EDITOR'S NOTE: Due to a production error, portions of this story did not run on Sunday. The full story is being run today.
SOLANA BEACH
– Not long after Torgen Johnson moved into his ocean-view house on top of a coastal bluff at Pacific Avenue, a sudden landslide triggered by a rainstorm claimed a chunk of his property.
“A large portion of my backyard slid down the beach,” Johnson said.
Johnson is now building a 50-foot-long sea wall below his house to protect it from future slides, which aren't unusual on the fragile sandstone bluffs of Solana Beach.
He is among the first few property owners who will have to pay the city new fees to compensate the public for his sea wall's effect on the environment.
The sea-wall-impact fees – which could reach hundreds of thousands of dollars per property – are among the most contentious components of a shoreline management plan the city recently submitted to the California Coastal Commission for consideration.
Solana Beach is the only city in San Diego County without an approved Local Coastal Program, in part because of more than a decade of dispute over sea walls.
Diana Lilly, a staff planner for the Coastal Commission, said Solana Beach's plan contains policies that are “significantly different” from those of other cities.
“They're trying to come up with a long-term plan for removing their structures,” Lilly said. “As a long-term goal, I haven't seen any other cities do that.”
Solana Beach's plan will be considered by the commission in November. If approved, it will set land-use policies for the city's 1.7-acre coast – home to some of the skinniest beaches in the county, with some underwater at high tide – and give the city more control over development.
As part of the plan, the city has proposed a new approach toward building sea walls and filling in sea caves, a sensitive topic that pits environmentalists against homeowners because it alters the natural beach terrain.
The Surfrider Foundation and CalBeach Advocates oppose sea walls because of their environmental impact, while bluff-top homeowners argue that the walls are necessary to protect their investment. This year, a four-bedroom, three-bath, bluff-top home sold for $3.7 million, and three bluff-top condos sold for $1.8 million each.
Solana Beach's plan represents a compromise reached in 2005 by a committee of environmental group representatives and homeowners led by former Mayor Doug Sheres. It would allow the city to issue permits – and charge fees – for sea walls. However, those permits would expire in 2081, at which time the bluff-protection structures would have to be removed.
“Hopefully, by 2081 we'll have a better grasp of the environmental implications of building sea walls on our beaches,” said Mayor David Roberts. “The compromise recognizes that we don't have all answers but we want to be environmentally sensitive, and that homeowners have rights as well.”
The result of the compromise was a plan with goals that include both “preserving and enhancing a safe, wide beachfront for use by the public” and “protecting property rights.”
Last year, the city began imposing interim fees on homeowners building sea walls while it calculated the fee schedule. Johnson is among those who paid interim fees of $50,000, agreeing he will make up the difference if the fees for his wall end up higher.
The fees will compensate the public for:
The loss of beach sand, because the sea walls prevent waves from eroding the sandstone bluffs.
The loss of recreational public beach space taken up by the walls.
City officials say the revenue will be used for sand replenishment and beach restoration and to buy bluff-top properties, with the goal of removing sea walls.
Under the plan, sometime in the future the city might buy bluff-top homes and demolish the sea walls, restoring the bluffs to their natural state and making the land public open space. There's no money yet for such purchases, but Roberts said the sea-wall fees could be one source.
Solana Beach already has enacted a law giving the city a right of first refusal when bluff-top homes are sold.
The Coastal Commission already collects sea-wall fees in Solana Beach for sand replenishment, and those fees will still be levied. Property owners in Solana Beach who pay fees to the Coastal Commission will have their city-imposed fees reduced by that amount to avoid double billing, Roberts said.
Roberts said that while the city awaits Coastal Commission approval of its Local Coastal Program, it is moving forward on setting the fees to implement it. “We don't want to lose time,” he said. “We want to have all this in effect and we want to show all the parties that we are very serious about this compromise.”
The city's lead consultant, Leslea Meyerhoff, is working on the fee structure with municipal consultants and attorneys including Pacific Municipal Consultants, CIC Research Inc. and Best Best & Krieger.
At a Sept. 18 public workshop, the consultants discussed a methodology for the fees. The city is trying to calculate the value of beaches based in part on the average number of daily visitors, the time they spend there and their estimated income levels.
Some homeowners are worried about being overcharged, while others oppose the fees altogether.
Johnson believes he shouldn't have to pay any impact fees, saying he is making the beach safer for everyone by reducing the likelihood of landslides and falling rocks. He said his sea wall will cost him at least $500,000.
“To tack a fee onto people building a multimillion-dollar sea wall to keep the bluff from collapsing onto the beach, I think it's completely wrong,” he said. It's small consolation for him that Solana Beach intends to recognize the contribution to safety by reducing the fee amount with a credit for what the city determines is the “public benefit” of a sea wall.
Many homeowners are glad Solana Beach is finally taking steps to manage its shoreline.
John Steel, who lives in the 72-unit Surfsong condominium complex near Fletcher Cove, said, “Everybody here that has or will have a sea wall understands the need to pay a sand-loss fee.”
The complex is awaiting Coastal Commission approval to extend its sea wall by 137 feet.
Steel said he supports the city's plan to gain more local control over beaches and bluffs. He doesn't have a problem with a fee as long as it is reasonable.
“We are taxing ourselves, but at least the money stays close to home,” Steel said.
