had sold three years ago. The owners have recently replaced the grass that fronted the bluff with artificial turf and drains that moves any water accumulation into city drains. It is a simple remedy that fights the problem from above.
And that may be the best alternative for ocean bluff preservation until environmentalists and property owners can come to a reasonable resolution.
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